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| Never give up on your weight loss goals. Never. |
Sound familiar? If so, there is a better way to weight loss. Instead of trying to revolutionize your life in one fell swoop; focus on changing your life and your health one step at a time by setting goals.
Goal-setting is an important skill and one that has been proven to help weight loss. But, the kinds of goals you set may be the most important factor on your path to success. In one study, researchers examined the frequency of goal-setting for healthy weight loss. They found that people who set frequent goals related to specific actions, like increasing physical activity or recording their diet, were more likely to reach their goals than those who just set goals related to weight loss.
So, if weight loss is your ultimate goal, try setting weekly goals. Focus on one thing each week that you can control, like drinking more water one week and exercising for 20 minutes each day the next week. Setting weekly goals is a great way to stay on track to lose weight.
Here is a tool to help you set S.M.A.R.T. goals:
- Specific: Vague statements like, "I'm gonna exercise more" won't help you reach your goal. An example of a specific goal is, "I'm going to walk for 30 minutes 3 times this week."
- Measurable: Make sure you can measure your goal. If your goal involves drinking more water, a good goal would be, "I'm going to drink 16 oz of water before lunch every day".
- Attainable: If you've never run, trying to train for a marathon in a month probably isn't going to set you up for success!
- Relevant: Make sure your goal is something you actually want to achieve!
- Time-oriented: Set specific time-parameters for all of your goals. A good example is "On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week, I am going to walk for 20 minutes before eating lunch".
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