by David Minishian | Oct 5, 2024 | Lifestyle Habits, Strength Training
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When setting goals, it’s easy to get fixated on the final outcome. Whether it’s losing weight, running a marathon, or building muscle, the end result can seem like the only thing that matters.
But here’s the truth: the journey is just as important—if not more so—than the destination. Focusing on the daily actions, habits, and processes that lead you to that ultimate goal can make all the difference in whether or not you succeed.
Let’s break down the difference between process goals and outcome goals and explain why the former can be the key to sustainable success in your fitness journey.
Outcome Goals vs. Process Goals: What’s the Difference?
When we talk about goals, it’s crucial to distinguish between outcome goals and process goals.
- Outcome Goals: These are the big-picture objectives that focus on the end result. They are the goals that define what you want to achieve, such as “I want to lose 20 pounds” or “I want to do a pull up.” Outcome goals are often ambitious and challenging, serving as a source of motivation because they give us something concrete to work towards.
- Process Goals: In contrast, process goals focus on the small, daily actions that will lead you to achieve those outcome goals. These goals are about the journey, not the destination. Examples of process goals include “I will go to the gym three times a week” or “I will include two servings of vegetables in my meals each day.” Process goals are actionable, detailed, and entirely within your control. They give you clear directions on what to do now, rather than a distant finish line.
Why Outcome Goals Alone Can Lead to Frustration
Outcome goals are inspiring and can light a fire under us to take action. However, they come with potential pitfalls:
- Lack of Immediate Feedback: Outcome goals often require time to achieve. If you’re focused solely on losing 20 pounds, the scale may not move as quickly as you’d like, which can lead to frustration and loss of motivation. When progress isn’t immediate or linear, it can make you feel like you’re failing—even if you’re on the right track.
- Dependence on External Factors: Outcomes are sometimes influenced by factors beyond our control, such as genetics, stress, or even temporary health issues. If your only measure of success is an outcome goal, you may feel disheartened when progress is affected by these variables.
- Pressure and Mental Strain: Focusing exclusively on outcomes can add undue pressure. This pressure may lead to stress and burnout, especially if you perceive that you’re falling short. Instead of enjoying the journey, the focus becomes a race against time, which often feels draining.
Why Process Goals Are Essential for Long-Term Success
Process goals are the antidote to the challenges of outcome-driven thinking. Here’s why focusing on process goals can lead to better, more sustainable results:
- Small, Attainable Wins: Process goals allow you to accumulate small victories along the way. For instance, if you set a goal to walk 10,000 steps a day, each day you achieve that, you get a boost of confidence and motivation. Celebrating these small wins helps you build momentum and keeps you engaged with the process.
- Build Consistency and Healthy Habits: Fitness, like many aspects of life, is about consistency. The cumulative effect of small, repeated actions over time leads to transformative results. Process goals help you build positive habits that become ingrained in your lifestyle. Whether it’s hitting the gym regularly, getting enough sleep, or practicing mindful eating, these habits compound to create lasting change.
- Stay in Control of Your Progress: One of the most powerful aspects of process goals is that they are within your control. You can’t always dictate how quickly your body will lose fat or how soon you’ll hit a new personal record in lifting, but you can control how often you exercise, what foods you choose, and how you manage your recovery. This sense of control reduces stress and empowers you to keep going.
- Focus on What You Can Do, Not Just What You Want: Process goals are actionable. They direct your attention to what you can do right now. Instead of being overwhelmed by an ambitious goal that seems out of reach, you break it down into actionable steps. This way, you feel less anxious and more confident in your ability to achieve progress each day.
How to Set Effective Process Goals
To harness the power of process goals, it’s important to make them as clear and achievable as possible. Here are some tips:
- Create Specific Goals: A well-defined process goal is specific and leaves no room for ambiguity. Instead of saying, “I want to be more active,” say, “I will attend the gym’s small group training every Monday and Wednesday morning.” The more specific the goal, the easier it is to measure progress and stay committed.
- Set Realistic and Attainable Goals: Make sure your process goals are realistic. They should fit seamlessly into your life and routine so that you’re not setting yourself up for failure. For instance, if your work schedule is demanding, aiming to work out every single day may be unrealistic. Instead, commit to something more attainable, like three times a week, which is challenging but doable.
- Focus on Controllable Goals: Process goals should always be within your control. For example, instead of focusing on the outcome, such as “I want to lose weight,” focus on the actions that can contribute to weight loss: “I will drink eight glasses of water each day,” or “I will take the stairs instead of the elevator.” These are habits you can manage and accomplish without relying on unpredictable factors.
