Goals Beyond Losing Weight

Charles C. Noble, the Dean of Hendricks Memorial Chapel at Syracuse University stated the following, "You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by the short-range failures.”  Interestingly, this quotation was a favorite of President Ronald Reagan's, and I share in its truth as well.  I can't begin to tell you how many people I talk with that fixate on losing weight.  Not to mention their desperate methods of madness to accomplish this.  Let's see, we have the "Caveman Diet", the "Chewing Diet", the "Hallelujah Diet", the "Tapeworm Diet" (Mmmm, that sounds tasty!), the "Cottonball Diet" (definitely high in fiber), and how could I forget the old standbys . . . the "Grapefruit" and "Cabbage Soup" diets!!  My personal favorite is the use of "Diet Sunglasses".  These blue tinted glasses make your food look less appetizing, so therefore you lose weight!  Yeah right!  I don't know about you, but if I am starving to death it won't matter what color the food is!  Well, my goal in writing this blog is not to introduce you to all the idiotic ways people try to lose weight, but to encourage you to look beyond "weight loss" and begin to set some fitness goals for yourself.  "WHAT?" you say . . . "I can hardly walk to the mailbox without getting winded."  I can hear it now, "That's what I hate about all you personal trainers, you think we ALL want to be athletes."  Not true, but let me share something from my own experience that might bring understanding and clarity to my point, AND it might encourage you to set some goals for yourself.

During the years I was overweight, I watched my children and others do things that I wished I could do.  Sure, it's not that I was never able to ride a bike or swim laps in a pool.  I had just allowed myself to become so deconditioned and overweight that it was impossible for me to enjoyably participate in these and other activities. I had no endurance, my body hurt all the time, I was out of breath doing the smallest things, and felt very self-conscious about my appearance.  Even being alone with my husband was hard.  I was embarrassed of how I looked, and making love was physically difficult and only done in the dark.  OK - I see the smirks on some of your faces, but many of you know exactly what I'm talking about! When I finally made the decision to lose weight,  I recognized from the beginning that goal setting was going to have to be my driving force.  Just as the quote above stated . . . sometimes I failed at my short-term goals.  Sometimes those failures were enough to send me to the mental hospital.  Sure, I had lots of success, as I wouldn't be where I am today.  But, after about a year into my weight loss journey, I began to get kind of bored and restless of the whole thing.  I found myself needing to take a personal inventory of my life, my interests, and yes . . . my goals.  Sure, my goal early on was to lose alot of weight and become a healthy person again, but I began to identify that I needed more.  I began to think about what I would do after I had reached my weight loss goal.  I kind of likened it to a couple who has children together.  For those first number of years, the children are their life.  Everything revolves around the children.   But little by little, the children grow up and become more and more independent.  Before long, those children are on their own and then, what about the parents?  Did they develop any dreams, goals, or visions before their children left?  Or, have they been left with nothing to pursue because their children were their whole world?  In many ways, weight loss is no different.  If you're truly serious about losing weight, the process affects your entire world, and rightfully so.  Losing weight, at least true weight loss,  is not temporary, but a total lifestyle change.  In my case, I began to think about the possibility of swimming competitively again.  Honestly, it seemed so far fetched.  Although I had lost some weight, I was still tipping the scale at over 200 lbs!  I began to investigate the idea, and with the help of a few friends, I learned about the US Masters Swimming program and joined.  I immediately became excited and set a goal to return to competitive swimming in a year.  After making the decision to pursue this, I had quite a bit of support that sustained me till my first meet.  But strangely enough, there were a few people who seemed to scoff at my goal - finding it stupid and unattainable.  At first, their attitudes kind of set me back.  One such person was the personal trainer that I was using to lose weight.  When I shared with him my plan to swim competitively again, he asked me, "Why do you have to do that?"  As I said, his response came unexpected.  I sat on the weight bench speechless staring at him, I thought for a moment, and then replied, "It's not that I have to do it, but it's that I CAN do it!"  As the weeks and months passed by, losing weight became more secondary to me and preparing and training for my first meet became the forefront of all my efforts.  I was like the eye of the tiger, focused on the prize. When the day of the Ozark Championship Swim Meet arrived, I was a nervous wreck, but I was excited and pumped.  The goal that I had been training for had finally arrived and I was ready to go.  Not only did I take a year to focus on training for my comeback to competitive swimming, but I continued to drop weight in the process - lots of weight.  Over the coarse of the years, I have continued to set fitness goals for myself.  Running has never been a passion of mine (it still isn't!), but I have trained and entered some running races as well as an indoor triathlon.  Now that I have reached my weight loss goal for the most part, I continue to look for opportunities that will challenge me and spur me on to better health and fitness.  In addition to pursuing my own goals, I encouraged my husband to set some fitness goals for himself.  I'm so proud to say that last September, my husband trained and participated in the MS150 bike ride (that's 150 miles of biking in 2 days people!).  I couldn't have been more proud of his strength and courage.  He set a goal and accomplished it!  Not to embarrass him, but he has never been inspired to be an athlete, but he rose to the occasion and did it!  Always keep in mind that the things that you choose to do or not do, effect others.  I challenge you to set a goal, and see how it infects those around you!  So with that said, my question to you is simple, what are your fitness goals?  Maybe the fitness goal you're thinking of seems totally unobtainable.  Well, my response is GOOD!  If you can already do it, why make it a goal?  Set a goal, get a plan in place, and get busy!  Remember, "For a dream comes with much activity and painful effort."  ~ Ecclesiastes 5:3        

 And personally,  I wouldn't want it any other way!