Why You Need To Abandon Your Goal Timeline Now

You may have started the year off with a bang and set a few health goals that you wanted to achieve. We’re now a month into the New Year and you might have noticed some progress or might be wondering why you haven’t already seen any changes. Whatever your situation there is something you need to hear and that is…

ABANDON YOUR TIMELINE!

Whether your goal is weight loss or whether it’s simply just to lead a healthier life, society has made us believe that we have to do it all by a certain time. “Get the body you want in just 8 weeks”, “Lose X amount of kgs before you walk down the Aisle”, “Get summer body ready.” This creates unnecessary pressure and promotes a rebound cycle and ultimately, it’s not sustainable long-term. 

I know this because I have been there myself. If you don’t know my story, I used to be a professional ballroom dancer. Competitions, constant events and stage performances forced me into extreme dieting as well as a strict exercise regime. In the off season I would reflexively eat and rest and no wonder! I was seriously deprived and restricted the other half of the time.

Cue me when I ended up quitting dance and all that came with it (restrictive diets and excessive training) and ended up putting on 25kg (50 pounds). That’s when the rollercoaster of yo-yo diets began. I was constantly aiming to achieve to lose the weight by a certain time which meant extreme dieting to get those results as fast as possible. I’ll be honest, I would lose some weight but I would always put it back on. 

It wasn’t until one day I stopped placing this urgency on myself and got rid of the end date. Because really, when you do finally reach it, then what?

I started to see my health and my goals as a life-long journey instead. I didn’t care how long it took, I just focused on the small steps I could make day to day. This was the best thing I did because the pressure I had put on myself was now gone and I started to see the weight that I had gained, slowly disappearing. 

My goal now is a life-long maintenance approach. I live by an 80/20 approach to food and exercise and because of this, when it may stray to more of a 70/30 (because let’s be honest we all indulge once in a while) I don’t need to go to extremes like cutting carbs or even not eating to get back on track. 

I used to say to myself that I will be happy when I “get there.” But in fact, I realised that I am happiest at the moment knowing that I am constantly on the journey, because once you reach that goal… then what? 

So if you are sitting there right now unhappy that you haven’t seen any change yet, this message is for you to abandon your timeline. Focus on making game changing, foundational and sustainable habits, a good mindset and the WANT to move your body.