Examples of Process Goals for Fitness
To help make these ideas more concrete, here are some process goals you can adopt depending on your fitness objectives:
- For Weight Loss: “I will track my calorie intake for five days a week using a food diary or app.”
- For Building Strength: “I will perform resistance training exercises three times a week focusing on different muscle groups.”
- For Improving Endurance: “I will run for 20 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday, gradually increasing by 5 minutes each week.”
- For Better Nutrition: “I will add one serving of leafy greens to my lunch each day.”
The Power of Focusing on the Journey
Ultimately, in fitness, the emphasis should be on enjoying and committing to the journey rather than stressing over the destination. By prioritizing process goals over outcome goals, you’re more likely to foster a healthy mindset, build habits that last, and enjoy the process of becoming stronger and healthier.
Each day you stay committed to your process goals, you are taking steps forward—steps that will eventually lead you to your desired outcome, without the overwhelming pressure to get there in a specific timeframe.
Conclusion
When it comes to achieving fitness goals, success isn’t about arriving at a finish line as quickly as possible. It’s about taking consistent action, celebrating small victories, and embracing each part of the journey. Outcome goals may be what initially spark motivation, but it’s process goals that carry you through, helping you cultivate a lifestyle that supports long-term health and happiness.
Embrace the process, set actionable and realistic goals, and watch yourself transform—one small, meaningful step at a time.
by David Minishian | Jan 2, 2023 | Behaviors, Lifestyle Habits, Weight Loss
These 8 tricks to staying disciplined only work if you do them. My advice is to glance through them, then choose 1 or 2 that will work best for you. Actually, take time to consider which will make the biggest impact. I’ve also included either how to implement each one or why they are important.
I’ve seen people have more success with #7 than any other tip below. It’s my personal favorite.
1. Set Process Goals
Losing weight is no easy feat, and it requires discipline to stay on track. The best way to stay disciplined during your weight loss journey is to create clear goals that you can work towards. It’s important that these goals are realistic, measurable, and achievable, so you can objectively see your progress during your journey. For example, instead of saying “I want to lose 10 pounds in two weeks” try setting a process goal such as “I will walk for 30 minutes every day this week” or “I will eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day this week.” Setting process goals like this will help keep you disciplined throughout your weight loss journey.
2. Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress along the way can be an effective tool in keeping yourself disciplined while on a weight loss journey. Tracking metrics such as body measurements (waist size), body fat percentage, daily caloric intake or weekly calorie deficit can help provide insight into how far you have come and how close you are to reaching your end goal. Keeping records of multiple metrics allows you to see progress in different areas. This is especially helpful if results take longer than expected! Additionally, tracking progress may reveal unhealthy habits that could be hindering success. Once you’ve identified these trends, you’ll be better equipped to create an action plan based on your needs.
3. Celebrate Small Wins
Losing weight isn’t always about the number on the scale; celebrating small wins along the way is important to stay disciplined and continue making healthier decisions consistently over time. These small consistent decisions ultimately lead towards bigger successes down the road! The small celebrations include things like eating breakfast everyday, not skipping meals, or meeting daily step count goals using a fitness tracker device. Whenever you feel like giving up, remember to celebrate the little victories. They add up big time in the long run!
4. Reward Yourself
Reward yourself after hitting certain milestones within your weight loss journey. Reaching long term goals is hard and rewards can help reinforce the habits you need to succeed. Even though food will likely be on your mind if you’re dieting, rewards do not necessarily have food related. Other ideas might include buying new workout clothes or planning a fun night out. The important part is that you choose something you’ll enjoy doing and receiving as a reward for the hard work put in!
5. Find Inspiration From Others
Craft your social media accounts to send you inspiration from others. Social media algorithms are powerful. By interacting with positive pages and posts that provide encouragement during your journey, the social media algorithms will continue to send you similar content. Finding accounts and individuals that share similar stories and experiences can provide the positive support you need to stay focused on your goal. You may glean useful information about how others overcame the similar challenges you’re facing. Creating an environment that drives your success is critical.
6. Make Exercise Fun
Exercising doesn’t have to be a boring chore you check off your daily list. Instead, plan to incorporate ways you enjoy moving. This can include regularly participating in a sport, joining a dance class, or taking yoga. Find creative ways to incorporate physical activity into your life. It’s recommended that resistance based training be the foundation of your exercise, but this recommendation isn’t exclusive to other types of movement. It’s more important to make exercise fun and find something you love.
