Let's get this goal started, SPECIFICALLY

Let us begin with a SPECIFIC goal.  What is your long term goal?  If you are reading this blog, then I suggest it be fitness related as that is what we will be focusing on here.

I will be using a general goal here as an example.

My goal is to lose 10 pounds (not specific enough)
My goal is to lose 1-2 pounds per week (better, but needs more)
My goal is to lose 1-2 pounds per week in the next 5 weeks. (This is a very specific goal)

Hmm…needs more.  What is my plan to lose the weight?

I need to think of the things I might like to do.
I like the gym (but I don't know what to do there)
I like exercise videos
I like basketball
I like running
I like walking

I will begin with exercise videos that I can get from the library, Netflix, or Goodwill.  On good weather days I will walk outside 15 minutes in one direction and 15 minutes back.  I will do this 4 to 5 days a week before work.

Nutrition
I will focus on adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet
Right now I drink 1 beer every night, I will focus on drinking one beer every other night instead

Oops, I almost forgot to mention why I want to achieve this goal!

The very first reasons that have driven me to achieve this goal is to rid myself of the guilt.  I feel so guilty about my weight and how sedentary I have become.  I am tired of my feet hurting when I stand for long periods of time.  I want to go places and feel confident about myself.  Also there is this vacation and it involves Hawaii and a beach and a long flowing white swimsuit cover up I will be wearing.

Next post will be MEASURABLE.

Please feel free to give me feedback in the comments and/or on my Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/yourfitnessstory

Autumn and Pumpkin Spice

Ahhh, the promise of Autumn.  Yesterday I was enjoying a rainy morning with my sister, which was a welcome change with all of the brush fires Washington has been experiencing.  She was telling me how Fall is now her favorite season and how she was excited for the burst of color that happens this time of year.

As I reflect on last year, my second year of personal training, my first year working in a fitness center, I can see sort of a pattern.  The way I thought it was going to go, and how it actually went were very different.  For instance, my business didn't really pick up until the end of September.  Then in January when everyone states that New Years resolutions bring in the crowds, that was not true for my experience.  January was my weakest month.  Summer is another time of year where people just don't make it to the gym…it's pretty obvious why.

With the Autumn upon us and all those pumpkin spice latte's everyone talks about swigging down, I sure hope they plan to get their workout on!  I too dream of sitting in a coffee shop, or wrapped up in a blanket on my couch with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand, watching the fire dance in the stove while I read a good novel.  But then I hear the record scratch and get jerked back to reality.

While there is a time and a place for those moments that seem to be too few and far between with work, after school activities, homework, dinner prep, menu planning, laundry…you get the picture, there is an even bigger need for goal setting.  I assure you it is not enough to just say "Winter is upon me and I am going to take these next 7 or 9 months to really get in shape!" and wait for our bellies to magically shrink.  It doesn't work that way.  We need goals and we need them to be specific.  The only way I have ever been able to succeed in anything I set out for, was to plan a goal that included specific ideals and processes to get what I wanted.

Next post will be the beginning of goal planning…stay tuned!