Goal Setting

[MsFit]

Goal Setting
Before you go any further on your weight loss endeavor, I urge you to complete this goal setting section first. This simple task is your map, your plan of action. Without this, you will be running around in circles and completely lost. You wouldn’t want your carpenter to build your house without a set of plans laid out, now would you? If he was to do that, your house could literally fall apart at any given moment. Planning is your security. It’s your insurance.

Think of weight loss planning like going to work everyday. If you simply get up and go to work when you feel like it, chances are you won’t have your job much longer. If you approach weight loss in that same manner, you won’t lose weight. You must plan, schedule, and act.

Goal setting and planning are not short-term actions. You must continue these healthy habits to keep the fat off permanently. If you revert to your old self-sabotaging habits, your weight gain will sneak back quicker than you can imagine.

This part may seem unimportant or a waste of time and energy, but I guarantee you that your success will be much greater if you have a plan developed. If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail. So cliché’, but it’s so true.
(C) 2002 Karen Sessions All Rights Reserved
MsFit

[Roxie]

Thank You MsFit!!! Very inspirational

[MsFit]

Thanks.....

[MsFit]

Reasons to Lose Weight

If you want to be successful with weight loss, you have to have a reason, and a good one. Your reason has to mean something to you. It has to make you want it with an intense desire.

Ask yourself the following questions on why you want to lose weight:
• Do you want to lose weight to feel better about yourself?
• Do you want to achieve weight loss to be healthier?
• Do you want to lose weight and increase a feeling of self-worth?
• Do you want to lose weight to fit into those sexy jeans or that tight dress?
• Do you want to achieve weight loss to wear that bikini?
• Do you want to lose weight to wear those shorts?
• Do you want to lose weight for a wedding?
• Do you want to lose weight to play with your kids or grandchildren?
• Do you want to be successful at weight loss for your class reunion?
• Do you want to lose weight to satisfy a loved one or spouse?
• Do you want to lose weight to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded?

These are all good reasons. The weight loss choice has to be somewhat selfish. It has to be about you. You can’t make a personal choice for someone else. You have to want to lose weight for yourself and no one else. Once you start losing weight for your spouse, family, parents, work, etc., it becomes pointless, and you will not make progress. Don’t focus on making others happy. Do this for YOU. I think you’re worth it, don’t you?

Something very important that I want to mention is not to compare yourself to others, like the skinny model in the latest fashion magazine. A very few percentage of the population are flawless. Take a look at Pamela Anderson. Without makeup, a good hairstylist, and proper lighting, she has a number of flaws. I can also guarantee you that her agent is starving her, or she has an eating disorder. Be yourself, better yourself, and be happy with yourself.

(C) 2002 Karen Sessions All Rights Reserved

[Bignbuff]

Good stuff MsFit

[kpbc1365]

Good stuff, just what i needed because i started my ''diet'' (Diets dont work has to be a lifestyle change) yeasterday

[Alicat]

Originally posted by MsFit
You can’t make a personal choice for someone else. You have to want to lose weight for yourself and no one else.

This is so true, but not just for weight loss - for anything. You have to make sure you do things for the right reasons, and, no matter what it is, if your only reason for doing it is that someone else wants you to, or you think someone else will like you better if you do it... then you're doing it for the wrong reason. The only person anyone is truly accountable to, is themself - if you're gonna do something, do it for you because, in the end, the only person who will be there for/with you... is you.

[quickly_gains]

it's people like you that makes this sport great !! well i'm bulking right now,so it's the total opposite of trying to lose weight.

[kaylers]

This thread is awesome! I have just been looking through bookstores to try to find a book on 'goal-setting'. I tend to get funny looks when I ask for a book like this, however I'm really interesting in planning, mapping and working towards something. I knew someone who wrestled and made this goal map above their bed. It was a monthly/yearly chart of all the things they had accomplished and when leading up to the final goal of winning OFSAA.
If anyone else know how to do this please let me know? If you have any books that you can suggest? Websites anything!!

[Anima]

man is this true. I used to try to diet to make myself more attractive to other people but hated myself. Once I learned to love myself enough to change ly lifestyle fundamentally, it was not a question of giving things up so much as beginning a metamorphosis and takign my body into MY control, not that of my psychological needs and problems.

