How do you keep your New Year's resolutions?

I don't think I have ever made a new year resolution, although I have made many other resolutions, some of which I have kept, some I have not.  When I have kept a resolution it is because I have decided that what I would gain from keeping it, is worth the pain that I will go through to keep it.

I am usually successful when I decide to lose weight if I am at a time in my life when I can make it a priority.  As time has gone on and it becomes harder to lose weight, I have had to shift my goals, but the result has remained the same.

When I was younger and I decided to lose weight I simply increased my exercise and decreased what I was eating.  I was most successful when I was single and I had enough time where I could devote time to working out.

I know myself and I know that dieting alone does not work for me, I also know that I won't work out alone at home, and that I need to be in a structured class to really keep going and to get a consistent workout.

I also know now that losing weight is not a goal that motivates me anymore, it is too tied up with social expectations of what is beautiful, what I decided that getting fit was more important to me than being thin, so regardless of if I lost weight or not, I would work on getting fit (losing weight turned out to be a nice side effect).  I don't weigh myself daily, but I do notice if my pants are loser and if I don't get out of breath when I climb stairs.

Everyone is different, and different things will work for different people.  I think the key is to figure out what will work for you.  As an introvert, the buddy system is not one that appeals to me for working out, I am very self motivated, so once the decision is made I don't need people reminding me that I need to work out, often that can be counter productive in my case. But for others if that is what will get you into the gym and staying there, then do whatever it takes.

I know I will succeed at a resolution i:

1) I make it a priority
2) I am consistent
3) I find something about it that I enjoy
4) I set realistic goals

I know I won't succeed if:

1) I don't set specific goals
2) I don't think what I will gain is worth the pain to get it
3) I am not consistent
4) don't have a plan

Around November of 2010 I decided that I was tired of not being fit, I was already working out, but it clearly was not enough.  So I made a pact with myself.  I told myself that I was going to they gym 5 days a week for 6 months.  Even if I did not feel like it, I would go, even if it was just for 20 min (enough time to get a 15 min workout on the bike).   I knew that after 6 months, the gym would be part of my routine, I would be fitter so it would not be as hard and that by that point I would miss the gym if I did not go.  So I knew that once I got past the 6 months, even though I had given myself the choice to stop at that point I would not, and I have not.

I have lost weight yes, but most importantly I am fitter, I feel better and I am saner.

Around the same time I made a second resolution, that I would try and find love last year.  I had no plan, I made no real pacts with myself, I am still not sure the gain in that case is worth the pain LOL, and so that is one resolution I have not been as successful with.