If you don't know where you're going, how're you going to know when you get there? Goals are good because you need two points, where you are now and where you want to be, to plan out a path. A documented goal will also keep you from moving the target and quitting prematurely either out of frustration that you can't reach your target or making it trivial to reach the end point.
My fitness goals:
Approach
Exercise
Frequency. Intensity. Aerobic exercise to work out large muscle groups and burn calories, anaerobic exercise to make muscle groups larger so that more calories are being burned even when I'm just sitting around - and for ego. I'm going to build up to my high school fitness level by modeling it after my high school routine - daily practice that's hard enough to make me feel physically exhausted immediately after. The exercise routine will consist of a 1+ mile run, a pile of push ups, pull ups, and sits ups as a part of the daily routine along with a weight lifting regimen.
No riding an exercise bike without breaking a sweat and breathing hard. If it doesn't feel like your muscles are working hard, your muscles are hardly working. There are more comfortable lounge chairs to go read your magazine.
Food
Not a diet of 100% fat or 100% sugar. Also, not a diet of 100% rabbit food. I've been down the path of extreme dietary restriction before and that made me sad. I don't like being sad. I'm going to eat like I normally do. If I cook, that means: rice or pasta + meat + maybe some veggies if I feel inspired. If not, that probably means burgers or tacos or occassionally fried chicken. As I get back into the groove of things, I'm probably going to start increasing the vegetable content and cutting back a little on fat and junk food to accelerate my progress. When you lift weights, your body tears down muscles, and grabs proteins you've recently eaten to build them back up bigger. If the only thing to grab is fat, you'll just be getting fatter and sadder. You need carbs for energy. How else are you going to make it through the 5+ mile runs? Yes, 1+ miles will be a daily minimum, but we'll build up to 5+ miles 3 times a week.
No starvation. Your body has a really good anti-famine mechanism. When you starve yourself, your body panics and becomes greedy for long-term energy stores - fat. Once you start eating again, your body grabs more fat than it used to in case there's another famine. The result is that you gain all the weight back (and probably more) in record time. Thus the moniker yo-yo dieting.
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