Goal weight: Why you shouldn't have one!

Do you ever find yourself saying the following?

"I only have *enter any number here* stone left to lose"

or

"I want to be *enter any number here* stone and then i'll be happy"

If you've answered yes to any of these then this post is definitely for you! In this post I will be stressing why you shouldn't have a goal weight, how you should measure your progress and why you should lock away your scales.

Firstly what you need to realise is that losing 'weight' doesn't correlate with a fit and toned body. To become more toned, leaner and healthier you need to lower body fat, not weight. To put it into simple terms, if you weighed yourself now then chopped off your arm, you would have lost weight. Does this mean you now have a stunning body? No. Weight is not everything! This is why I do not like the idea of weekly weigh ins or slimming clubs that judge your hard work purely by the scale (but that's another rant for another day).

People are forever partaking in extreme low calorie/liquid shake/slimming pill diets and are really happy because they have lost loads of 'weight' in such a short time. However they do not think about how dangerous these fad diets are and the awful effects they have on their body. First of all, this 'weight loss' is going to be mainly muscle loss, not fat loss. Muscle loss will lead to a loss of energy, a slower metabolism and will make it harder for you to burn fat. Also, rapid weight loss is neither safe or sustainable. We live in a world where people think losing 10lbs in one week is safe... it is not! I say it day in, day out, the key to sustainable, healthy fat loss is through a good eating regime, exercise and sufficient rest.

So why shouldn't you have a goal weight? Well what happens when you reach your goal weight and you are still not happy with your figure? Do you create a smaller goal weight? And what happens when you're still not happy? Do you see my point? This is why I always say you should have a GOAL LOOK, rather than a GOAL WEIGHT. Forget the scale and use your eyes to judge whether you are progressing. Take before and after photos or even measurements to see if there has been any change.

Why are your eyes a better tool to measure progress than a scale? Think of it this way, if you put 1 kg of dog mess on one scale and 1 kg of gold on another, the scales would say that these two are equal. By using our eyes we can see that this is not the case. Also, muscle is more dense than fat, so it is possible that you could see very little change on the scale but see positive changes in your figure. The scale can only tell you your weight, it does not tell you how you look, your past achievements or your talents.

So to finish I just want to say that you are more than just a number! Anything that is worth looking at has taken time to create, so be patient and don't ever let the scale bring you down. Think of your healthy lifestyle as a relationship, if you rush into it and make too many changes too soon, it will never last. But if you take your time and set up solid foundations it'll be a strong, sustainable and healthy one!

"Nobody see's the number on the scale except you. Stop paying attention to the scale and start paying attention to how you feel!"


Hadee x

Twitter: @GymForWomen