I really like goals based on things you can directly control. Weight based goals CAN be motivating, but for some people, they're destructive, especially since you can't really directly control your weight...you can undertake good habits, and the scale STILL won't cooperate, because you ate too much sodium before weigh-in day, it's TOM, you lifted heavy weights and you're swollen...etc. Scale based goals can get destructive if, on day 60 of your "lose 15 lbs in 60 days" challenge, you've only lost 14...for a lot of people, that's "failure", when in reality, it's a tremendous success to lose 14 lbs. I am guilty of feeling like I failed for not meeting "weight by date" goals, so I don't set them anymore.
I DO set goals that I can actively control. Days of eating on plan, minutes of exercise in a month, miles run in a month, etc. I can always choose to meet those goals or not, regardless of what the scale in my bathroom says. And meeting THOSE goals will ultimately help me meet my weight loss goals, just not on a timetable.
So what about setting an exercise goal that's a little bit of a reach for you? Or a number of days on plan type goal?
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