The Problem With Weight-Centered Goals
With the New Year comes people wanting to lose weight.
Yet, every year, more people fail to achieve their weight goals and fall back into destructive habits.
We’re quick to blame the person, but why not look at the goal itself?
Weight loss as a goal is an outdated approach to fitness. Just because it has worked in the past, doesn’t mean it’s best.
Why a Weight-centered Approach Doesn’t Work
Includes too many variables
Our weight involves much more than body fat percentage. It can change based on the weather, the time of day, or the time of the month for women. It’s not and never will be linear on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, most people don’t know this and end up disappointed.
Lack of longevity
Even if you get to your goal weight, what’s next? Often, people meet their goal and they’re still unsatisfied with their physique. So either you have to move the goal post (ie. try to lose even more weight) or lose the motivation to try again. If we want to succeed we must cultivate habits that consistently improve/maintain our health. And, there’s only so much weight you can lose before you start wasting away.
It’s an arbitrary number
We have this preconception that the less you weigh the healthier you are, which is patently false. There are people a hundred pounds heavier than me who can run, jump, and climb faster than me. Small folks can be unhealthy too. Ironically, bodybuilders have some of the most aesthetic physiques out there, but many of them can’t even run 5 minutes.
A slippery slope to restriction
The first thing people do when they take a weight-centered approach is restrict. They think “I need to cut this and that out” to get that number on the scale. Removal leads to friction, and the more friction between you and your goal, the more likely you are to quit. Plus, you can eat “unhealthy” foods and still be a healthy person. It’s about balance.
So now that we’ve established that losing weight shouldn’t be our main goal, we can now look to something much more conducive to progress.
Adding > Substracting
Shift your mindset away from, “What are the things I need to lose to meet this weight goal?”
Instead, start with, “What are habits I can add to my life that will help improve my health?”
And when you’re thinking of things you want to add to your lifestyle, think small. You can seamlessly add smaller habits to your routine, therefore making them easier to practice consistently.
Remember: Don’t make it so easy that you’re barely doing anything. It needs to be a little uncomfortable.
For example, one of my goals for the year is to eat more fruits and vegetables. If they weren’t a part of my diet before, it wouldn’t make sense for me to try veganism immediately. Instead, I’ve slowly been adding them to my meal prep and snacks.
I enjoy cooking and experimenting with nutritious recipes has been fun for me. It motivates me to keep going and try to add a little more fruits and veggies each time.
Fun is something a lot of people leave out when goal setting. There’s nothing fun about hyper-focusing on losing weight. This is another reason why people fail with a weight-centered approach.
Maybe you’ll like running, weightlifting, or hiking if you think of it more as an adventure rather than a box to check off for your goal.
An Attitude of Addition
Our bodies are extremely unique and they don’t fit the box of a weight-center goal. All a weight-centered approach does is reinforce negative ideas about our bodies and limit our ability to improve our health.
Forget about your weight and think about adding actions that better your health. Doing so leads to a healthier life that introduces new experiences into your life. And sustainable changes always result in continuous growth.
Love this!! As I am currently on my own fitness journey this has been helpful to remember my goals and my why! That’s for the mindshift alteration and giving me things to consider and think about as I continue to figure out what works for me! The Adding/Subtracting section, in particular hit home and I’m glad that I read this to make sure I incorporate fun!
Once again this hit me! I will remember to focus on healthy addictions.