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When I started getting serious with improving my health and losing weight. I did what everyone did. I set my ‘outcome’ goals.
I set my end weight goal. My end dress size goal.
And off I went.
The first few months were great! My motivation was on a high. Getting my training sessions done was easy. I even got up regularly at 6am to take some friends through my training session. I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON.
Life was good!
Alas my eating behaviour began to change. Stress and depression was the perfect storm to create a dependency on food. I developed disordered eating behaviour. I would purposely overeat or eat when I wasn’t hungry to help settle my emotions. Thankfully, I’m beginning to turn the eating behaviour around again.
And part of that was being able to reframe my weight loss goals from being only an outcome goal to focus on process goals.
Instead of telling myself to lose ‘x’ kgs by a certain time. I changed my goals to focus on implementing consistent habits.
I focused on the habits (the process) I needed to achieve the outcome goal e.g.
Exercise at least 5 times a week
Include vegetables in 2 meals a day
Read before bed instead of looking at a screen
Write a to do list, every evening for the next day
By shifting my focus on the habits or the process, it really decreased the anxiety of weighing myself. I even made a decision to weigh myself only when I felt like it. Some weeks, I’ll weigh myself daily other weeks perhaps once a week.
The need to weigh, really decreased because I knew if I was on track simply by assessing my daily activities.
And even within my daily activities, I have my own mini-milestones to keep myself in check.
I truly believe moving away from the outcome goal and focusing on the process goals, has been a revelation because if we follow the process the outcome will come. It’s a mindset reframe.
How can you change your outcome goals into process goals?