Measuring change

I don't like "New Year's resolutions" because they have become synonymous with unrealistic, overreaching goals that almost always result in failure and disappointment. The start of the new year, however, is just as good a time as any to set specific, measurable, and attainable goals to improve aspects of your life. I decided it would a good time for me to set some new goals for my personal fitness: exercise at least three times a week, which is a good, easy to measure goal that I like. While many fitness professionals don't encourage using body weight to determine a person's level of physical fitness, I decided I would also keep track of it, since there's a scale at my gym and I was keeping a log of all my exercising activities anyway.

For about two weeks, my weight remained right around the same number. Then today, there was a clear three-pound decrease in my weight. My personal trainer reminded me that a three-pound weight change isn't really that significant and doesn't really say anything about long-term improvements in physical fitness. And though I know this and keep it at the front of my mind, seeing this measurable change really helped motivate me to keep working toward my actual goal of exercising three times a week.

Always set your physical fitness goals with the advice of a fitness professional. Instead of body weight, many fitness professionals will recommend monitoring body mass index (BMI) or measurements of certain areas of your body. Setting a goal of a certain number of exercise sessions each week is also a good way to monitor your progress. But however you do it, being able to measure your progress will help you stay on track to meeting your goals.