3 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Setting Goals

As a fitness and nutrition coach, my top priority is helping my clients succeed.

A crucial part of this journey is setting realistic expectations about progress and outcomes right from the start. I want to set people up for success, and that means ensuring their program is manageable so they don't feel overwhelmed and quit.

It's often said that the hardest part is getting started, but the challenge doesn't end there. Life is busy and demanding, and when stress levels are high, health and wellness goals are often the first things to go on hold. This is especially true for those just beginning to establish healthy habits and a solid routine.

So, while getting started is indeed challenging, sticking with it when chaos erupts can be even harder.

To help you navigate this, here are three essential questions to ask yourself as you begin a new fitness and nutrition journey.

1. What Am I Prepared to Do?

It's exciting to envision yourself with 15 percent body fat and elite fitness, and that motivation is a great starting point!

However, reality often sets in when you realize these goals might require very precise nutrition, minimal dining out, no alcohol and significant discipline with your lifestyle habits. A large gap between what you aspire to achieve and what you're truly prepared to do can lead to frustration, disappointment and, ultimately, a lack of progress.

The solution is to sit down and be realistic about the time you have available. Look at your schedule, considering work, family and social commitments, and determine how much time you can genuinely dedicate to meal prep, workouts and even non-exercise activity.

From there, you can set goals based on the work you plan to put in rather than just the desired outcome.

2. What Am I Not Prepared To Do?

Perhaps you're not ready to give up weekly wings and beer on Wednesday, pizza and wine on Friday, or drinks with friends on Saturday. And that's perfectly OK!

However, it's important to acknowledge that these choices will impact your goals. If you're unwilling to sacrifice certain social events or adjust specific elements of your lifestyle, you need to be honest with yourself about that. You can still prioritize your health, but you'll make yourself miserable if your goals don't align with your current lifestyle.

The good news is that if you're open to making changes and temporary adjustments, you can still make significant progress. Over the long term, your balance might need to shift to sustain lasting healthy changes, but most fit and healthy individuals find a happy medium between their goals and their social life.

3. How Do You Want to Feel 3, 6 and 12 Months From Now?

Feeling unwell can be a powerful motivator for change, and feeling amazing is a powerful tool to sustain it!

Change takes time, but in the grand scheme of things, even 12 months isn't that long. Visualize how you want to feel in the future and create a plan to get there. As you build healthy habits and feel better and better, it will become increasingly difficult to give up on yourself and slide backward. And if you do stumble, you can learn from your mistakes and try again.

Reflect and Succeed!

Please give these three questions some serious thought before embarking on your new health and fitness journey.

They will help you establish realistic goals, a reasonable timeline, and a clear vision for what you want to accomplish and how you want to feel.