There are many reasons to eat healthier and exercise more, though weight loss is often the top reason people give for wanting to get into better shape.
Even if weight loss is your main goal, you may not want to set a target weight. Maybe you aren’t sure what it should be. Or maybe you don’t want to focus too much on a particular number, especially if you think you’ll start weighing yourself obsessively and anxiously. You may also want to make a more holistic assessment of your progress, including improvements to your health-related habits.
Whether or not you’ve set a particular target weight, there are alternative goals you can keep track of, such as:
- Reducing or eliminating unhealthy oils from your diet.
- Reducing the amount of added sugar you consume each day.
- Increasing the amount of time you exercise each week.
- Increasing the number of steps (or miles) you walk each day.
- Increasing the number of servings of vegetables you eat each day.
Using these kinds of alternatives as fitness goals will still contribute to healthy weight loss, but you won’t have to focus only on a particular number. Even if you have no target weight in mind, you can start getting healthier now. You’ll be placing your emphasis on establishing habits that are good to maintain for your overall health.
Bright Across the Lifespan 