Here at Fitter Body Ladies we understand the importance of setting goals in order to give you focus and provide direction.

Not having a goal in mind is like shooting an arrow without a target; a waste of time and energy. Even if you are regularly working-out and eating nutrient-rich whole foods, you may still feel like you are not getting what you want because you are lacking direction.  Understanding what is an achievable goal and a realistic goal taking into account your current life is also key.

Here are three reasons why goal-setting is the key to health and fitness success.

They keep you on the right track

Having a goal and writing it down helps you plan what you need to achieve and how you will achieve this. You might think you are doing all the right things, but in reality you might be focusing too much time on one aspect of your health and fitness and not enough on another.

For example if you do not understand how much you should be eating to create a calorie deficit that will create weight loss and only focus on your exercise you may get disheartened if your weight loss is not as you wished.  Planning what your calorie deficit should be over a day and then tracking your food consumption over the day and incorporating exercise to help create the deficit will be one step to achieve your goal.

They make molehills out of mountains

Proper goal setting can help break large and intimidating aspirations into smaller, more achievable stepping stones. Planning towards these smaller goals will make it easier to reach your long term goal.

For example losing a stone sounds a lot however if you break this down into small chunks for example i am going to aim to lose 1 pound a week, think how quickly you will get to a stone if all you have to lose is a pound a week. If you plan as mentioned above how you can do this on a daily  basis all you have to focus on is each day and as each week passes and each pound drops away very quickly you will be at 6 pounds, 12 pounds, 14 pounds and that stone will be gone.

They keep you motivated

Goals can serve as an energiser by helping replace boredom with challenge. As you start achieving your goals, you will build motivation and replace fear with focus.

So, break out of auto-pilot and set those goals! Write down your daily, weekly and monthly goals if you want to make lots of progress and get that real sense of achievement!