I don't want washboard abs.....

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    When I started I just wanted to be able to walk up a hill without getting winded. I had, by my mid-30s, let myself get to the point where I was dangerously close to my father's size and knowing his health problems it scared the hell out of me.

    So I joined a gym and asked the really fit people around me what they were doing. I kept at it, started with the elliptical, messed around with weight lifting, and finally learned to run for the first time in my life (I'm asthmatic).

    Then the weight started to slowly come off, and the muscles finally started to grow just a little a bit. And you know what happened? My goals changed. I still don't have washboard abs. I will though.

    For the first time in my life, I feel great and am proud of the way I look. You absolutely have the right mind set, but push yourself and allow your goals to change with time, and you may just surprise yourself.

    This is true for me too. It started as me wanting to make my body as healthy as possible despite a couple of chronic illnesses. Then I just wanted to look good in a bikini. Now I want to be strong. Goals change over time and there's nothing wrong with that.
  • SGSmallman
    SGSmallman Posts: 193 Member
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    I started at a weight loss target but as I get stronger and leaner I've realised sod the weight number I want to be better than before, I want to be cut and feel confident. it's already starting to show as people are treating me differently (in a good way)

    If I was to up my weight again so what, IF its lean muscle. The only thing i care about lowering is the inches around my waist and my total body fat %

    To me being ripped and toned shows people I respect my body and care for myself so they should respect me. It's probably wrong to think like that but it's whats helping me through the journey.

    I just want to be the best me I can be.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    I want to look good naked.
  • Grumpy2208
    Grumpy2208 Posts: 63
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    When I started I just wanted to be able to walk up a hill without getting winded. I had, by my mid-30s, let myself get to the point where I was dangerously close to my father's size and knowing his health problems it scared the hell out of me.

    So I joined a gym and asked the really fit people around me what they were doing. I kept at it, started with the elliptical, messed around with weight lifting, and finally learned to run for the first time in my life (I'm asthmatic).

    Then the weight started to slowly come off, and the muscles finally started to grow just a little a bit. And you know what happened? My goals changed. I still don't have washboard abs. I will though.

    For the first time in my life, I feel great and am proud of the way I look. You absolutely have the right mind set, but push yourself and allow your goals to change with time, and you may just surprise yourself.

    This.
  • delonda1
    delonda1 Posts: 525 Member
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    To be honest I'm pretty content with how I look. I want to drop my BF about 5% to be around the 16-17 mark and more defined quad muscles and smaller stomach...

    i just want to feel comfortable. i feel like all of my friends are beautiful and i feel like the runt in the group which prob isnt true buttt its how i feel so i dont want to feel like that
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    I've set my target at 147 because I think that is achievable at my age without making a rod for my own back with regards to maintaining. That puts me in the "healthy" weight bracket for my height -but still scarily close to overwith, which is why i don't look at those stupid charts :laugh:

    I want to tie my shoelaces without feeling pregnant (got that one ticked now:happy: ), fit in to nice clothes and be active and mobile when I'm a grandma (hopefully a fair few years yet!!:huh: )
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    When I started I just wanted to be able to walk up a hill without getting winded. I had, by my mid-30s, let myself get to the point where I was dangerously close to my father's size and knowing his health problems it scared the hell out of me.

    So I joined a gym and asked the really fit people around me what they were doing. I kept at it, started with the elliptical, messed around with weight lifting, and finally learned to run for the first time in my life (I'm asthmatic).

    Then the weight started to slowly come off, and the muscles finally started to grow just a little a bit. And you know what happened? My goals changed. I still don't have washboard abs. I will though.

