Hello and welcome to the Body By Patrick podcast. Once again, my name is Patrick Ocheni. I am super excited to be with you all today. The topic of today’s podcast is, how to set goals to lose weight without the stress, frustration, or overwhelm.
The way this topic came about is, a personal training client of mine had just come back from taking time off of working out and exercising in general. And she said, “Patrick, I feel like I’m just starting from scratch. And, I want to know, how do I set goals so that I don’t feel stressed out”?
I want to first let you know that your goals, when it comes to losing weight or getting in shape, is going to evolve over time and it should evolve.
The second thing you’ve got to realize is that, you’ve got to have the right mindset.
One of the biggest mistake that I’ve noticed in my many years of being a personal trainer and training hundreds of people is that, when people start a fitness journey they try to do too much too soon.
The first type of goal that I work with my client on is, measurement goals.
What do I mean by that?
For example, when you first start your fitness journey, you might determine that your waist is size 28. And then, you want to get to a lesser size.
The other type of goal that I set with my clients is what’s called, activity goals.
This comes in very handy when somebody has not exercised in a while.
For example, Ms. Jones, right now, my first goal for you is just to get started, to get used to coming into the gym to see me on a regular basis.
That would be an example of an activity goal.
The third type of goal that I set for my clients is what’s called, performance goals.
That means that well on day one, when you came in, you can only do one pushup. By day 30, we want to be able to do five pushups. That would be an example of a performance goal.
The other type of goal Is nutrition goals. This is all about improving your eating habits over time.
I want to emphasize here that, all these goals are things you work on over time. This is a journey, this is not a sprint.
You have to get away from the mindset of trying to get it all done now– the microwave mentality.
You have to understand that, trying to lose weight too quickly is not always in your best interest. Our ultimate goal is not simply to lose weight, but to also be able to keep it off over time. And, the only way you’ll be able to do that is by setting realistic goals for yourself.
Going back to the diet goals, I’m not expecting you to go from eating junk food all day long to all of a sudden to stop cold turkey.
Is that possible? Yes, it is possible.
Anything in theory is possible, right?
But that’s not my expectation.
When I get a new client, I say to them, hey look, Ms. Jones, I noticed that you go to eat out at a fast food restaurant seven days a week. Why don’t we cut it back down to six or five days a week?
This would be an example of setting diet goals for yourself.
The last type of goal I like to set with my clients is what’s called, habit goals.
Ultimately, the key to having a successful weightloss is by changing your habits over time.
What’s an example of an habit goal?
Not eating in bed. And, another one would be not eating on the run. Actually getting your meal, sitting down and enjoying the food.
Those are five ways that I set goals with my client that way I move them from where they are today to where they want to be.
Setting goals should not be a stressful thing, if you utilize these guidelines that I’ve just given you and, most importantly, if you adopt the right mindset.
Stop trying to conquer Mount Everest overnight.
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