Losing weight and getting fit are standard New Year’s goals, and Northwestern students are no exception when it comes to making these resolutions.

The Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center has been “just crazy” the last two days, said Betty Scott, SPAC’s director of operations and personnel.

“You get that big boom of people from New Year’s resolutions,” Scott said.

January and February are the top two months of the year of attendance at SPAC, Scott said. She has worked there since the facility opened in 1987.

The first week students return to campus Winter Quarter is generally a “big crunch,” she said.

Vishnu Potini’s resolution for 2006 is to “make an effort to work out every day.”

But the Weinberg junior said this same plan hasn’t stuck in the past.

“Last year, I started the same New Year’s resolution and once midterms started, I stopped going,” Potini said.

This seems to be a typical predicament for students who attempt to start the new year exercising regularly.

Kavisa Cyprian, a student supervisor at SPAC, said the influx “definitely fades out after three weeks.”

The length of the wait for machines is a good measure of how busy SPAC is, Cyprian said.

“Normally, it’s to the point where you don’t want to work out because it’s so packed, but this year, it’s not that bad,” the McCormick senior said.

Cyprian said fraternity and sorority rush, which start early this month, could be a reason people work out more in January.

“One of my friends mentioned people are probably trying to look their best for rush,” she said.

Indoor facilities, like SPAC, also get crowded when it’s too cold to exercise outside, Scott said.

But the opposite can be true as well.

Katie Marangola said she has started the new year off by going to the gym more often. But she said the cold might keep her away.

“I’m more likely to be outside and going to the gym during Fall and Spring quarters than during winter,” the Weinberg sophomore said.

Reach Elizabeth Campbell at [email protected].