    For the first time in my life, I feel great and am proud of the way I look. You absolutely have the right mind set, but push yourself and allow your goals to change with time, and you may just surprise yourself.

    absolutely! and at least for now i'll take an azz like a diamond over abs though :laugh: :love:
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    yeah, i'm really trying not to limit myself. my fitness levels have been improving and i'm losing inches, and feeling like i'm making such progress for such a short period of time. My point was, that we can get so caught up in the scale or other numbers, when we should be focusing on improving our fitness, nutrition, and at least in the short term, make sure the goals we have are realistic.
    it might take me a year to see actual definition in my quads. or another month working like this. but when it happens, it will be the first time I've had any, even with all the long distance running i used to do, years ago. But now I'm finally challenging my body, and
    you are all exactly right don't limit yourself , and change your goals as you go.
  • JulieAnn1109
    JulieAnn1109 Posts: 21 Member
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    Awesome post my friend.
    I want to walk up 4 flights of stairs and not be gasping for air.
    I want to run a block without struggling to breathe.
    I want to pull up my own body weight.
    I want to stand on my head and my hands.
    I want to put things in my mouth that nourish me, not hinder me.
    I want to learn to live. REALLY LIVE.
    My goal weight is set at 140 lbs because science says that is the high end of healthy for someone my height.
    I will decide when I get there what to do next.


    AWESOME:)
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    I think I would have agreed with you at the beginning, but my goals have been evolving through the whole weight loss process. At this point, I am just under my goal weight and I've taken an interest in weight lifting and I actually do want washboard abs, a bikini body, etc. Maybe now that I see it's attainable, it's something I want to push for. I think it's fun and rewarding to continue to challenge myself to do what I always thought was impossible.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    Katy. Yours is one of the most sensible and reasonable posts I've seen on this site. Thank you for the breath of fresh air.
  • beckyhoo
    beckyhoo Posts: 34 Member
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    Great thread.

    I want to be healthy and set a good example for my son, first and foremost.
    I also want to be jiggle-free. I want to lose my cankles. I want to do jumping jacks and plop down in a chair wearing a skirt without my thighs smacking together. I want to be able to wear any clothes and be comfortable. I want to be confident enough to make eye contact with everyone all the time. I want to be the person I should have been all these years because it's not too late.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    I don't try to understand all the techical stuff about TDEE, BMI, micros, macros, that. I just want to lose weight and gain strength and energy without getting too anal about it. As it is, this whole endeavor is a little too close to obsessive ( measuring/weighing/logging everything, though I know it's neccessar)y. I AM seeing results, but I'll never look like Jillian M., nor at my age would I want to. I want to get back on a horse, be able to do the farm work that I have to do, and be happier with how I look.
  • supermodelchic
    supermodelchic Posts: 550 Member
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    To be healthy & fit..
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    I want to get rid of my love handles. I want to outrun zombies.

    I also want to be perfect, but know that isn't attainable, so I'm focusing on outrunning the zombies.
  • theCarlton
    theCarlton Posts: 1,344 Member
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  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
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    I want to be shredded. When that is attained, I want to get jacked. Yes, I spend a crap ton of time in the gym. Yes, I think about and research nutrition and lifting all the time. Everyone has their hobbies, this is mine. I am still living my life, but I actually like my body now. I have always been, at best, eh. And I don't want to settle for good, when I can be better.
  • Sparlingo
    Sparlingo Posts: 938 Member
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    Goals for looking good/thin/whatever and goals for strength/health are not mutually exclusive. I can work toward both, and there isn't anything wrong with either type of goal.

    Some days goals of vanity are quite motivating for me.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    I would love to be slender, for once. But that's not my body type - no amount of losing weight or getting fit would do that for me. I look either stocky with a higher % bf or athletic when I'm lower, with nothing in between.

    So, I'm shooting for the athletic body I had when I was 16, but I want to get there and be healthy about it this time. It's perfectly doable even at my age. I was never any kind of extreme athlete :p

    Last time, I was under the care of a weight trainer and a personal trainer and they kept me on an extremely low fat, low cal diet and heavy lifting. It worked, and the heavy lifting was great, but the diet KILLED my digestion and my energy levels. I wasn't able to eat even a bite of anything with much fat (chicken w/ skin, pizza, hamburger, etc) for years afterward without having awful diarrhea. Those are foods I'm not about to give up forever, though, so I ate them anyway and eventually got over it.
  • DontStopB_Leakin
    DontStopB_Leakin Posts: 3,863 Member
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    I want to be constantly improving.


    And I am.

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