To change, you have to break things down to a fundamental level and work back up from that. For me, I had to hit rock bottom emotionally, physically and spiritually. Only then was I able to burn out all of the old habits and desires and problems and start fresh.... but now that it has happened, a LOT of things ahve become easier. I am still a fair way from my goal but I have done things even in the last 2 WEEKS that I could never do before, and that is a BUZZ.....

The change of diet has been an eye opener for me.... I thought I woudl miss some things sooo much, but when I am confri-onted with them now, I still feel desire, yes, but I can now see it in a relative worth situation.. is it worth a moment of pleasure to have to lose ground on the road to my transformation? No. I can be strong by inches, by kilos, by one more rep, by not cheating a little on ly workout, by not taking the elevator for once..... each tiny bit adds up, grows.....

Goals are Grails. You have to want it more than anything else, make it your pole star.... and then it becomes easy, suprisingly. My goals are small, weekly, and suprisingly, have been working..... the more I learn the faster they seem to happen....

LOL helps if you have a wee bit of anger to burn off as well LOL!!!

[Tracy M]

This is my first day here...I can already tell I'll really like it here with you ladies. Thanks for the extra motivation!
My goal: Ms Fitness 2005 Kentucky.
That willl be my first show so I am aiming HIGH!!!

[NEWDOTY05]

Great infor Msfit!

[vanessa40]

It is so true..i tried before to lose weight for all the wrong reasons..this time i'm doing it for me...
Thanks....
Vanessa

[qudeshah0lily]

I need some pals to help me through my goals. I would try doing it all on my own, but I've learned that doesn't work for me, I need a support system. I am over weight. However, my goal is not to just lose weight, but to also become a cut muscular person. I would love to compete someday.. that idea really excites me. But, I am very new to bodybuilding in general.
I've lived my whole life with my brother and cousins who are tall and lean.. then there is me... I'm 240 lbs now (5'6")... it's really scary. I don't want to gain more weight. All my life, looking at my family.. I have asked myself.. 'where are my genes that make me look like that?' Now, I've learned I'm going to have to work for in, and in the end I know that I will appriciate my accomplishment all the more for it.
I have taken a before picture.. nah, you don't want to see it.. not yet...
My goal right now is to lose 40 lbs..(then about 50+ later)... and build muscle.. If you have any experience with either subject and can lend me a hand... please do.. you can IM me on AIM at qudeshah0lily. Or.. I guess reply to this
I am also going to try out xenedrine and gluggle.. or something... so if you can offer me advice for either of those drugs I'd appriciate that as well...
thanks!

[mommykuce]

Originally Posted by qudeshah0lily

I need some pals to help me through my goals. I would try doing it all on my own, but I've learned that doesn't work for me, I need a support system. I am over weight. However, my goal is not to just lose weight, but to also become a cut muscular person. I would love to compete someday.. that idea really excites me. But, I am very new to bodybuilding in general.
I've lived my whole life with my brother and cousins who are tall and lean.. then there is me... I'm 240 lbs now (5'6")... it's really scary. I don't want to gain more weight. All my life, looking at my family.. I have asked myself.. 'where are my genes that make me look like that?' Now, I've learned I'm going to have to work for in, and in the end I know that I will appriciate my accomplishment all the more for it.
I have taken a before picture.. nah, you don't want to see it.. not yet...
My goal right now is to lose 40 lbs..(then about 50+ later)... and build muscle.. If you have any experience with either subject and can lend me a hand... please do.. you can IM me on AIM at qudeshah0lily. Or.. I guess reply to this
I am also going to try out xenedrine and gluggle.. or something... so if you can offer me advice for either of those drugs I'd appriciate that as well...
thanks!

