subject: Setting Fitness Goals - Three Common Mistakes You Need To Avoid! [print this page] Setting Fitness Goals - Three Common Mistakes You Need To Avoid!
We all do it. We are regularly setting fitness goals throughout our lives but the reality is that only a small percentage achieve them? Why is that? Let me share with you the three main reasons many people set themselves up for failure when they are setting fitness goals and how you can avoid the same mistakes.
First Mistake Setting Fitness Goals - Short sighted motivation.
Weight loss advertisers love to hit you with certain trigger events to get you to buy their latest weight loss product. They usually use short term events like getting ready for a wedding or your high school reunion. The problem with setting fitness goals based on short term events like this is that you set yourself up for failure as you'll see in the two points below. The other problem is that once the wedding or high school reunion is over, you go right back to the unhealthy habits you had before and to no surprise you gain all the weight back and then some.
Second Mistake Setting Fitness Goals - Targeting unreasonable fitness goals based on hype.
Another common mistake that you can make when setting fitness goals is to use advertisements or the results some celebrity achieved to set your goal. Weight loss advertisers know exactly how to get you motivated to buy their product and it's not by making claims of losing a healthy amount of weight or based on a reasonable schedule. Nope, they hit you hard with claims of losing 20 lbs. or more in less than a month and they show you a skinny fitness model in an over-sized pair of pants. The old adage "If it sounds too good to be true..." certainly applies here.
Third Mistake Setting Fitness Goals - Relying on unhealthy or artificial methods.
The methods they promote for reaching these fast approaching events are often unsafe and extreme. They often suggest seriously skewing your diet in an unnatural and unhealthy way. I'm sure you've heard or perhaps even tried some of these fads - eliminating carbs, eating only grapefruit - you know what I'm talking about. Or their main method for "helping" you lose weight involves taking a supplement that's chock full of caffeine or some other herbal component that artificially and perhaps even dangerously messing with your metabolism.
What you can do to avoid these mistakes in setting fitness goals for yourself.
I quickly covered three common mistakes people make when setting fitness goals. The takeaway for you is obviously to avoid these mistakes.
First, think long term when setting fitness goals. Don't focus on a short lived event. If you are going to target a specific event start months in advance and gradually hit your goal. This will make it easier to hit your objective and your results will last longer.
Second, focus on setting fitness goals that make sense for you! Not for some self-obsessed celebrity or based on some advertisers fantasy world. Start with small achievable gains or losses (whichever the case may be) and build on those results. You'll quickly get where you want to be and you'll have more fun celebrating the smaller wins along the way.
Finally, use your common sense on approach. Skip the fad diets and chemically altered thermogenic diet aids and stick to the basics. Eat healthy foods throughout the day in smaller portions, load up on water, and exercise. These common sense steps work every time if you are committed to them and will help you form lifelong habits that will help you maintain the health you envisioned when you originally began setting fitness goals.
