What Your Goal Should Be Instead of Weight Loss

Pursuing health needs to be the goal, not weight loss.

The scale has become a place of fear, anxiety, shame, and frustration. Incredibly strong and powerful people see a number and instantly become ridden with embarrassment, doubt, and shame. Here is the truth, you are this strong and powerful person and it does not have to be this way.

I know this idea of weight loss has become something on your mind constantly.

I see you going out to eat with friends and doing the mental math on how many calories you can eat or the fear of what your friends will think of you.

I see you starting new diets constantly. Looking for one that will allow you to reach your goal weight, then fall into a cycle as you end the diet and find that number creep up.

I know the pressure of making yourself exercise because you have heard it will help you lose weight. Adopting crazy programs and routines hoping it will provide the number you want.

I see you comparing your size to others around you, wondering how they effortlessly maintain their weight.

I see all the things you do in order to lose weight. Then when you have finally reached that weight, the anxiety you have as you fear adding the weight back on.

I see you skipping meals in order to feel better about your weight. Feeling like you have control over it and by not eating you are actively doing something about the weight.

I see you adding slimming products to your workouts or under your clothes to give yourself an illusion of a weight loss.

I see you just wanting to be confident with your own body. Wanting to see yourself as beautiful, attractive, desirable. To be proud of your weight, to not fear your weight and the value you think it holds.

Please let me tell you a truth. Weight Loss is not the answer.

Weight loss is not the key to a healthy life. Weight loss does not equal health. Weight loss does not equal beauty. Weight loss does not give you more value or worth. Weight loss is not an indicator of fitness or health. It does not provide comfort or peace. Weight loss is not the answer you are looking for. It will not provide the answers you want. It will not provide the feeling you want. Weight loss is fleeting. Life happens, weight fluctuates, sizes increase and decrease.

I want to challenge the previous beliefs you have had. The lie that weight or weight loss is a key indicator for your health. This is not true, weight loss is simply a product of your habits and routines in your life. No one just wakes up one day to find themselves having lost or gained a large large amount of weight. Weight is a product of your habits and routines.

Instead our focus needs to be on our HEALTH. Our health is dictated by those daily habits and routines we have that create our lifestyle. They are the invisible guide-rails leading the paths for our lives. Our focus should not be on weight loss, but rather our health and the habits and routines we establish, create, or remove on our journey to a healthier life.

Please do not hear me wrong, being aware of our weight is okay. It is totally okay or normal to make a decision on your health journey to lose weight. We all have areas of our lives in which we can grow in our pursuit of becoming healthier. If for a season losing weight is a goal that is great! But note, it is simply one goal on your health journey. I can assume you have tried a weight loss journey before and it did not lead to the results you were hoping for. I am guessing it involved restrictions and regimes that were not sustainable and while they might have helped you reach satisfactory place on your weight loss journey you found yourself unable to remain there. A health journey encompasses so much more than weight loss, but allows weight loss to be a goal if you so chose. Making weight loss a goal is not wrong, making weight loss your only goal, is.

Health, The New Journey

What is health? What is a health journey? What does it look like? Is it just something I made up? Health is the all encompassing journey involving your mental, physical, and spiritual health. What is most beautiful is these areas of life are all highly unique and individualized to you. What I may find as healthy can literally be the opposite of you and this is beautiful! In my own life I have found daily routines and habits I love that grow me in these three areas. (I will stick to the physical side as it is an area I am qualified to speak on.) Two years ago I became very aware of how my body looked. I had gained weight and was not happy about the way I looked in the mirror and the way it made me feel. For some reason, instead of making my goal to lose weight, I made my goal to get at least 20 minutes of activity in each day. At the time, I was working a 9–5 job in an office and realized I would go several days where my heart rate wasn’t elevated above resting all day. I began to look for interests and hobbies that would allow me to reach this 20 minutes of activity each day and fell back on hobbies I loved growing up like basketball and running. I didn’t have goals for these periods activity and many times would just set a timer and shoot hoops or slowly run until I hit the time. Over time I began to instill this habit to the point where it wasn’t a question if these 20 minutes were going to happen, the question became what would I like to do for my 20 minutes or how can I squeeze my time in even during a busy day. It became something I expected, something I wanted, and something I didn’t question. As I did this my time of activity began to increase and my activities became more engaging. I remember one day, looking at myself in the mirror and totally forgetting I wanted to lose weight. It had become a secondary goal on my health journey, but it had happened as a byproduct of the routines and habits I had developed.

Why Focus on Health Over Weight Loss

A health journey is sustainable, a weight loss journey is not. A health journey will introduce routines and habits into your life that are focused on your health and should be things you enjoy. Routines such as; taking daily walks on your breaks at work to get your heart rate above resting, intentionally taking your dog or child for a walk, or engaging in an active daily are all things that will contribute to your health journey.

When you choose to add a habit of exercise into your life be sure to choose an exercise method or format you will enjoy! If you hate the gym, do not force yourself to go. If you know running is boring then do not chose running as your method of exercise. Choose an exercise method that is sustainable you know you can consistently do! Remember, the goal of this exercise is not to lose weight, your goal is to commit to the exercise consistently.

Weight loss is a goal with countless ways you can fail. Factors like diet, exercise, water weight, when you weigh, what you just ate, or how much sleep you have had can all play a part in the number you see on the scale. Becoming healthier is a goal that can be achieved in countless ways and the only factor that matters is you.

Your New Best Friend, Process Goals

Creating your health goal to be one of consistency or commitment is called a process goal and they need to become your best friend. Most of us know how to make product goals. I will lose 20 pounds, I will run 3 miles, I will be able to fit into this outfit, are all product goals where there is a set ending of the goal. Often times these kind of goals lead to unsustainable behavior to reach the goals and after you revert back to your lifestyle before the goal (think crash diets or extreme exercise). A process goal is different. A process goal is designed to change your habits and daily routines without a set end goal. Goals like, I will exercise for 20 minutes a day, I will walk around my block once a day, I will have one piece of fruit or vegetable every day, are all process goals where the end result is you creating a new sustainable habit. For myself, creating a goal of reaching a certain number of exercise minutes a day led me to getting back into running, which led to a new found passion for fitness, which led me to become a personal trainer to help others in their health journey. I challenge you to look at your life and mindfully create one process goal for yourself. If you are able to check it off on the calendar as done for the day then it is process goal. Look forward each day to hitting your goal and marking off the day on the calendar! Get excited, celebrate it, own it! As your do this you will find yourself doing what it takes to be able to check that day off!

My hope is for you to see the value of embarking on a health journey over a weight loss journey. I want you to be empowered with this tool of process goals. I want you to develop new habits and routines you love that lead you towards a healthier life. My hope is for you to be free from the lie that weight matters, the lie that the number on the scale is connected to your value, confidence, and health. Embark on your health journey and find how strong and powerful you truly are.

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