Setting Your Weight Loss Resolutions for 2006
November 26, 2005 – January 1, 2006 is the morning after much celebrating and sealing your New Year’s resolution. Yes, this year you will lose the spare tire, the saddlebags and the J-Lo attribute! You frantically search for “lose weight super-duper fast,” rush to the bookstore to read all the books in the diet and fitness section, and browse the aisles of supplement stores. You join a swarm of people on jogging trails, gyms, pools and fitness classes in an attempt to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight. But ordinary supporters of the resolution fail to realize that it is actually a pointless exercise. After all, effort is no different than a puppy chasing its own tail. The three main reasons are that goals are vague and unrealistic, there is a lack of accountability, and most people leave no room for error, thus giving up at the first pass. Let me give you a guide to setting the resolution.
aims
The most important aspect of achieving your resolution is to set a Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Realistic Time-Oriented (SMART) goal. Next, your goal should be broken down into achievable goals. In addition, your goals must first be able to meet a personal inner desire; it must really mean something to you. It should create a lasting fire that propels you to action, push through obstacles and barriers, and most importantly, keep a smile on your face. Here are the steps to write down your weight loss goal:
1. Determine why this goal is important to you.
One of my clients, I’ll call her Julia, told me she wanted to lose ten pounds before a trip to Italy that was coming up in three months. About two weeks into this “lose ten pounds before a trip to Italy” plan, she started missing and canceling sessions. She must have canceled and didn’t show up to our practices for about two weeks when I finally got her on the phone. During our conversation I found that she was doing nothing more than postponing a very vague and not so meaningful goal. Basically, there was a huge disconnect between the end results of losing weight and why it was important to her. After further conversation, she mentioned that she was going with her sister in memory of her father and that she was visiting her father’s hometown in southern Italy. Her father had died young of a heart attack, was overweight, and had never fulfilled his dream of taking his children to visit his hometown. Also, she was approaching her father’s age when he died, and this trip made her reflect on her health. Her goal now was to “lose ten pounds and get her cholesterol down to normal so she’d be alive and well to take her kids on a trip to their grandfather’s hometown before they went off to college.” At that point, she had a deeply meaningful goal of continuing to work while her children grew up.
2. Be SMART with your goal and create goals.
Smart goal setting means you are specific about the end result, providing a way to measure it, ensuring there is an achievable and realistic outcome, and a deadline. This means that Julia’s goal to “lose ten pounds before her trip to Italy” meets only one of the five criteria. A more effective way to state your goal is to write something like the following:
Today, December 31, 2005, I plan to lose 10 pounds before I leave for Italy on April 1, 2006. In March, I will have my annual physical and my cholesterol levels will be normal. After my trip, I will maintain my results by exercising three times a week and maintaining healthy eating habits to take my children to Italy in five years.
Next, you need to set your goals. Your goals are smaller goals that will lead to your goal.
To achieve this goal, I will lose between 1 to 2 pounds per week by:
1. Completing an hour of cardio on the treadmill on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before breakfast.
2. Complete a 30-minute total body weight workout on Thursday and Saturday.
3. I will cut out all sodas and sugary snacks.
4. I will make sure to eat only single servings at each meal.
Her goal is now specific and measurable “lose ten pounds, lower cholesterol to normal,” achievable and realistic since we know it’s possible to lose one to two pounds per week, and she has a schedule that includes weekly actions leading to her trip departure in April.
Accountability
What will you do to be accountable for your goal? At work, you have a boss who you also answer to when you miss deadlines. I’m sure it keeps you on the “straight and narrow”. To achieve a weight loss goal, who do you have on the straight and narrow? Also, do you have a way to track your progress? The key is to find multiple sources to keep your inner fire burning.
Then let me tell you a simple way to do this.
1. Get a coach!
The help should be twofold, one to provide you with expert information to help you effectively and efficiently achieve your goals and secondly, a support group to share your experiences and encourage each other forward. One way is to use a fitness trainer. I don’t just mean a trainer who guides you through a workout, but a professional dedicated to helping you achieve your goal. My online fitness coaching service is perfect for those looking for this type of support.
2. Join an online support group.
An online support group will allow you to share your experiences, learn from others and push each other forward. My online support group myfitnesscoach-for-weightloss is a surefire way to connect you with others who have similar goals. Plus, you’ll end up making lifelong friendships from across the country or even the world.
3. Tell someone significant in your life. Let the important and meaningful person in your life know that he will do wonders for you. For one thing, you’ll end up with a cheerleading squad made up of someone who knows you well. Second, they’ll be a personal source of accountability, making sure you stick to the healthy options on a restaurant menu, helping you choose a brisk walk over ice cream on Sundays, and picking you up when you slip.
Learn from mistakes
My first lesson as a trainer was to let clients know that a sudden binge, an occasional milkshake, or a social meal is normal. The most important thing is to learn to manage these gaps and move forward towards your goal. Thomas Edison is said to have had ten thousand failed experiments in his search for a light bulb. That’s a lot of persistence! If you slip up, replay this moment, decide what your plan of action will be the next time you have something similar. After the summary, you immediately return to action on your goal.
The second lesson I learned as a rookie coach is that you have to be flexible with your plan. For example, if Julia finds that she suddenly has a heavy workload and has to miss her evening workouts due to late nights at the office, she needs to find an alternative way of aerobic exercise and healthy eating. She could take two or three fifteen-minute breaks, put on her cross trainers and walk up and down the stairs or go for a brisk walk. For food, she can pack healthy snacks, salad, yogurt, and fruit so she’s not tempted to raid the vending machines. Of course, each case will be different, but you will need to be creative and flexible to adjust your plan.
The secret is to keep moving forward through realistic and achievable fitness goals on the way to your goal. Author Stephen Covey says “start with a goal in mind.” Write down a vision of your end goal. Then set realistic and achievable goals of around 6 weeks each. Look for success in each goal and keep moving forward until you reach your ultimate vision. Six weeks will get you approximately six to twelve pounds closer to your goal.
My personal desire as a coach is to see you succeed. I hope I have been able to guide you on how to take your first step towards a good and healthy 2006.
Please visit my site for more information on achieving your fitness goals at myonline-fitness-coach.com [http://www.myonline-fitness-coach.com].
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