Week 6 - Goal Setting

I have taken a two month break from writing this blog. The break, however, was not intended. The Gym Rat hit a brick wall and began wallowing in apathy over his fitness goals. The Gym Rat became discouraged but never gave up. He kept on track, but he just stopped writing. After all, who would ever read my silly little blog.

The truth is, I didn't take the time to carefully construct my fitness goal. As you may notice in my right side bar, I want to lose 30 lbs by the end of July. So far, I have only lost 3 lbs. It appears that I have done a great job of maintaining my weight.

In thinking back when I began this blog, I probably didn't think carefully about my fitness goal.
When you set your goal, whether it be to lose weight or lose a few notches on the ol' belt or do 100 consecutive push ups, you must first take a step back and determine your "fitness mission."

Determining your fitness mission can be answered by asking yourself the question, "Why do I want to lose weight?, or why do I want to lose a few notches on my belt?, etc.

Once you've clearly stated why you want to reach a goal (your objective) then the process of reaching the goal becomes more clear. You will then have a purpose.

In my case, my mission is to be able to remain mobile while into my middle to senior years. I'm motivated by images of others around me. When I was at a movie theatre recently, I saw a very over-weight man sitting in a wheelchair. I didn't really know the circumstances of how he became overweight. I can't judge him on this; however, I do know I didn't want to look like this when I reached his age. I want to remain mobile and vibrant as long as possible. I even find myself moving away from friends who were negative-minded and didn't live a healthy lifestyle. If you associate too much with them, you will become much like them if you don't watch it!

With my fitness mission being to remain mobile as long as I can in life, I need to revise my goal. How do I intend to remain mobile? I will remain mobile by going to the gym 3-4 times a week and walking about one hour over each weekend. This will be my fitness goal.

Forget my weight loss goal! There is a lot here that is not within my control. I was not obese when I began writing my blog. I probably only need to lose another 20 lbs to be satisfied. When I put on muscle when I workout, my weight will tend to go up, but that's OK. It is better than gaining fat.

Set up your fitness goals to allow you to succeed, not fail, although they must be challenging. With a demanding job and other committments, sometimes it is challenging enough to workout 4 days a week. This is my goal: To work out consistently week to week and to stay active.

You will never see staying glued to the TV. I will strive to associate myself with others who enjoy staying active.

To recap:
Step 1: Write your fitness mission - What do you want to achieve and why?
Step 2: Write your fitness goal(s) - How will you achieve your mission?
Step 3: Review your mission and goals to ensure that they are achievable.

Make sure your goals are SMART
I'm interested in hearing about your own fitness mission and goals. Let's learn from and inspire each other!