Weight is the worst goal for motivation

Alehmer · August 2013

Weight is a terrible goal in general. Not only is it inconsistent and variable (I have a 3 lb water weight shift based on workout schedule), but it in no way considers good weight like extra lean muscle and bone mass. Not only that, but weight losses are never even, with losing nothing one week and perhaps 3 the next.

This is also why it may be the worst motivator. An inconsistent and variable goal that doesn't tell you the whole story is a terrible thing to hook your self-esteem and enthusiasm to.

Example:

Goal - 200lbs
Scale says - 205lbs

You look at the scale and see that for the 3rd week in a row you haven't broken that mythical number at which you will suddenly be happy with your body and you'll tranform into an attractive butterfly.

Internal monolouge:
Happiness and self-worth are apparently beyond your ability to achieve, all those people you're sure are talking behind your back will definitely do so even more and possibly even your dog will be ashamed to be seen in public with you. You're a fatty fat fat because the machine says so and that's all there is to it.

Why not try:

Goals:
Run a mile in 7 minutes
Do 15 pushups
Hold a 60 second Plank
Keep carbs under 50% of calories all week.

You didn't get to 7 minutes, but you cut 15 seconds off your best time on Tuesday. Victory, 15 pushups +1 because hell yeah. Got to 58 seconds on the Planck and you can taste the sweet victory within your grasp... and it's got bacon on it. Speaking of which, you saved so many calories by not eating cereal in the morning you had a couple pieces of bacon with your eggs and it was super-delish.

Scale says - 'Why am I in the trash?'

Internal Monolouge: Achieving an arbitrary number is the least of your worries because you've worked your butt off this week and you feel great about it. OK so you're pretty sore but now that have stopped walking around in a haze worrying about a pound or 5 you notice that you are looking good today and you are ready to kick the crap out of your goals next week. In fact, you're pretty sure you can hit 6:50 by October and 20 pushups doesn't sound all that tough now, seeing as you started at 5 and now you're at 16.

Athletic/fitness goals are always going to be there to challenge you no matter what. Everyone from a noob to an Olympian can have a tough-but achievable goal, and if you fight for those goals, in achieving them the weight and fat-loss (or muscle gain) will happen on it's own. You can get so much tunnel-vision with weight that I have seen people making obvious progress just up and quit because they weren't happy with what a machine said. Sometimes because they were gaining so much muscle!

Not to mention, what about the day AFTER you hit your goal weight? You can get so wrapped up in the number that hitting it will make putting that cookie down or getting up early to exercise monumentally more difficult... after all you have 'arrived'. Now what?

You literally cannot run out of fitness goals, and I can guaran-friggin-tee you that if you can deadlift 200% your bodyweight, run a 6 minute mile, or finish a 45 minute sparring session you are going to have a body BUILT to burn fat.

Fitfully_me · August 2013

Love the message here.

ryry_ · August 2013

I get the overall message that some arbitrary # regardless of physical appearance is not the best goal. However, i think your post could send people off on the wrong track by not focusing on most important details for success. Your weight trend overtime and some discernment are your best tools for gauging your progress. My goal is to lose fat by making the scale go down period. i do not want to create other goals to have a roundabout way to get to my main goal...Just like I don't want to eat Low carb as a round about way to create a deficit...i just want a deficit.

Goals:
Run a mile in 7 minutes
Do 15 pushups
Hold a 60 second Plank
Keep carbs under 50% of calories all week

All great things to acheive (except mayb the last one) but all can be acheived without ever reaching the majority of people's primary goal of losing fat.

Just my two.

Pearsquared · August 2013

What is your opinion on taking body measurements as a way to keep track? I'm not asking as a way to defend measurements, but I'm curious about what you think.

traceyjj · August 2013

Well said. :drinker:

This is just what my trainer was saying to me last night. He doesnt believe in weighing/measuring clients, its all about going that little bit further/harder/faster/heavier than the previous week... To come out of a session with a personal best or two is an awesome feeling

traceyleighgirl · August 2013

Hm OP, I know your post seems like a pretty obvious thing to say, but wow. The idea actually didn't strike me really until I read your post. Thanks for that, truly. I wasn't satisfied when I met my goal weight and I wasn't sure why. Clearly I am measuring the wrong thing. I am going to start setting athletic goals now..Funny how I came across this right after I met my goal. I reset it lower thinking that would help lol.

Whiskybelly · August 2013

This is bang on, such a good post.

aarar · August 2013

OP I totally agree and this is what I tell people when they ask me how I've managed my weight loss. My motivation at the moment is running and weight loss is just a result of it. The excitement I feel when I see lower numbers on the scale doesn't come close to the excitement I feel when I get a new PR or finish a long run. This makes it so much easier to keep going especially when the scale isn't working in my favour.

Alehmer · August 2013

What is your opinion on taking body measurements as a way to keep track? I'm not asking as a way to defend measurements, but I'm curious about what you think.

This is excellent for a while, but it also has an end point. You'll eventually get to the point where you will stop losing bodyfat %, and you don't want to stall out just because your goal hit a brick wall. Not to mention that it can also vary by water weight, period timing for women, etc.

My point being that if you genuinely chase an athletic goal, and you work hard for it, the rest will take care of itself without obsessing about it.

If you can lift more, every single lift will burn more energy (ie more energy to lift 150lbs than 120lbs)
If you can run faster, every hundred meters will burn more.
Etc etc.

If you focus on creating and improving your fat-burning machine, you will burn more fat doing everything you do. If you burn more energy in every workout because your body is capable of doing it, at the end of the day more fat will come off (all else being equal with diet). IE an Olympian could probably burn twice as much energy doing the same workout as you because they could do the same movements harder, heavier, faster, etc. The fitter you are, the faster your goals will come, easy math.

The end goal is to be healthy, burn fat, and build muscle. Fitness goals address all of those directly without relying on an arbitrary measure that it only has a casual relationship with.

To address another poster, I do not think weight is a good overall and long-term goal for all these reasons, and my own experience. When I was at my fittest, I was 228lbs. I am currently at 202lbs with roughly the same bodyfat %. Would you take this as a victory? I have less strength and muscle, with less ability to burn fat, but a little square in my bathroom says I am 'healthier'. If weight loss was my goal I would call it a day and lose focus pretty quickly, but as all my goals are athletic (mostly for Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) that number is immaterial beyond my competition weight class and I can keep seeing improvement all the time as long as I stay committed.