How are you doing with your goals? Whether you officially entered the T-Tapp 60 Day Challenge or not, you probably have some goals. Things like….
Lose 20 lbs.
Get into the next size jeans
Look good in short sleeves by spring
Be able to fit back into that favorite dress in the back of my closet
All good goals! Or maybe you have some short term goals that look like this…
Work out 4 days each week
3 key moves on off days
Up my water intake
Eat fewer carbs
Those are great goals as well!
But what IS the ultimate goal? Weight loss, inch loss, size loss?
WAIT! Didn’t I just say those were good goals?
Yes, they are, but there are a few goals that are even better. Once you set these goals and change your mindset, you can withstand the fluctuations that happen along the way to weight/inch/size loss goals. You are not so hard on yourself, and rather than seeing slip-ups as failures, you know they are simply a part of the journey and won’t derail you–if you keep your eyes fixed on these ultimate goals.
And what are those?
Fitness. Toning. Wellness. WHOLEness!
Fitness: in good physical condition; in good health
Toning: gaining or to cause to gain in strength
Wellness: the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort
Wholeness: not wounded, injured, or impaired; sound or unhurt; having been restored; healed
And wholeness, the last one, would encompass physical, mental and spiritual components–well, the whole! 🙂
When you make inch or weight loss your goal, it is easy to give up when you are not seeing results. Even making one aspect of your health a goal, say, lowering blood pressure, can lead to disappointment when the desired result is not readily appearing.
But when you make fitness, toning, wellness and wholeness your goal–you know you’re in it for the long haul! Of course you will have short term goals to get there, but they won’t be based on a certain number by a certain date. Rather, they will be little steps and decisions that will help propel you forward to the ultimate goal of good health, fitness and wholeness–mind, body and soul.
Once you set your sights on something beyond the sometimes frustrating roller coaster ride of numbers, it helps you enjoy the journey more. And by keeping your attitude positive, you will give a boost to your health as well.
Over my 6 year journey (so far) in T-Tapp, I have had many times of re-evaluating my goals. At first, I thought I would be at goal size by 2 years–and I guessed a size 10/12 would be close. Weelll….that didn’t quite happen! How about inch loss? Would you believe there was a 6 month period of time I lost 40+ inches and not one size?! Then the weight loss…um….lost 25 lbs. my first year, then gained 10 back and stayed there for another year or so. Kept losing sizes though, so I finally quit worrying about the scales!
About halfway through my journey I realized I wanted more than just a certain size–I wanted wholeness—to be well enough to enjoy a smaller size!
My attitude has changed greatly–right now I am up 2 1/2 sizes from where I was last year. I reached that smallest-size-in-23-years point, but was not as healthy as I would have liked. Now, I’m not planning on staying where I am, but I am committed to losing a size or two while continuing to heal my adrenals. I often say, “What’s the good of getting to your goal size if you aren’t healthy enough to enjoy it?!”
As we keep the ultimate goals of fitness, toning, and wellness before us, it helps us smoothe over the bumpy parts of the ride, not letting detours or rough roads throw us totally off course!
Nothing wrong with setting a realistic goal and smaller goals to reach that goal–but let’s not leave out the ultimate goal of wholeness–and not getting so caught up in numbers that we can’t enjoy the journey!
Picture credit: jayneandd
Exactly right, what good is being skinny if I am sick?
I Want to be fabulously fit….and I don’t know what that looks like for me, but I know what it does not look like!
So I march on…..
Fabulously fit–I like that!
LOVE this post! So true! I’ve read of people who learned to be successful dieters and lose the weight, who had no idea what to focus on when they arrived at their goal weight. Long-term, big-picture goals help us realize WHY we want to get to a healthy weight. Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
On a similar note, I heard a speaker proclaim that there are no such things as unreasonable goals (I’m not sure I agree with THAT, but I liked what he said next), but there ARE unreasonable deadlines. Instead of feeling like a failure because we missed a deadline, his suggestion was to recognize that we had originally set an unreasonable deadline, set a NEW deadline, and move on.
Blessings! You’re inspirational!