Does your goal really have to be weight loss?

Happy New Year! You made it to 2020. New year, new start, new you… isn’t that how the saying goes? The confetti has been thrown, the ball has dropped, and the champagne is empty so that means it’s RESOLUTION SEASON. It’s a good idea in theory, but ends up being a lot more stressful than the New Year’s Eve fun you just had.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of reflecting and goal setting.

I love both New Year’s Day as well as my birthday to take stock of where I am, what’s going well, and what I want to make changes to. But recently I’ve really started to cringe at a lot of resolutions, because they seem to all involve the idea of losing weight. It’s not about finding a new exercise you enjoy, challenging yourself to achieve a new fitness goal, or taking care of your overall health. It’s about getting smaller and seeing that number on the scale drop.

But why?

Weight loss as the central theme of all of our health and fitness goals has followed us around forever. The unspoken rule is that regardless of anything else, you’re doing well if you’re thin or if you “look fit” even though no one really knows what that actually means. It’s so engrained in us and in our culture that we don’t really stop to think about it. If we did, I think more people would realize it actually doesn’t make sense.

“I want to lose 10 pounds.”

You hear that a lot this time of year. Pause for a second though. Why 10? Why not 8? 6? What happens if it’s 12? Most of the time, the person picking that number doesn’t really have a rhyme or reason. If they do, it tends to be based on this arbitrary definition of what “fit” or “thin” looks like. It might even be based on a body type that the person doesn’t have, making it even more unrealistic and irrelevant to hit that goal. And what will being 10 pounds lighter give you? Again, usually tied to what you look like, and you’re SO much more than that.

I feel pretty strongly that the only time you should be preoccupied with a number on the scale is if a trusted medical professional tells you that it’s important. Otherwise, throw it out. Yes, literally. Throw out the scale. It doesn’t matter. It’s never mattered.

If you think you could make healthier decisions, that’s another story.

We all have ways in which we could do a better job at taking care of ourselves. My goal over the last few months has been taking time to meal prep snacks (since 3 meals is never enough for me) that are nutrient dense and avoid me just eating pretzels all day long. It’s going well so far, surprisingly!

Could you eat more veggies? Cut back on the dessert? Move your body more throughout the day? Prioritize sleep? GREAT. Do those things. They’re important, and your future self will thank you.

I know what you’re thinking. Some of those things might lead to weight loss!

If that’s the case, cool. But don’t make it the goal. If you’re living the healthiest lifestyle possible for you, and there’s excess weight, your body knows what to do with it. It might not be that ever popular 10 pounds though. Maybe it’s just 2. Maybe it’s 0. Either way, it’s okay, because it really doesn’t matter.

Focusing on health, rather than weight, will also lead you to be more successful.

If you’ve ever heard about SMART goals, you know that goals need to make sense. That’s the big A hanging out in there. They need to be attainable. Because everyone’s body is different, the same number for a weight loss goal doesn’t necessarily work. You might be setting a target for yourself that is basically impossible, unless you’re engaging in some pretty unhealthy behaviors, which we obviously want to stay FAR away from.

But if you change it to something like “I want to get strong enough to do one pull up” or “I want to run a faster mile” or even “I want to make it to the gym three times per week” – THAT’S DOABLE! It’s so much more important to set a goal that actually works for you rather than one that’s based on the continuous (and really rude) message society gives you that you don’t fit into this standard of beauty. Who agreed to that standard anyway?! Can’t we take another vote?!

So next time you find yourself saying you want to lose weight, ask yourself why. What significance does that number have? What would change if you weighed less?

If it’s just about appearance and fitting some standard, and has no meaning to you, let it go. Switch it up to something that feels fun to achieve that will actually make you feel good about yourself. Just because it’s always been about weight loss doesn’t mean it still has to be. Work towards something that makes you better and helps you gain something, rather than lose something. I promise it’ll be easier AND more enjoyable.