Survey shows 75% of individuals committed to improving overall fitness in new year

Dec 26 2013

As holiday festivities come to an end with full stomachs and fear of the scale, attention turns to the start of 2014 and another year of making resolutions that typically fail. In a new survey released today, Life Time - The Healthy Way of Life Company (NYSE:LTM) asked more than 1,400 individuals about the power of making commitments versus resolutions, and found that 75 percent are committing to improving their overall fitness, diet and nutrition in the new year, while only 12 percent noted growing in their work or career and 10 percent noted spending more time with family.

The findings were a part of a first-ever survey done by Life Time in honor of Commitment Day, a broad social movement on January 1, symbolizing a commitment to healthy eating, exercise, family, respect, giving and a healthy planet. In 2014, Commitment Day 5K fun walk/run events will be held in 34 cities across the country, with tens of thousands of individuals participating.

"This is the time of year when many people are thinking about making resolutions to improve their health, but it takes a real commitment to achieve long-term success," said Jeff Zwiefel, Life Time chief of operations and executive vice president. "This survey was eye-opening to learn how people — who've already shown some level of commitment to their health — rank their own well-being as they look to 2014. When individuals are healthy, they're typically in a better position to serve their families and improve their work performance. It's in this spirit that we hope these findings will drive others to be inspired to make commitments of their own to live healthier, more active lives in the new year starting with Commitment Day on January 1."

The primary motivators for committing to a healthy, active lifestyle vary; however, the study found most people focus on themselves. Eighty-six percent cited "seeing results" or "improving my health and decreasing existing health risks" as their primary motivator while a mere 11 percent noted "being there for my family," and only 1 percent said they were motivated by financial incentives such as lower insurance costs.

Finally, it seems everyone strives for that ideal weight but, when asked what people would commit to giving up in order to maintain that ideal weight forever, only 3 percent were willing to give up sex while 6 percent would let go of their cell phones. By contrast, 22 percent would forego wearing makeup and 59 percent would easily give up social media to keep the scale at that perfect number.

No matter the motivators or reasons people make commitments, Commitment Day is designed for everyone to take a stand for their own health and an easy way for individuals or families to start a new, healthy tradition. For more information about Commitment Day, or to register for a January 1 fun walk/run near you, visit www.commitmentday.com. Like Commitment Day on Facebook at www.facebook.com/commitmentday and follow the movement on Twitter at www.twitter.com/commitmentday.

Survey Methodology
The Commitment Day survey was conducted by Life Time - The Healthy Way of Life Company^sm among 1,419 U.S. adults ages 18+, who are members of Life Time Fitness or Life Time Athletic destinations, or who have participated in Life Time Athletic Events.

Source: Life Time Fitness, Inc.