Fitness is not one-size fits all. It doesn’t look the same on every body. It isn’t discovered by a single, best-ever workout plan. We don’t all eat the same foods at the same time in the same amount to get fit.

The idea of fitness and health, what it takes and what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, changes from person to person. It can change from day to day for one person alone! Not many people start their fitness journey on one path and follow it all the way to the end, step for planned step.

What does that mean for your fitness and health? How do you stay motivated and stay/get fit with that much diversity, variation and change?

Know Where You Are

No matter what, the best place to start is exactly where you are, right now. There are a few objective factors to think about: weight, lean mass versus fat mass, health indicators (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.). But more important than those objective numbers (that, by the way, fluctuate themselves), are the more subjective indicators of your health. Ask yourself the following questions.

• How do I feel when I wake up? Do I wake up with energy and excitement, motivated for the day ahead of me? Or do I wake up feeling sluggish and irritable?
• How is my energy level throughout the day? Does it fluctuate depending on what/when I eat? Do I always crash in the afternoon? Do I flip flop between Oscar the Grouch and Elmo?
• How do I feel before, during and after meals? Do I get an upset stomach or feel ill frequently? Do I stress/feel anxious about food? Do I feel guilty?

You might notice that your answers to THESE questions probably won’t/don’t fluctuate drastically from day to day. That’s because you are LIVING these feelings. These are emotions and energy levels that effect every part of your day. They are your starting point.

Know Where You Want to Go

The only way to get somewhere specific is to know where that place is. Imagine taking a road trip without an end destination. You might end up somewhere really cool, but along the way you’ll waste gas, drive through towns you don’t want to be in and question whether this was a good idea or not. Now imagine taking a road trip with a specific destination in mind. You can plan your route. You’ll know which towns to avoid travelling through (the ones that are potentially dangerous or super boring and will probably stress you out). You can decide which turns to take along the way with a sure knowledge that if you get lost, you can always retrace your steps and do it again.

Go after your fitness and health goals with that story in mind. If you don’t know where you want to go, how are you going to get there? How are you going to know you have arrived? If you know what you want and where you want your health to be, you can plan the fastest, easiest, most efficient and stress-free route to get you there, avoiding the potentially dangerous, super boring or stressful spots along the way).

There are, again, a few objective goals to think about: weight, lean body mass versus fat mass, health indicators. But hopefully you’ve realized by now that those numbers aren’t the coordinates on the map that you are looking for. Those numbers are more like the resulting sun tan that you get at your journey’s end, or the “destination” patches you can sew onto your backpack after you’ve reached place X. They are a result of your lifestyle choices.

The more important answers are the ones that you come up with to answer these questions:

• How do I WANT to feel when I wake up?
• What does my ideal, energized, healthy day feel and look like to me?
• What things do I want to do that I can’t do now? What things can I do now that I want to do FOREVER?
• What do I want my relationship with food to be about? Do I want it to be about health and enjoyment, or do I want it to be about calories and guilt?

The answers to THOSE questions tell you EXACTLY what a healthy, fit, happy lifestyle looks and feels like to you. And this is your world you’re living in baby, so that’s what matters most.

Constantly Adjust

Knowing where you are now and where you would like to end up set you up for long term success. Being able to make small adjustments ensures you achieve it.

As you make changes and grow, your body changes. It will react differently to something today than it did perhaps three years ago. The more muscle you put on, the more calories your body burns for fuel. The leaner you get, the harder it is to lose weight. You might develop an allergy that you need to adjust to. You might get pregnant. Being able to make changes to continue to progress and live a healthy, happy life is important physically and mentally.

Your goals will change over time too. What you want today may not be exactly what you want in 3 years, or 5 years or 10. Your goals change as you change. That doesn’t mean that working on this goal, the one you want today, is a waste of time. Completely the opposite in fact!

Change brings change. Growth encourages growth. You don’t WANT to be the same person today that you were when you were 18. You’ve learned, and grown, and experienced life that has made you who you are today. You’ll continue to learn, grow and experience things that will change you – those things will make you who you are tomorrow. You’ll gain strengths and discover knew loves and talents that you didn’t realize you had. Those things will change your trajectory, and that’s exactly what makes it worthwhile.

It might sound crazy, but I hope you never reach your end goal. I hope your end goal continues to evolve and grow as you evolve and grow so that by the time you reach what WAS your goal, you’ve already made a new one.