This series of posts will focus on the basics of maintaining an optimal level of health so that you are certain not to miss any of the critical steps on your way to maximum health and fitness.

Part I - What is your Primary Goal and Why?

It seems silly to even have to call out the need for this step, but you would be amazed at how many people don't really know what they want out of their diet, weight loss, or fitness program.

In 3 years of personal training, I had to hold the hand of almost every client and show them how to decide on both short-term and long-term goals.

When people are asked about their goals, there are common responses such as:

• I want to lose weight and feel good
• I want to look like I used to look in high school
• I want to be as healthy as I was before I had children
• I want to lose my pot gut
• I want to clean up my nutrition and start eating healthy

Okay, those are all "goals," technically speaking, but none of them answer the two critical questions that everyone must ask themselves at the beginning of any journey:

"What specifically do I want to accomplish?"

"Why do I want to accomplish it?"

The reason why you have to get specific about your weight loss and health goals is because you need to be able to track whether or not you are making any progress, and you also need to be able to stay very tightly focused on whatever your goal is.

If your goal is just to "lose weight," what does that look like? How do you measure that? How will you know when you have attained that goal?

If your goal is to be in the same shape you were in before you had children, how do you visualize that goal? How does that goal make you feel? How will you be able to make note of the contrast between where you are now and where you ultimately want to be? 

Just wanting to "lose weight" or "be healthy" leaves way too much room for slacking off while you are on the path to goal attainment.

After all, if you are used to eating fast food 3 times per day, then even cutting that down to once or twice a day is a serious improvement over your old habits. However, are you really staying on track if you still consistently eat junk food even once a day?

Here are some goals that are much more specific, and thus, more measurable and able to be focused upon:

• I want to lose 30 lbs in the next 4 months.
• I want to wear a size 6 dress, or wear pants with a 30-inch inseam.
• I want to be able to comfortably wear my favorite jeans that I haven't put on since I got pregnant.
• I want to be able to see the muscle definition in my stomach, or I want to be able to take off my shirt without seeing "love handles".
• I want to stop eating food that raises my cholesterol, increases my risk for heart disease, or that puts me at risk for diabetes. 

Do you see how each one of those examples can be easily measured, seen, felt, and focused upon? Your own goal list should have those same characteristics.

As far as determining why you want to attain your goal, that is just as important as determining the specific goal that you want to accomplish.

Make no mistake, creating a healthy body where one did not previously exist can be hard work. Without knowing why you want to accomplish your weight loss or health goals, what will keep you on track during the sometimes difficult journey to goal attainment?

When the couch or a nice warm bed is keeping you from wanting to do your daily workout, what will you think about that will cause you to jump up and get started?

When a big piece of chocolate cake is offered to you after an already nutritionally sufficient meal, what will cross your mind that causes you to turn it down?

When the siren call of "responsibility" causes you to want to stay at work rather than deal with your daily exercise needs, how will you justify shutting down operations and heading out the door?

As you consider answers to these types of questions, you need to really dig deep. You can't rely on images of super-models, hot beach bodies, and fame & fortune to keep you on track.  

Your "why" reasons should be much more personal than simple aesthetic or materialistic gain. Everyone wants to look and feel healthy. What are your specific reasons for bending over backwards to ensure a maximum level of health and fitness?  

This concludes Part I of the Health, Diet, and Weight Loss Checklist Series. Feel free to share your comments on this entry, and you may also click here to read the other entries from this series.