Do You NEED A Goal?

Do you even really need a goal?  Can you make progress without a goal or goals? 

Do you feel like if you don’t have a goal you can’t make any progress? What say you?

I say you can make progress without goals. 

But what is a goal? A goal is a noun. Yes, I think I’m funny.

By definition a goal is: 

the end toward which effort is directed 

So a goal is something we work towards. The outcome of our effort. Something we want to achieve. Well Peggie, don’t you think we need that when we are trying to accomplish something? Sure, but do you really need it? 

Are you doomed if you don’t have a goal? Are you doomed if you don’t have all the ways you are going to get to that goal, because by God, you are going to do it this time. You told yourself this is the last time you are going to go on a diet. You sat down and wrote down all the things and checked all the boxes and filled in all the lines. You got this. It’s there on the paper. Right there. 

Think about it. What if you just did the things you know you should be doing? How many times have you said to yourself, “I know what I should do.” What if you just did those things most of the time? Do you think you could get away from the diet atmosphere and the punishing yourself 30 days to fat loss challenges? Do you think you would feel better knowing you didn’t have to take away all the food you love and kill yourself in the gym with cardio? Exercise is supposed to make us feel better and get stronger, not make us feel like shit because we are trying to punish ourselves for what we ate. 

When it comes to fitness and fat loss people often think more is better. By more being better, I mean more activity. That is not necessarily the case. BUT, whenever you hear someone say they want to lose weight, and by weight they mean fat, the first thing they go to is more activity. It’s just crazy. So many times the last resort for people is changing the diet. Because in their minds they think food has to be become super restrictive. They think they need to eat nothing but chicken breast and broccoli. That thinking and acting usually backfires. Spoiler alert, restriction comes wrapped in foods that aren’t fun and don’t taste the greatest either. 

If people would do less of the things they think they need to do, such as more burpees, and more cardio and more food restrictions, more calorie restriction and more cleanses and also maybe stop looking for the hacks and the tricks that make things easier they might realize it takes time and consistency to see results. So if you get consistent with those things you know you “should” be doing, you will probably run into some pretty awesome results. When you stop restricting your food and stop depriving yourself so much, you might notice that every single weekend you aren’t going crazy and eating and drinking all the things. 

If you allow yourself to have these things it can go a long way in seeing some progress. Not just physical, but mental and emotional as well. I don’t know about you, but I love pizza and I love bagels and pasta. I don’t eat them all the time, but I eat them. I don’t restrict myself. If there is something I have been craving, I work it into my day and if I can’t work it into my day, I will work it in the next day. 

But Peggie, you’ve been doing this for forever. That’s how you learn. New things can be hard and new things can be overwhelming. That’s part of learning. I bet if you played an instrument, it took you longer than a month to be good at it. That’s the same with our health. It takes patience and consistent practice. 

When you stop listening to all the noise out there and start doing the simple things, amazing things begin to happen. People don’t want to believe that though. They think it has to be hard. They think it has to be complicated. It really doesn’t. 

Don’t you think there is an easier way? A way that doesn’t keep us on the diet roller coaster and constantly has us playing the shame game. If your goal is to lose fat, maybe try some of the things you know you should be doing instead of the shiny objects that never work. 

So do you want to know that I think the things are that you should be doing? And my no means should you go all in and change everything at once. You can take baby steps. These are the things I encourage: Emphasize protein, Eat more fruits and vegetables, get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, reduce your stress, walk every day, strength train (especially women – get after it), drink water and learn how to let shit go. 

So, I think you don’t need a concrete goal in order to lose fat. I think you need more habits and behavior change. Start doing something and you can be well on your way to seeing changes in your body and in your mind. So make some effort. Invest your time in getting a little bit better every day.