7. Create A Support System
Creating a support system with family members or friends who understand what it takes to maintain healthy habits is key in staying disciplined while losing weight. Having people in your corner who cheer you on encourages better behavior choices, especially when those supporting you are familiar with the effort that goes into achieving success with the diet plan or exercise routine you’ve chosen. When someone else holds us accountable, it adds extra incentive when we need an extra push! Many gyms also offer group classes where people can go together and encourage one another during their workouts – providing both physical activity guidance from professionals plus social interaction which makes exercising more enjoyable overall! If you’re local to our facility, check out our Small Group Boot Camp or Semi-Private Training programs.
8. Stay Positive
Lastly, maintain a positive attitude throughout the entire process. You can expect to have ups and downs, but it’s essential to stay true to the plan you laid out from the beginning no matter the outcome. Even though your goal is weight loss, your success lies in your ability to maintain lifestyle changes long term. This is the real determinant of losing weight and keeping it off. Don’t let negative self-talk distract you, but remind yourself of the positive changes you’ve made thus far to prevent falling back to old behaviors and undoing all progress you’ve accomplished. Stay the course. You can do this!
by David Minishian | Dec 27, 2022 | Exercise, Lifestyle Habits, Nutrition, Sleep, Weight Loss
Long-term weight loss success is something that many of us strive for but don’t always achieve. It requires dedication, hard work, and a commitment to stay the course over an extended period of time. But if you want to make lasting changes in your health and body composition, it can be done by executing a few simple strategies.
Let’s cover 6 easy strategies for long-term weight loss success that you can start using today:
- Set realistic goals
- Track your progress
- Find healthy substitutes for unhealthy foods
- Exercise regularly
- Make lifestyle changes
- Get adequate sleep
1. Set Realistic Goals
The first step towards achieving any goal is setting realistic expectations from the beginning, so that you don’t become discouraged or overwhelmed by the process ahead of you. When it comes to losing weight, set yourself up for success by creating achievable objectives such as running three times per week or eating five servings of vegetables each day rather than aiming to lose 10 pounds in two weeks or completely eliminating carbs from your diet right away (unless advised by a doctor). Setting these types of actionable milestones will help keep you motivated while also making sure that the journey isn’t too overwhelming!
2. Track Your Progress
Keeping track of your progress helps keep things in perspective and gives you tangible evidence when reviewing how far you have come on your journey towards long-term weight loss success. You may find tracking apps helpful here; they allow users to log their meals/workouts along with other relevant details like calories consumed/burned etc. Having access to these data points can be useful for analysis later on down the line – all without having to manually record everything! Additionally, consider taking photos at regular intervals throughout this process so that once again there’s physical proof showing where you’ve been compared to where you are now. Pictures are great motivation during those more challenging moments!
3. Find Healthy Substitutes For Unhealthy Foods
One way people often sabotage their own efforts when attempting long-term weight loss is by failing to swap unhealthy habits with healthier alternatives – leading them back into their old ways eventually causing them to give up altogether! If there’s something specific out there which isn’t conducive towards one’s health & fitness goals, try finding suitable replacements instead (i.e. swapping sugary snacks like candy bars or chips with nuts/fruit). Doing this allows individuals to maintain variety within their diets while still adhering closely enough to the dietary guidelines they have set – ensuring longevity along this journey!
4. Exercise Regularly
Alongside consuming nutritious foods regularly, exercise plays an important role in achieving long term results when trying to reduce body fat. This doesn’t mean having to hit the gym every single day though; even just doing 30 minutes of intentional activity twice weekly combined with walking whenever possible is a fantastic start when done consistently over time. The goal is consistent activity to raise the metabolic rate and make it easier to remain in a caloric deficit. You don’t need to workout for 2 hours a day, 6 days a week to see results.
5. Make Lifestyle Changes
Losing body fat involves much more than simply exercising & eating well; changing lifestyle habits must occur in order to achieve the desired outcomes. This could include swapping screen time for family walks, eating out for home cooked meals, or alcohol for calorie free beverages. Of course, the changes all depend upon the individual situation, but the lifestyle habits need to change to properly support a leaner, fit person. Making gradual adjustments overtime will enable a person to adhere to the necessary measures required to increase their chances of having success!
6. Get Adequate Sleep
Finally getting sufficient rest is a critical component for maintaining good overall health. It’s important to pay attention to the amount of hours we’re sleeping at night when looking to shed a few extra pounds off! Not only does a lack of proper sleep lead to fatigue, but it increases cravings for sugar based products by affecting the hormones responsible for regulating hunger and satiety levels, both which play crucial roles in deciding whether someone ends up gaining or losing weight. Make sure to get plenty of shut eye whenever possible to ensure optimal functioning for the days ahead!
by David Minishian | Dec 11, 2022 | Exercise, Fat Loss, Lifestyle Habits, Nutrition, Sleep, Stress Management, Supplements, Weight Loss
Are you looking for ways to kickstart your metabolism and burn fat faster? If so, this article is for you. In this post, we’ll discuss seven easy-to-implement steps that can help get your metabolism up and running in no time. We’ll also share some tips on how to keep it going strong over the long haul. So let’s jump right in!