I don't recommend any kind of fat burners or anything like that until you have experimented with your diet and training and have exhausted those options, and besides sometimes people have other health issues like high blood pressure that go along with being overweight. I don't have the experience with being overweight, but most of my family was always over weight and I do have nutritional knowledge. I remember any time my mother would go on a diet she would do good in the beginning and just go back to her old habits after a while. That is probably one of the hardist things you might face, it gets easy to fall back into old habits after a while. Have you tried any programs or anything like that? The first thing you are going to need to do is start eating properly. There is a woman who has a journal posted who lost so much weight and tracked her progress, but I can't think of her name now (hopefully someone might help us on that one). She is an inspiration to everyone who needs support or just to see that a realy person can accomplish their goals with hard work and dedication. Besides eating properly, you should start a workout program. A lot of women are raving about the Firm videos. They sound like a great place to start. Why don't you start a journal on this site? It is a great way to get advice and support from other women, and also a great way to keep a check on what you do. Start by posting your stats and goals, and also an example of what you eat on a daily basis and if you have any workouts or activities.

[nataliadrake]

All of my life from childhood, adolescent, up into my adult life I have been in a constant struggle to control my weight. I would love to be able to have more energy than I have now, to be able to wear a pair of jeans, and feel more comfortable in my own skin. The hardest part for me sometimes is being at work when someone sees me eating something healthy and they stop and ask me what it is. Or if I am reading one of the fitness magazines and they comment on how unnatural the women in the magazines look. The first time I got interested in weight lifting was when I saw Terminator 2 and I admired Linda Hamilton's arms and how I wanted mine to look that way. But I have to work hard and be patient thiis time I want to see this through and reach my goal.

[MsFit]

Devise a Plan
Once you have your reason to lose weight, you will need to devise a plan of action. How much weight do you want to lose? This is the tricky part, so don’t jump ahead of me. You have to crawl before you can walk, and you have to walk before you run. You did not gain the weight in a week, and therefore, it is not possible to take it off in a week. But I promise you that if you follow this plan, you will see changes weekly, anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds a week depending on your current weight, fitness level, and health status.
(C) Copyright 2002 Karen Sessions All rights Reserved

[B.deVille]

next to that, can one make a plan for another person, in order to shape her/him up for whatever you want ?

[BIGDUBBDEISEL]

Thank you so much!!!!

[thugnation213]

Yea thanks!! Good idea!

[BanrionTine]

I'm the opposite of most of you ladies...have grown up thin most of my life. Most of my family tends to fat, though, especially as they get older, and I know I don't want to end up there. So my goal right now isn't so much to lose weight, as it is not to gain it. I want to feel strong and have more energy. How do I set goals for that?

[Jaysmum]

Yep some great advice and info. For me losing weight journey has also been about facing my emotional triggers as well, I used to eat when sad, happy, anxious, you name it..now I am so very aware of that and I don't do it anymore. It has made me face alot of issues in my life, not just being overweight but it is really good as I feel the first time in years this time is about "me" I am doing this journey for me.
I have started out slow and with small goals to get to my big one so that it doesnt overwhelm me.
As people say is takes months.. years for the body to get fat so it doesnt dissapear over night. As I always say to myself each day you reap what you sow and with anything in life if you don't acheive your goal you didn't want it badly enough.

[lilmisstinygirl]

WOW what an inspirational thread. I haven't been on here hardly at all. I actually signed up at the behest of my best friend. I have been very lax on setting goals other than the very original "lose weight and tone" category. I can see how setting specific goals and maintaining them will help. I am at the low of the low for motivation however and hope that I can gain some encouragement and new friends here.

[clarke25]

Originally Posted by MsFit

Reasons to Lose Weight

If you want to be successful with weight loss, you have to have a reason, and a good one. Your reason has to mean something to you. It has to make you want it with an intense desire.

Ask yourself the following questions on why you want to lose weight:
? Do you want to lose weight to feel better about yourself?
? Do you want to achieve weight loss to be healthier?
? Do you want to lose weight and increase a feeling of self-worth?
? Do you want to lose weight to fit into those sexy jeans or that tight dress?
? Do you want to achieve weight loss to wear that bikini?
? Do you want to lose weight to wear those shorts?
? Do you want to lose weight for a wedding?
? Do you want to lose weight to play with your kids or grandchildren?
? Do you want to be successful at weight loss for your class reunion?
? Do you want to lose weight to satisfy a loved one or spouse?
? Do you want to lose weight to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded?

