You can read every fitness magazine and website out there, you can try this supplement and that weight-loss pill, and you can even go to the gym from time to time. But, are your goals clear? More specifically, do you REALLY know what it is you want in terms of your fitness?

I think the concept of wanting something, as opposed to having or doing something that you'd like, is an interesting one. The phrase generally tends to be tossed about quite carelessly; "I want a new car," "I want to lose 20 pounds, "I want to go on vacation." However, if these things (or the different things that you claim to want) are truly -- absolutely and without question -- what you want, you would have them. And so would I. Want is a very, very strong word, one that requires a great deal of time, effort, and dedication to effectuate. Look, I'm just as guilty as the next person of claiming to want things that I know may never materialize, so please don't think I'm waxing philosophical here from atop an ivory tower. My only reason for mentioning all of this is to make it clear that reading health magazines, taking diet pills, occasionally eating healthy, and going to the gym now and again simply may not be enough to get the body you claim to want. The body you would like to have? Perhaps. But not the one you want.

Getting something you want involves dogged determination and the single-minded pursuit of achieving that goal. You want that new $40,000 car? Well, that means no more nights out to dinner with your wife or husband, no more trips down to Disney World with the kids, and you just might need to take the bus to work instead of your current gas guzzler. Just the same, you want a body like a cover model? Unless you're genetically gifted, you can kiss pizza night with your family goodbye; be prepared to work out five to six days a week, twice a day in some instances to get your body fat under eight percent; quit your job so that you can make it to the gym to complete both of those two workouts, etc. Do you see where I'm going with this?

After you factor in all that must be sacrificed to achieve what you want, that want actually changes. No longer is your want, I want to have a new car; it now becomes I want to have a new car and still go out to dinner with my wife or husband, still take the trips to Disney with the kids, still drive my car to work instead of taking the bus, etc. The same goes for your fitness goals. That want quickly becomes I want to have a cover model body and still eat pizza, work out only two or three days a week, and keep my high-paying but time-consuming job.

So, what's my point? Yes, I have finally arrived at that stop. The point is that in order to achieve your goals, you need to consider what it will truly take to do so. Once you've done that hedonistic calculus -- that pleasure vs. pain comparison, if you will -- then you will know if your goal is a) realistic and within your grasp, and b) worth pursuing in the first place. If it is, great, more power to you and good luck. If it's not, that's perfectly okay, too. If it turns out to be the latter, know that there's nothing wrong with changing your way of thinking to be more that you would like to have a new car or that you would like to have a cover model body. Setting clear and attainable goals will always prove much more beneficial than setting indiscernible and overly lofty ones.