Coach: Identify and track health goals

Are you reaching your health goals?  That is a question I ask most potential clients. For many of them, it can be difficult to answer.  I normally hear responses like, “I’m not sure,” “I don’t have health goals” or just simply “No.”

Reaching health goals can be difficult if an individual has not first identified their health goals. Health goals are extremely individual; as a result there can be many different paths to improving health.

What is your highest priority? Improved functional movement, weight loss, strength, increased range of motion, better endurance, improved diet, or improved performance-based  activities? Identifying the most important aspect of your health you wish to improve will allow you to set accurate goals. Once goals are set, a plan can be made to obtain those goals. Again, plans will be individualized based on age, resources, ability level, interests, health issues and priorities.   

When trying to change an individual’s outlook on health and fitness, I like to compare health goals and finance goals.  We all have a financial budget – how much money we can spend in relation to how much income we have. The more we work, the more we make, and the more resources we have for savings, vacations, retirement/IRA or daily expenses.  

How we allocate our money is individualized, but everyone has a priority.  If our priority shifts to taking a vacation, we need to shift resources to cover the added expenses of the vacation. There has to be a plan to obtain the goal of paying for a vacation, such as taking an extra shift every week for six months, dipping into savings, or cutting back on daily expenses to save up for the vacation.  First we have to identify a goal or priority, and then we can create a plan to reach it.

If an individual comes to me to improve their health, we would first identify their priority by narrowing the approach and identifying specific goals.  Once we have a specific goal, we can create a plan to reach it.

Still, having a plan does not automatically guarantee success. Work and discipline are required.  An individual needs enough discipline to do the work on the plan and to record what was done. It does not matter if the goal is weight loss or increasing strength; tracking progress is essential for success.  

I’ve mentioned in past articles the benefits of using a whiteboard or log to record daily activity or caloric consumption. Tracking a history allows for accurate goal-setting and holds an individual accountable.

Going back to the financial comparison, if an individual budgets $100/day, that is a measurement we can track to determine success. If an individual has a daily caloric-intake goal of 2,000 calories/day, that is also a measurable goal.  

Once an individual has a plan, success or failure is based on desire and accountability. Tracking performance will hold an individual accountable and accurately predict future outcomes. If you are +500 calories a day on your caloric goal, the outcome is +1 pound a week.

I have a stack of training logs that date back 15 years. I’ve gone back through many of them and looked at when I underperformed in a race or with training through the years. Nearly every time I underperformed in the past, I could track back to being unaccountable with training goals leading up to the event or being unable to adapt training plans when signs showed I needed rest.  With tracking, negative outcomes can better be avoided, and reaching optimal performance can better be attained.

An individual’s health is their greatest resource and should be something that is cultivated over the years.  When looking to focus more on health and fitness, an individual should first identify priorities or goals. Once that is established, a plan can be created, and then progress should be tracked to better increase the likelihood of success.

There are many factors that will impact this process. Contacting a professional may be the most effective way of putting you on the correct path to a healthier lifestyle.