1. Increase Your Protein Intake
Protein is an essential nutrient that helps to build muscle mass and increase your metabolic rate. Studies have shown that people who consume higher amounts of protein tend to burn more calories than those who don’t eat as much protein. Aim for at least .5 gram of protein per pound of body weight each day. If you’re lifting weights, aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass (you’ll need to know you’re body fat percentage to find your lean body mass). Good sources of protein include lean meats such as chicken breast or fish; eggs; dairy products like yogurt or cottage cheese; legumes like chickpeas or lentils; nuts and seeds; tofu; quinoa; tempeh; spirulina; etc.
2. Eat More Fiber-Rich Foods
Fiber helps keep you feeling full longer which can help prevent overeating and snacking between meals – both key factors when trying to lose weight. It also aids digestion by helping food move through the digestive tract slowly which can promote a healthy metabolism. Aim for 25–30 grams of fiber daily from foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains (such as oats), beans/legumes (like black beans), nuts/seeds (almonds and flaxseeds are great!), and avocados. Refined and processed foods lack fiber. To consume more fiber rich foods, a good general rule is to gravitate towards whole foods with minimal processing.
3. Stay Hydrated & Reduce Sugary Drinks
Drinking plenty of water throughout the day not only hydrates our cells but also helps with digestion. Being hydrated makes it easier for our bodies to absorb nutrients from food while eliminating toxins at the same time! As an added bonus: drinking enough water will help reduce strong cravings that are often thirst mistaken for hunger leading us down a path toward unhealthy snacks instead of healthier choices. Additionally try to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks like sodas which contain empty calories that won’t nourish our bodies. If soda is consumed regularly over time, this liquid candy will make it more difficult to lose fat and adds extra pounds onto our waistlines…not exactly what we want when trying to slim down.
4. Get Moving & Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise has been proven to not only boost one’s mood but also increases our metabolic rates over periods lasting anywhere from 24 to 72 hours after physical activity has taken place. This means even after having finished exercising there’s still benefit being gained simply because we’ve made exercise part of our weekly routine. As a bonus, if high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts or resistance based training are used during these exercise sessions our metabolic rate increases significantly more. Moving consistently is the first goal, but the right type of exercise or training can maximize our efforts in terms of the time spent working out – it’s a win-win situation all around!
5. Prioritize Sleep Quality
Getting adequate sleep every night plays a major role in keeping hormones balanced, which helps regulate the appetite and reduces cravings associated with late night snacking binges. Individuals who suffer from a chronic lack of sleep often have unwanted weight gain despite the best intentions to move more and eat fewer calories. Aiming towards 7–9 hours of sleep nightly should be considered mandatory, especially considering how important quality restful sleep is towards overall health. With enough sleep a well rested body can more consistently maintain the positive eating habits that support a caloric deficit. This deficit is required to maximize the rate of fat loss!
6. Reduce Stress Levels
Finding ways to reduce stress levels may seem difficult at first; however there is a huge pay off in practicing stress reducing activities. Living in a state of constant stress promotes higher levels of cortisol. This hormone when chronically elevated can decrease our ability to lose fat. Not only does the hormone physically promote fat storage, but it can inhibit the mental clarity and the decision making ability required to stay on a diet plan resulting in half hearted attempts at staying the course. Luckily, a few simple mindfulness activities when practiced regularly can prevent a state of chronic stress so your body can continue being a fat burning machine. Deep breathing exercises are one proven method that is effective at recentering our body and mind. There are a variety of ways to practice deep breathing as seen in yoga, tai chi, and pilates, but the principle practice remains the same. Start by taking a deep breath in, holding it for 5 seconds, then slowly exhaling. Do this with your eyes closed paying attention to your body and breath. After only 10 repetitions this easy technique can significantly reduce stress and bring clarity back to your body and mind.
7. Supplement Smartly
Supplements aren’t required when creating a healthy lifestyle, but they may offer additional support depending upon individual needs. Whether it’s a protein powder, stimulant, creatine, probiotic, vitamin, mineral, or herb there may be a certain product or combination of products that prove beneficial. However, there are no supplements that should be applied to everyone. When determining if a supplement is right for you, consult your coach and medical team to ensure using the product will safely and effectively supplement your existing diet to help you meet your nutritional needs.