Losing Weight and Getting Fit in 2016

The best plan to lose weight – set SMART goals

It’s a New Year and your resolution is to lose weight and get fit. It’s the same resolution you make every year but this time you swear you are going to stick to it. So how do you go about this? How is this year going to be different from every other year? This year you are going to create SMART goals.

When setting any goal, the SMART acronym is the tool to use. What does this mean? It means that any goal you create needs to be;

1. Specific

2. Measurable

3. Attainable

4. Realistic

5. Timeframe

Let’s get into more detail for each part. Here’s an example of a typical goal “I’m going to lose weight this year”. Will this goal be achieved? Probably not. Why? Because it is not specific enough. “I’m going to lose 10 pounds” is more specific.

Next step is how are you going to measure the weight loss? Are you going to weigh yourself? Are you going to keep trying to fit into your skinny jeans until they finally fit again? Are you going to get your body composition measured? How are you going to measure success?

Now think about it. Is this goal attainable? Do you think you can achieve this goal? Is this goal too big? Are you setting yourself up for failure?If you said that your goal was to lost 75 pounds, then I would suggest you select a smaller goal. Losing 5 or 10 pounds is a lot easier to do than 75. Select a shorter termed goal that you can realistically achieve. By breaking your goal into smaller parts you are allowing yourself to succeed and achieve your goal. When you achieve your goal, you feel good about yourself and are now ready to tackle the next goal.

If you know you need help getting motivated or learning to eat healthier do you go seek help from a professional? Do you get the knowledge that you need to help you attain this goal or are you setting yourself up for failure by trying to do this all by yourself?

Lastly, what is your timeframe? You didn’t gain this weight overnight so you can’t possibly expect to lose it overnight. Give yourself a realistic timeframe to lose the weight. Reword your goal so that it has the timeframe included. Now your goal should look something this:

“My goal is to lose 10 pounds in the next two months. I will seek the help of a dietitian regarding healthy eating and meal planning within the next 2 weeks and I will start weighing myself once a week. ”

Now ask yourself, is this goal specific? yes. Is it measurable? yes. Is it attainable? Yes 10 pounds in two months is doable and realistic. 30 minutes of exercise is doable as well. So are you ready to start your writing your goals for the New Year so that you will succeed?

Wait… One more thing. Once you write down your goals, you should also write down all the possible things that can prevent you from achieving your goals. Think of every possible excuse you could come up with that would prevent you from achieving your goal and come up with a way to counter them. Once you have come up with answers for all your excuses why you can’t follow through with your goals, you have no more excuses!

Most importantly, don’t be so hard on yourself and give up the first time something goes wrong. Just remember that changing a behavior will take time. You are only human and are not expected to be perfect all the time. If you have a set back just breathe, forgive yourself and start moving forward again and the next thing you know, you will have achieved your goal!