WHAT'S YOUR GOAL?

When you are travelling in your car to a place where you have never been, do you not enter the destination city or address? It's the same thing at the gym. Don't you want to know where you want to be in 3 months or six months etc. To me it doesn't matter who you are or what you're doing you need a goal and a plan to get there, even if you're making thanksgiving dinner you need to who how many people, what time and what you're going to cook etc. It's this very concept that gets lost by most at the gym or in their nutrition.

 I see it at the gym and I see the lack of this concept on various website forums.

• The most important questions to ask yourself is, "what am I trying to achieve"? 

• What is my goal? 

• When can I get there (realistically) 

I think the main problem is people just do not know what is possible. It's basic lack of information along with the fact that are so many contradictory articles on the web, and that leads to confusion.

Most people my age or generation go to the gym because they have been told by their doctors that they have to do 20 minutes of Cardio 3-4 times a week for their heart health or to lower cholesterol or blood pressure or they are told they need to lose weight.

The "lose weight" suggestion is another thing I take issue with, because most people are advised to limit their calories. Unless you have a doctor who has the time to get into all the aspects of healthy weight loss you'll get the standard spiel, of how your fat stores are like banks, the more you deposit the larger the bank account", or something like that. Basically, EAT LESS.

 l have you heard of "skinny fat". that's the body you get that is slim and flabby.

So what is your goal? Is it to gain muscle, lose weight, or better lose body fat, is it to become a body sculptor, or a power lifter, a sprinter or an endurance runner, or maybe you just want to fit in to your favorite jeans, you're sick of the love handles. Whatever it is write it down. Now you have a goal you can make a plan to achieve it. 

Here is a prime example of what type of questions I get: "I am 18 years old, 5 3 right now and 125 pounds...I used to be around 110 pounds and i felt good and confident but for two years, i binged and ate late at night with little to no exercise...I've done a few crash diets but realized they didn't work so i began doing my 1000-1600 calories + exercising at least 5 times a week lifestyle....Yet, nothing? I'm wondering if it's physically impossible for my body to go back to my 110 weight ? Or is it just that 2 years of damage might take longer to fix? Am i expecting to see results too soon? (But its been 8 months...) And i have never exercised like this before in my life. I just don't understand how i won't lose weight".

So let's look at this dilemma you have an eighteen year old who sounds distraught and I can identify with all these feelings, I have been there.

So what is she doing wrong?

Well for one she is all over the place and has no plan or a bad plan: Crash diets and calorie restrictions this severe in a person who is working out 5 times a week is not necessary nor advisable.

The other thing she was doing for 8 months was sticking to the plan that was not giving her the desired result. She wanted to get somewhere and wasn't getting there and so we needed to change her path.

Her goal was to achieve a certain weight so that's how I approached this problem, no judgement. There wasn't a question of nutrition or fitness here she just wanted to LOOK and FEEL better.

On further questioning I found out she was doing a lot of cardio and no weight resistance exercises and she wasn't eating much but was eating foods that were leading to insulin resistance which lead to fat preservation. The solution is simple especially for a young person with no physical limitations, decrease the cardio, increased time in weight training, stopped skipping meals, add more protein and water and healthy fats. She reached her goal in under two months. 

So in a nutshell: Only when you know what your goal is can you answer this question of diet or exercise. Is your goal to be fit, or skinnier or both.  Don't leave that opened cause you wont get there. have a plan! Don't just aimlessly walk around the gym and go home. If you wanna get big work out that way, if you wanna get cut or ripped then there is a way to do that, know what you want.

The time you have to work on yourself your health is too limited (precious) to waste texting or talking, this is your time... FOR YOU.