What I wish i knew when i started my body transformation part 2 - define your goals
The biggest stumbling block for many is understanding WHAT you are trying to achieve on your journey. If you were like me, I wanted to lose weight - that was it - how much weight you ask? No idea! I just pulled a number out my arse and said 30kg. Luckily with the help of my coach he was able to extract more information out of me to make sure that the goals in my head were clearly defined and understood by myself and him.
It’s easy to say you want to lose weight, lose fat, get toned, build muscle and so on but the hard thing is making it a goal that you can visualise, stick to and achieve.
In the past I had set myself many goals - before my journey, my previous goal was to lose 30kg (again, no idea why I picked 30kg, maybe it was the number that the BMI said I should be) but that was my only goal. How was I going to achieve it? Well I created a roadmap of different weight milestones that I can tick off on my journey. It looked great but that was all I had. I think this was during the great Covid lockdown of 2021 so I couldn’t go to the gym so luckily I bought a bench and weights for a makeshift gym downstairs. I set off on my goal motivated and enthused to be the skinny bastard I dreamed off. I was attempting workouts I found on the internet and following along to HIIT sessions on Youtube alongside eating less food - and for the first few weeks I saw some progress. My weight was coming down and I was able to track my progress on my makeshift chart.
However by the third week I was straying from my restrictive diet, I was missing a day, then 2 days, then 3 of exercise and I got to the point where looking at my chart was no longer motivating, but a reminder of my failure and lack of self discipline.
I’m sure you can all relate to similar experiences of starting a “health kick” and it crashing and burning after a few weeks or months. So what can we do to avoid this?
PLAN!!!
Know your why
What was my why?
For myself I wanted to lose weight, why? Because I was a hefty lad that needed to lose the kilos - why? Because I was overeating and mistreating my body with instant gratification, food and alcohol. Why? Because I was miserable and was using food as a comfort. Why? I was depressed and had no self worth or respect.
Woah that was deep! Let’s get out of that hole! But asking yourself Why can sometimes identify the root causes behind your goals as well as throwing some motivation to keep you pushing forward to achieve your goal.
So begin with defining a goal you want, this could be to lose weight, get in shape or start running - whatever you want. Then ask yourself why?
“Why do I ask Why?” I hear you say?
This is to delve deeper into your reasons for your goal and help you understand your real motivation to meet this goal. Now this can get a little deep but it’s really important to help understand your why for this goal.
This is a really important step, especially when you get to those moments in your journey where it’s getting hard and you want to give up (they will happen and it’s 100% natural). Your why is the reason to keep pushing yourself because only you know the real reason you want to achieve your goal.
Let’s be SMART about this…
So now you understand your why and what you want to achieve we can tailor it into a SMART format.
Like anything in life, if you want to achieve success, you need to plan it out. There are many techniques you can follow, but for me, creating S.M.A.R.T goals is what worked for me. If you don’t know what S.M.A.R.T is it stands for Specific. Meaurable. Achievable. Realistic. Time (definitions may vary depending on who you ask).
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As the name suggests, make sure your goal is specific and not open ended. For example instead of saying you want to lose weight - say how much weight you’d like to use. Instead of saying you want to tone up - instead specify body measurements like you want to achieve a 30” inch waist. You might even have some jeans you haven’t fit in for a while that you’d like to wear again. This will really help on your journey as you have that end point that you can aim towards and definitely know when you have met your goal.
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This could be a bias coming from a techie/IT background but numbers do not lie. They are the simplest way to track progress and understand you’re heading in the right direction.
If you’re on a weight loss goal then numbers on the scale are an easy measure (I will come b k to this in another blog). Trying to build muscle? Composition scanners that can measure muscle % or weight are great methods.
Trying to tone up? That’s a hard one to measure so this is where setting body measurement goals is ideal as it gives you a clear definitive number to measure and track.
Are you trying to run more? Then you can track distances ran, time spent running or number of runs per week.
Whatever you goal is, give it a measurable component. That you can track throughout.
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Is it possible to achieve what you want? Especially in the timeframe you are setting?
I’ve done the same thing where I start, I’m motivated and I want to get things done as quickly as possible but there are some things that just can’t be achieved. Don’t fall for the headlines for fad diets that promise you’ll have a 6 pack in a week by eating cabbage soup, doing 1000 sit-ups a day and giving yourself a coffee enema every 5 minutes - ok maybe that a bit of an exaggeration but the point is that we all want to achieve our goals as quickly as possible.
But the common mistake that many people make is trying too much too soon. If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s unrealistic to lose more than a kilo or 2 a week without going on a severe calorie restrictive diet. If you’re wanting to lose 20 kg are you willing to only eat 1200 calories a day for 10-20 weeks? I know I’m not!
Don’t set a goal to go to the gym everyday if you don’t go at all - the moment you miss a day, you’ll feel like a failure and may give up on the goal entirely - instead aim to go at least twice a week for 12 weeks. If you go more, great! After 12 weeks you can increase your goal to suit your new schedule.
This works in the opposite direction too - your goal should be challenging - setting a weight loss goal of 1 kg over - 12 weeks if you are obese is something that most people could achieve with minimal effort.
If your goal is too hard it can become daunting then you are more likely to avoid it or put it off, if it’s too easy it will get boring and you’ll get distracted with something else. So make sure your goal is achievable but will challenge you.
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Make sure this goal relates to your what and why at the start. If I want to lose weight but set myself the goal to make my bed every morning - it’s a nice goal to have but it’s not necessarily going to help you lose weight.
Trying to lose weight or change body shape? Then calories and workouts will be your relatable goals.
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When are you going to achieve this goal? Do you have a holiday coming up? An event like a wedding or work party? These are great deadlines to work too.
But remember to keep things achievable - don’t give yourself 2 weeks to lose 20kg. Otherwise you’ll end up on the never ending yoyo diet train of restrictive eating, massive weight loss and then continuing old habits and gaining more weight than you started with.
You will want to utilise short, mid and long term goals - your long term goal could be lose 20 kg in 12 months. Your mid would be to lose 10 kg after 6 months and your short would be to lose 1.5 - 2 kg a month. These different milestones will keep you motivated and engaged to smash your goals and continue heading in the right direction to meet your ultimate goal.
What are my body goals?
So to finish off I’m going to share my current body goals and how I’ve developed it into a SMART goal.
I want to reduce fat around my mid section
S - I want to be in the range of 10-15% body fat
M - measure body fat % using my body composition scales
A - I’m currently around 16% so yes. I am also focussing on building this blog, getting my PT certifications and gaining Aussie residency this year so it’s realistic to assume these goals will impact how much effort I can put into losing body fat.
R - yes this will relate to my goal to reduce fat around mid section
T - I want to achieve this by November 2025 (Aussie summer)
I will share and track my progress on my instagram account and on here.
So there we have it - set yourself some SMART goals to make sure you are starting on the right track with your body transformation journey. You will likely have 2 or 3 SMART goals that you are tracking (don’t overwhelm yourself with too much). And the great thing is, when you meet your goals you can then create new goals to continue improving and growing your potential.
I’ve focussed on body examples here but you can apply this to anything in your life. Trying to get a promotion? Or start a business? Or save for a house deposit? These skills are transferable to many aspects of life so give it a whirl.
Good luck guys on your journeys - I would love to hear your goals and please reach out to me if you have any questions or need any help.