How to Set Fitness & Wellness Goals You’ll Actually Achieve

You need to plan if you want to succeed! Here’s a few no-nonsense tips and tricks to ‘fall’ into a new fitness & wellness lifestyle.

September is a time for change. Everyone heads back to school, vacations and time by the pool become a little more infrequent, and we all start gearing up for the craziness that’s sure to ensue by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

So with all of this newness, why not add in one more new thing and decide to start a new fitness or diet routine?

Let’s say you decide to start going to the gym on weekday mornings before work or class. For the first few days, it goes really well! You wake up right at your alarm and change into your workout gear and head out for that workout.

You also read online that intermittent fasting is a great way to lose weight, so even though you can’t remember the last time you went for longer than 12 or so hours without eating, you decide to give it a try.

And of course this new lifestyle means that you can’t eat any carbs anymore — they would sabotage your diet! So say goodbye to the oatmeal you used to have every day for breakfast and the sandwich you had for lunch. Instead, you fast through breakfast and pack a lettuce-based salad for lunch.

And why shouldn’t you? That’s healthy, right?

This is how I see the majority of people start out their new healthy lifestyles. But I have never seen them actually progress through using such extreme methods.

Why?

It’s too much.

Think about it! If you haven’t stepped into the gym for months and then commit yourself to workout out every day, your total energy expenditure hikes up, and it hikes up fast. You also decided at the same time to significantly reduce the amount of food your body was used to getting by eliminating carbohydrates from your diet and beginning a fasting routine.

In my experience, this leads to your body going to all-out panic mode. It’s only a matter of time before it starts to rebel against you.

You may be able to sustain this routine for a week or so, but soon you’re going to become tired. Your body will crave carbs. You’ll have headaches. You’ll feel hungry. And since you’re not eating enough to recover from your workouts, you’ll most likely be sore as well.

And that doesn’t sound very healthy, does it?

If you really want to make a change in your health and wellness routine, you need to start small. Limiting your changes ensures that you won’t be spreading your willpower out to too many things. For example, decide to start that fitness routine! But instead of committing yourself to an hour every weekday morning, start out with two or three days a week. That way, you’ll give yourself the flexibility your body and mind need to succeed.

Another small change could be swapping out your typical snack bag of chips at lunch with some carrots and hummus. This one is even easier! And since you’re replacing a food and not eliminating it, you’ll be more likely to stick to your new routine!

You need to define your goals and make a solid action plan to accomplish them. It’s impossible to reach a goal that hasn’t actually been set! Telling yourself that you’re going to ‘be healthier’ in general makes it hard to feel like you’re making any progress.

You don’t need to be setting unrealistic goals and then feeling bad for not achieving them, either. If you set a new goal because you hate something about yourself — like you have to work out to justify eating — you’re never going to be satisfied with your progress.

Instead, set goals that matter to you and focus on achieving them because you love yourself, not because you hate yourself. Sit down and plan out exactly what you want to change. Start in the distant future (like 6 months from now) and work your way back to the present until you’ve created manageable steps to get there.

Another great tip is to focus on a goal that you can control. For example, set a goal of going to the gym three times a week for the next month, not to lose X amount of weight. Why? Because every time you complete a gym session, you’re rewarded with the knowledge that you got out there and did the damn thing, regardless of how your body may respond. We can control our habits, not our body’s responses to them.

And remember: no matter what changes you make, you’re making them with the intent of feeling better. These changes should make you feel good, not ashamed, or bloated, or sad, or exhausted. I recommend starting a journal when you start your new habit and keep track of how you feel. This way, you’ll have a way to troubleshoot if things head off track.

Say you come home one day and eat a few cookies when you usually wouldn’t, and you start to feel guilty about it. Why did that happen? Is it because you’re feeling sad? You didn’t eat enough earlier? Your body was craving it? How do you feel now? Would you repeat this behavior if you knew that this feeling would happen again?

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Stick with me here. I know that phrase is overused in the health and wellness space, but it’s because it’s true.

If you’re currently not happy with how your health and wellness routine is going, stop and think for a second. How long have you been living this way? Months? Years? It took you a long time to get to where you are now, and so why should reversing out of these habits be any different?

The start of a new school year brings about so many fitness challenges and diet groups that it can be overwhelming. You wants to start off the new year strong, but you may not always know how to start. Or you may know how to start, but not how to follow through.

You need a plan, and I’m here to help.

While the internet may offer promises of quick fixes through cookie-cutter programs, no two people are exactly alike, so why should their fitness and wellness plans be? Head to my coaching page to see how I can help you achieve your specific fitness goals. I will work closely with you to provide personalized fitness and wellness plans that, when done together, give you the best odds for reaching your health goals. Every person lives their own life with its own set of challenges, and together we will take steps to tackle yours.

You deserve to live the healthy life you’ve always wanted. Let me help you get there.