Happy New Year! It’s that time of year when we make resolutions that just don’t seem to turn out the way we planned. Gyms will be full this week. People will be eating healthy. Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, and Healthy Choice meals will be on sale in the grocery ads. Come February 1, most of the life changes for the new year will be history with our resolutions sitting in the dust.

Resolutions are just hard to follow. You just can’t change your life over night without some major thought and effort. I mentioned in my last post that a fellow Lapband chat buddy told me he was going to create a wellness vision for 2011. I did some research and decided it was just what I was looking for myself.

If you have worked in corporate America during the past 10-15 years, you are familiar with the concept of total quality management, a process where you set a mission, vision and goals to make your organization or team a success. My take on a wellness vision is that it leverages the concepts of this business oriented process to create a personal vision for health and wellness. If you are looking for a place to start on a personal wellness vision, here is an excellent article to get you started.

Here’s the process I used in a nutshell. I first wrote down everything I possibly wanted to achieve and what I needed to change in 2011. I then grouped them into broad categories such as diet, exercise, health, etc. For each of these categories, I took the categorized items and came up with a sentence or two of where I wanted to be in 2011 that supported them. Next, I took these sentences and looked at them together. I then combined the themes from these sentences to create my wellness vision.

Beyond the vision, I refined the brainstormed items into measurable goals. I chose to create 4 primary goals to make my wellness vision a success. The detail items became specific measurable goals to support these goals and will be the means by which I measure success.

This was a lot of effort and did not happen overnight. I’ve been working at it for the past 2 months at lunch and in the evening. I revisited and rewrote the vision and goals many times until I was satisfied. I am confident that the finished product is what I need to motivate and guide me in 2011. I see myself as a very goal oriented, organized person. I realize that an effort like this is not for everyone.

Here is my wellness vision and the four goals that support the vision. There is quite a bit of detail that supports these. I am sure that I will be sharing more of the details in the coming months.

My Wellness Vision

As a happy, successful, and active post-op bariatric patient, I draw on my talents, life experiences and passions to motivate myself and others to be mentally, emotionally and physically fit.

Goal #1: I will define my social networking presence by blogging weekly on health, fitness and wellness with an emphasis on cycling, healthy eating and support for weight loss surgery (WLS) patients.

Goal #2: I will enrich my life through interpersonal relationships; growing my bariatric support network; participating in fitness oriented activities; and enjoying my free time with friends and family.

Goal #3: I will live a healthy eating mentality that focuses on bariatric dietary principles, proper nutrition, and satiety rather than relying on restriction signals from my Lapband.

Goal #4: I will improve and share my cycling skills with frequent rides; participating in cycling events; being more involved in cycling organizations; and supporting others through the Spin-Offs.