The end of summer is a great time for setting up new fitness goals. The best thing is to set up a long term and specific goal first. When I say long term, I am talking more about 3-4 months down the road and not any longer. While there will be goals that might take a lot longer time to achieve and I think that those are important as well, I think it helps a lot to have something to celebrate on a regular and frequent basis. Your achievements will keep you going and excited for the next step.

What is the difference between a goal and a wish? Wish goes something like this: “I would like to be slimmer and more toned by Christmas” or “I really want to get rid off the muffin top, before the wedding”. Goal on the other hand is specific, measurable, and realistic. Let’s put it this way, dreamers have dreams and doers have goals. Are you a doer?? I’m Zuzka and I believe in fitness. Im a doer! Hahaha I watched the movie Pain & Gain last night, and couldn’t stop laughing each time Mark Wahlberg said a similar line. It sounds really cheesy, but it’s true. Every goal needs a specific plan that you have to follow on a daily basis otherwise it’s just a wishful thinking that may never manifest. While I do believe in the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction, thanks to a few miracles that happened to me after I prayed for them, my fitness was never one of them. Oddly that’s been one of the things I had to always work for.

If you want to lose weight and have more muscle tone, you should have an idea of how much weight do you want to lose and what body fat percentage you want to have. The reason why we have to write down our long term goals and make sure that they are as specific as possible is to set our daily behavior goals. How do you know what you should do and eat on a daily basis if you have no idea how much weight you actually have to lose in a given amount of time in order to achieve the body composition that you are going for?

How do you know if your weight loss goal is realistic?

First of all, you have to make sure that your “dream weight” is healthy and proportionate to your height. If you were as tall as me 5’5” and you are a woman, you want to be between 113 and 138lbs. That is a healthy range, which is the most important thing. I weigh about 122lbs so I am somewhere in the middle. If I felt like I want to be thinner, I can still drop 10 lbs of bodyweight without becoming underweight. Not more tho. So having this knowledge is very important in order to avoid unhealthy weight loss. Here is a chart for your information that shows how much your weight can fluctuate within the healthy lines.

Your goal may not be always a weight loss. Maybe you want to learn a new skill or become more flexible. If you have no idea how long can it take you to do a split, use the internet and read posts from people who’ve been there. Learn from others. I am sure you’ll find different answers, so try to pick the middle road. If someone says it took them one month to do a split and another person says 3 months, you can give yourself 2 -3 months without feeling too much pressure. A friend of mine told me that he was able to walk on his hands in 3 months, so I decided to give myself this much time to achieve the same goal. Write down your long term goal (3-4) months today and tomorrow we will talk about your behavior goals that are important to achieve on a daily basis, in order to reach for the big one.

Have a great weekend,

Z.