Vice Squad Enters the Case : Business Is Brisk--as Usual--for Those Who Count on ‘Resolutioners’ as Clients

Jennifer Bettridge had only a few resolutions for the New Year: Run a mini marathon by February (she started training Jan. 2), finish a graduate degree from Cal State Long Beach and stop eating M&M; candies.

“I’m probably a little overachieving, huh?” said the 28-year-old Redondo Beach resident. “It’s going to be hard giving up M&Ms.; I’m an addict.”

For help and inspiration with that candy habit--and the marathon training--she hired a personal trainer. And she’s not the only one turning to a professional.

“It’s funny how it works. Most businesses do their best in December, but for the fitness industry, that’s the slowest month. January and February are our busiest,” said Rick Egan, Bettridge’s trainer and owner of Fitness One in Redondo Beach.

The phones at The Advanced Healing Arts Center in Redondo are ringing too, said office manager Charise Anderson, as smokers look for help in kicking their habit. The center’s acupuncture treatment is the first bold-faced listing in the phone book under “Smoker’s Treatment.”

“We’ve had two patients come in to quit smoking just this week,” Anderson said. “Usually we get one or two a month.”

Increasingly this crop of “resolutioners” is better informed about healthy living, South Bay experts say. But that doesn’t mean they’re better motivated to stick with it.

“Eleven years ago when I started this, customers were different,” said Lelia Guilbert, owner and founder of Healthy Lifestyles weight control clinics, which is based in San Pedro. “They exercised less, they were beef eaters and, for the most part, only were aware of what were thought of as the four basic food groups.”

Now, Guilbert says people who sign up for the Healthy Lifestyles program are more aware of good eating habits and the role of exercise in weight loss. However, “awareness doesn’t always make for better choices,” she said.

By June, most resolutioners have forgotten their best intentions, Guilbert said. “After that, they’ll lose interest. They’ll go on vacation, and . . . they’ll forget.”

Guilbert says all her new clients this January will be counseled on how balanced eating and exercise are a lifelong commitment. But, she adds, “Do you think they’ll listen?”

Tammy Dean, an aerobics instructor at Gold’s Gym in Redondo Beach who has been teaching exercise for nine years, says she also has noticed a difference in the New Year’s resolution crowd.

“They know that, unlike the ‘80s when it was ‘no pain, no gain,’ you can and should exercise moderately,” Dean said. “People are putting two and two together and are eating cleaner.”

So are they healthier from the get-go than in the ‘80s? “It’s a little bit of both,” Dean said. She believes that overall, her customers have a better attitude about keeping healthy, and that each year a higher percentage seem to stick to their New Year’s resolutions.

“People are saying, ‘This is something I can’t just start and not finish,’ ” she said. “It’s no longer socially acceptable just to sit on the couch and eat pizza.”

But because customers are not new to the fitness game, Dean says increasingly they are quickly and easily bored, and many lose interest. That’s why Dean varies her aerobics class routines. “I like to keep them guessing,” she said.

Lovy Ebro, a clinical psychologist in Carson, says people are increasingly sophisticated about seeking treatment for what ails them, whether it be physical or emotional.

“Once a person has some education and orientation, they are often more willing to acknowledge something is harmful to them,” Ebro said. “However, the more sophisticated they are and the more they know, the bigger their denial structure can be.”

Or maybe they’re just realistic.

“I’m getting older. I know myself better,” said Redondo Beach resident Wendy Soderberg, who made no resolutions this year. “I never keep resolutions, and people are a little more relaxed than they were 10 years ago. I make a conscious effort to eat right and exercise, but if I want chocolate, I’m going to have it and not feel bad. People are just saying, ‘Hey, you can only do what you do.’ ”