It is very easy to do something just for the sake of doing it. Without a goal in mind, it’s very hard to measure progress. A goal can be as simple as knowing what direction you wish to move in.

For example, if your primary goal is to cut down, you would feel you’re making little to no progress by checking the measurement on your arms on a month to month basis. In the same way, if your goal is to put on size, you would feel you’re regressing if you base it on the size of your waist.

What this simply means is that to achieve a goal in either direction, you have to set the goal in the first place.

If you stay indecisive, you will make no progress in the long run. It cannot be stressed enough that changing your body composition eventually comes down to patience. Years and years of patience. Not months. I feel this is where we go wrong. As humans, we want results, and we want them now.

As we all know, matters related to body composition face enough pressure from social media as it is. On top of that, you will find people who try to force their beliefs onto you. If there’s one thing you take from this post, it has to be the fact that;

"You have to base your goals off what you want, not what others want you to want."

Because of the external pressures mentioned above, setting a goal might be harder than you think. This is where you have to make up your mind as to what holds more priority to you. Maybe the current situation in your life doesn’t allow you to diet down. Maybe you don’t want to cut down even though you aren’t as lean as you should be for starting a gaining phase. You see, everyone will have a different answer to each of these. If you look like you’re carrying extra fat, the external pressure will make you think that you should lose the fat first. In the same way, if you are sort of lean already, the external pressure will make you want to gain weight first.

This is where you have to ask yourself about what you really want. No one can answer this question for you other than you yourself. As long as you’re in a healthy body fat range, bulking and cutting should come down to purely personal preference. Of course, it has to be a logical decision as well. If you're overweight, it will be harmful for your health and your priority should be cutting. In the same way, if you're underweight, you should focus on gaining some weight first. But if you're in a healthy weight range, the choice is yours.

Why I say this is because others won’t be able to tell you how you feel about your body. If someone tells you to cut down and you hate being skinny, you will hate the process and might not reach your goal, because you never accepted it as the goal in the first place. Same way, if someone told you to bulk first, but you already were carrying excess body fat, you would not be comfortable and would stop midway.

Hence, to achieve what you want, you’ll have to work towards what you want. Educate yourself and make a sane decision on which direction you truly wish to move in. Ask yourself if, after 2 years, you would be happier being lean and ripped but smaller in clothes, or carrying a little extra fat while looking bigger in clothes. Once you answer this question, start taking steps to get closer to your goal and only stop when you achieve it.