Commit to a Healthier You in 2013

Life Time Fitness trainer Karie Stringer sees the annual uptick around New Year’s Day and into the first three months of a new year.

There’s a big push from members and new members with New Year’s resolutions to lose weight.

Stringer doesn’t necessarily think losing weight is a good New Year’s resolution. It’s all about being healthy, she said.

“I’m looking for people to change their lifestyles,” the Algonquin-based endurance coach said. She is also the Run Club coordinator for the Algonquin fitness center, which serves Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and the surrounding towns.

Life Time Fitness Commitment Day, a 5k run on Jan. 1 in downtown Chicago, is the perfect way to make that change.

About 300 members of the Algonquin fitness center will be joining people from across the suburbs to run or walk in the 5k race at Grant Park.  

Registration is ongoing and anyone, whether they have a Life Time Fitness membership or not, is welcomed. The cost is $34 for members and $39 for nonmembers. Kids under 17 are free with a paying adult. The race starts at 10 a.m.

There will be a post-race celebration where everyone receives a T-shirt and a journal. The journal helps people continue with their fitness goals throughout the year, Stringer said.

“Commitment Day is for everyone. It’s not just people running, it’s people walking or walking with strollers. It’s for everyone getting committed to getting a new year off right,” Stringer said.

Some Life Time Fitness members have been training for eight weeks, Stringer said. She advises clients to focus not on losing weight but focus on setting small goals that will result in a healthy lifestyle. A small goal may be getting to the gym three times a week for three months. A second goal may be training for a 5k race, she said.

“You want to set goals that are achievable, then work toward big ones,” Stringer said. “You want to (set) goals that get bigger and help you become healthy for life not just for a moment.”