So you've started on a body positive fitness journey, and you're setting goals that aren't related to shrinking yourself! Congratu-freaking-lations! That is heckin rad, and I'm super proud of you. It's hard as hell to break out of the mainstream fitness and diet culture that pushes you to endlessly try to shrink. Now that you've started moving your body and are trying to make it about feeling good, it might be hard to figure out how to set goals. Here's a few ideas to get you started.

1. Consider setting a frequency goal. This can look a lot of different ways. Maybe your goal is to attend a specific class every week, or walk 3 days a week, or to get up from your desk three times a day. There are many options. I had a student in an indoor cycling class I teach (shoutout to Upcycle!) set a goal recently to do back-to-back classes every Sunday morning. I love this as a frequency goal!
2. Set a skill based goal. Maybe there is something you'd like to learn to do, or work towards doing. It can be anything, a high plank, a headstand, a front squat, a push-up. Skill based goals are fun for me as a personal trainer because I can look at all the various components that go into that particular skill and figure out ways to work towards it. So we might work on specific mobility, or building strength in a particular part of your body, and gradually build up towards that skill.
3. Set an endurance goal. Maybe you want to work up to being able to finish a 4 mile hike, or run for a mile without walking, or maybe you want to do a full dance class. There are a lot of ways to work up to an endurance goal like that, and this is a cool way to mark progress without focusing on body weight or aesthetic changes.
4. Set a strength goal. This one might be my personal fave. I love working to see increases in my lifts. You can work to increasing a one rep max, or work to being able to do more reps with a weight lower than your max. I have clients who work on strength goals without specifically focusing on powerlifting style one rep maxes.

Once you remove body weight changes from your fitness equation, it might seem hard to set fitness goals, but being able to focus on these types of goals can be very liberating, and can help you structure your movement sessions in a way that helps you progress towards those goals. Of course, there is no requirement to have specific goals. Our culture is a bit obsessed with achievement and sometimes, that achievement obsession can distract from doing a thing just to do it. It's completely fine to move your body without having any particular goals for outcomes.

I've completed training with Evelyn Tribole to become a certified intuitive eating counselor! I'm really psyched for this addition to my qualifications, and I can't wait to be offering some new intuitive eating services through Enlighten Well. The training process was pretty long, and I learned a lot from it. I actually got to do part of my training with Evelyn, and I totally had some fangirl moments. I also completed some supervision sessions, which were very informative.

I started practicing intuitive eating for myself about three years ago, after my last diet left me feeling crazy, deprived, constipated, and malcontented. It had been a long road to that point, and I hope to never revisit it. Intuitive eating changed my life, and I an really proud of myself for taking this step towards being able to offer this to you.

Subtitle: Do I overthink shit? Yes, yes I do.

I'm currently training for a powerlifting meet, and I've been noticing my legs and shoulders getting more muscular and defined, and liking the change. It got me to thinking, can you be "body neutral" and like changes that come to your body from working out? Like many things, the answer is a bit nuanced, so I answer with a "Yes, AND...."

1. Are you working out only for the body changes? The point of weight neutral fitness isn't to stop focusing on weight only to then focus on some other physical change that you attach your value to. Another way to think about this question is, would you keep doing the movement you're currently doing if you were not getting these body changes?
2. Are you attaching your value or worth or loveability to changes in your appearance? Having muscular legs doesn't make me more loveable, more worthy of respect, a better friend, a better mom, or literally anything else important. It means I have muscular legs. That's it. 
3. Are changes to your appearance triggering diet thinking? Is it making you feel like you need to pursue MORE aesthetic changes, or weight changes? 

A weight neutral fitness journey doesn't have to be always easy. You can challenge your body, and you might even find that you can set different performance oriented goals when you aren't focused just on weight. I think it is perfectly fine to like or enjoy changes that happen to your body as a result of fitness as long as you are not excessively obsessed with the aesthetic changes, and are not linking your value as a person to the aesthetics.

Like I said, maybe this is overthinking. If you think I'm overthinking, that's fine, but I KNOW that some of you are worse overthinkers than I am. I know because I've talked to some of you. When I find myself getting stuck on a weird thought like, "Oh no, is it okay to like how my legs are looking?", I find it helpful to explore it a bit with more questions. All the questions.