These are all good reasons. The weight loss choice has to be somewhat selfish. It has to be about you. You can?t make a personal choice for someone else. You have to want to lose weight for yourself and no one else. Once you start losing weight for your spouse, family, parents, work, etc., it becomes pointless, and you will not make progress. Don?t focus on making others happy. Do this for YOU. I think you?re worth it, don?t you?

Something very important that I want to mention is not to compare yourself to others, like the skinny model in the latest fashion magazine. A very few percentage of the population are flawless. Take a look at Pamela Anderson. Without makeup, a good hairstylist, and proper lighting, she has a number of flaws. I can also guarantee you that her agent is starving her, or she has an eating disorder. Be yourself, better yourself, and be happy with yourself.

(C) 2002 Karen Sessions All Rights Reserved

I have to agree with you. doing anything for someone else will never work. I have started taking my health in my won hands and doing if for me. I have had a lot of walls to tear down and still face obsticals but I stll keep it in check and to get back on track and keep one thing in mind and that is me. I can recall I have a discussion with someone who was being a bit of a jerk and said you alwasy get upset if you miss a few days without exersiseing... and if I was in the right mind I would of said well of course cause I have missed an oportunity to do something good for my body un like your self... this person smokes and eats a lot of junk food ... I thouhgt imagin who upset this person would of been if he had to go a few days with out smoking. atleat I am upset about a good thing not an unhealthy choice. I only wishe d I had said ti at the time cause the person who watches my kids when I exersise needs to see how important this is to me and if he cares about me he will see it is somthing that needs to be done just like the bab needs clean diapers or clothes or we need the house cleaned. or he has to do his job the way his boss wants it .

[fattybumbum]

I had my goals in place before I started. I have to say I'm pretty much unconcerned with weight - it is bodyfat I want to lose and lean muscle I want to gain. My 'before' photo's are so horrendous and I don't want to be in that place again, still a long ways to go but I know I am on the right track with how my clothes are feeling.

Just reading the posts and articles on this site and seeing all the buff ladies on here inspires me no end. I know I can do it, I will do it, I AM doing it.

x

[AdamB2]

I've been lifting proberly for 2 years and I've set set a goal. After being dropped from by rugby team and become so determined to get into the team that I'm so focused. For the first time in my life I have set goals and am seeing the mental results, I advise anybody working out to set goals believe me it helps u reach your true potenciall(i know I spelt that wrong)
G'luck

[afitchik]

Originally Posted by MsFit

Goal Setting
Before you go any further on your weight loss endeavor, I urge you to complete this goal setting section first. This simple task is your map, your plan of action. Without this, you will be running around in circles and completely lost. You wouldn’t want your carpenter to build your house without a set of plans laid out, now would you? If he was to do that, your house could literally fall apart at any given moment. Planning is your security. It’s your insurance.

Think of weight loss planning like going to work everyday. If you simply get up and go to work when you feel like it, chances are you won’t have your job much longer. If you approach weight loss in that same manner, you won’t lose weight. You must plan, schedule, and act.

Goal setting and planning are not short-term actions. You must continue these healthy habits to keep the fat off permanently. If you revert to your old self-sabotaging habits, your weight gain will sneak back quicker than you can imagine.

This part may seem unimportant or a waste of time and energy, but I guarantee you that your success will be much greater if you have a plan developed. If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail. So cliché’, but it’s so true.
(C) 2002 Karen Sessions All Rights Reserved
MsFit

That's so true !

An excellent thread to help newbies like me get into shape.

Thanx !

[user4894514884]

MY GOALS:

I just quit smoking 3 weeks ago. i would like to complete the grouse grind hike in vancouver.

next year i would like to compete in a figure comp

and get into fitness modeling.

[Ladykb]

Great infor and you are right.

[KarenPhil]

I'm new to bodyspace & I think I def need to work on goals. Ms. Fit I'm on your Iron Dolls email list, by the way. I have been running in circles in the gym for the past 4 years! I like the way I look and feel but I'm ashamed to say my results have been what most people accomplish in half the time or less. I know a lot of that has to do with my diet, which needs to change completely but my workouts probably aren't as effective as they could be. How should I get started tracking it all & making sure I get results sooner? Time keeps slipping by & I'm not getting any younger. LOL