Write down your realistic short term goal. A short term goal means something that’s in between six weeks away and six months away, this time frame puts a little pressure on you to actually stick to it, but not the unsustainable pressure of an unrealistic fitness program. Here are a few examples our Personal Trainers have helped clients come up with……..and go on to achieve their goals!
Be fitter, more toned and healthier than I was when I turned 30, by the time I’m 40 in three months.
Fit back into my summer clothes by the time summer starts in 8 weeks time.
Run and complete the half marathon at the Gold Coast Marathon in 6 months time without stopping or walking.

So how many Personal Training sessions, salads, walks around the block and alcohol free days does it take to live a fit, happy, healthy and long life?  That’s a question that only you can answer, however as Personal Trainers we are here to give you a head start.  Don’t just pick a random goal of “lose 20kg and I’ll be happy”.  Figure out a realistic goal and the time, effort, energy and money it’s going to take to achieve it.  Otherwise it’s kind of like saying “I plan to be a millionaire in 10 years time”, yet you only have time to work two days a week.  If you had a friend say this to you, what chance of success would you give them? 

The irony is that “normal” is actually the opposite of what I’ve mentioned in the last couple of blogs. 50% of Australians are overweight or obese and 80% of Australians do not do the recommended amount of daily exercise. 95% of the population does not go to the Gym on a regular basis, and of the 5% that do, I’m sure only a fraction of them go three to four times a week like Gyms recommend. So if you’re overweight and you don’t exercise you are normal! So for your own health and longevity I would recommend that you don’t aspire to be normal! Forget about what everyone else says you should look and feel like and do what will give you a fit, happy, healthy and long life, both in the Gym and out of the Gym.

A normal weight based on our celebrities is even more abnormal than what the BMI indicates; just take a look at the cover of any New Idea calling a Hollywood stick figure “fat” because she put on 5kg! Step inside many Gyms and you will be told by a muscle man with a fake tan that waxes his entire body that being at a normal weight involves taking supplements such as shakes and vitamins as every day “normal” food doesn’t have enough or the right nutrients.

The big floor in the Get Active campaign is using the BMI, put Pat Rafters stats of 1.85m and 86kg into their BMI calculator and their own spokesperson has a BMI of 25.128 which is in the overweight category (BMI of 25 to 30)! According to this Pat Rafter has an “increased risk of weight-related health problems such as heart disease and diabetes type 2”. These are his stats as a player, so now that he is retired and not training eight hours a day his weight would be higher, which would apparently make him “fatter” according to the BMI. So if one Australia’s sexiest men (according to Cleo) and one of our greatest athletes is classed as overweight in the Government’s own campaign, what hope do the rest of us have? The BMI was created 179 years ago in 1830 and is clearly out of date, Pat Rafter is obviously not overweight, even now that he has retired, he’s a great fit and healthy Aussie icon for the ads. However once again it gives people unrealistic weight loss expectations. If the average person puts their stats into the calculator they will be told to achieve such an unrealistic goal that it can only set people up for failure. Who wants to work out to try and achieve a goal weight that’s virtually impossible to achieve?

So what’s normal when it comes to weight loss and a healthy weight? One of the most common measures worldwide is the BMI (Body Mass Index) which is a measure of a person’s weight in proportion to their height. This is the Australian Government’s main measure of determining if you are at a healthy weight for their new multimillion dollar “Get Active” campaign. You know the ads with Pat Rafter jumping around asking “how do you get your 30 minutes”; you can check it out at www.your30.qld.gov. As a Personal Trainer I believe the Get Active campaign is a great concept as it points out that exercise can be anything that is fun and active, it doesn’t have to be a scary Gym.

Both people have lost a realistic and successful amount of weight. I’m sure everyone would agree that dropping 30kg and keeping it off is a massive success. However I believe, the lady who has only lost a couple of kilograms is just as successful, yes in an ideal world she would train 5 days a week like the other lady, but let’s keep it real, she only had time to train once a week. As Personal Trainers our job is to make a “Personal” program, looking at her commitments, it was clear that one Personal Training session was a realistic and sustainable commitment for her. Compared to her yo-yo dieting friends she is certainly a success, over the years they have gotten heavier and more disillusioned with diets and she has felt younger and fitter. Most importantly, because she set a realistic goal, she succeeded, and she has the health, fitness and confidence to show for it!

The two things these clients have in common are “realistic weight loss expectations” and “long term success”. The lady who dropped 20kg was ultra committed and got rid of every bit of alcohol and bad food; she never missed a session and needed the other two days in the week off to recover. She went on to drop another 10kg over the next few months and has kept the whole 30kg off for years. The lady who only dropped a couple of kilos worked a 60 hour week and wasn’t overweight, so she didn’t have much to drop in the first place. She had three kids and she hadn’t exercised for 20 years since high school, so training 5 days a week like the other lady was an unrealistic expectation. She may have only lost a couple of kilos but 5 years on she still sees her Personal Trainer once a week without fail. She feels 10 years younger and is a whole size smaller and has a healthy glow. In the same 5 year period her friends have tried countless diets only to drop 5kg and put 6kg back on and wind up close to 10kg heavier across the same 5 year period.

Here at Fitness Enhancement Personal Training our realistic weight loss expectation is: Am amount of weight loss that is sustainable and makes you feel good on both the inside and the outside and makes you fit and healthy, for the rest of your life. That’s different for everyone, it’s a personal thing that has as much to do with your personality, your motivation, your spare time and your family support as it does to do with your weight. That’s why we’re “Personal” Trainers and not “Impersonal” Trainers! We’ve had some clients train 5 days a week and drop 20kg in two months; we’ve also had a lot of clients do just one 30 minute session a week, not change their diet all and only drop a kilo or two in the same two month period.

So what is a realistic weight loss expectation?  Most diets and fitness programs will tell you anywhere from 1kg a week to even 10kg a week.  However statistically 95% of people fail to achieve long term weight loss on a diet. So should you really believe these weight loss claims? No you shouldn’t.  If your car broke down 19 out of 20 times (that’s 95%) you had it fixed would you keep going back to the same mechanic? Of course not, wouldn’t trust a word he said! You would search around a find a better mechanic, one that was nothing like the old one. Yet when it comes to diets and fitness programs people make the same mistake again and again. They’ll fail on the Atkins diets, only to try a high protein diet next time around. Or they will quit six weeks into a one year Gym membership, only to join the same place again when they get so called friendly call when their membership is due almost a year later.  So if these places haven’t given you a reason to believe their weight loss claims before, don’t believe them, use your own judgement and weigh ups the pros and cons of their advice, and our advice.

Every day there’s a revolutionary scientifically proven super duper exercise contraption on an infomercial that will shred fat (and based on before and after photos, give you a great tan) and make you fit, healthy, sexy, happy and successful……from just 10 minutes a day! While we all know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, it can’t help but rub off on us a little. Combine it with a dozens of diets, show pony Gyms and surgically altered celebrities all telling us the same thing and it’s no wonder Australians have unrealistic weight loss expectations.  After all it only takes 10 minutes a day!…….But wait there’s more……..

Our goal is to make weight loss and fitness a little easier and a lot more enjoyable with quick and easy tips and advice that don’t over complicate it and confuse you like so many other programs.  Check back regularly to get tips and advice from the Gold Coast’s biggest team of professional Personal Trainers.  And if you like what you hear, why not book in for a free consultation at www.fitnessenhancement.com to see how easy it can be to change your life with a Fitness Enhancement Personal Trainer.