By: James Robbins
One of the best things to do when trying to lose weight is to use goal setting.
Unfortunately many people do not use goal setting properly and end up failing in the end. When you want to lose weight the first thing you need to determine is how much weight you want to lose. You have to be realistic which is one of the principles of goal setting. You want to make sure you set goals that are challenging but also realistic.
You also want to set a date by when you plan to reach your goal weight. Remember healthy weight loss is around 1-2 pounds a week. So if you want to lose 30 pounds in three weeks you are setting yourself up for failure unless you are planning on chopping off a body part. Remember that the basics of weight loss are nutrition and exercise. It is in these two areas where you want to set a few goals.
When you plan to lose weight try setting any of these goals:
Nutrition
Set a goal to stick to a meal plan everyday.
Set a goal to plan out your meals for the whole week.
Set a goal to keep a food journal where you record everything that goes into your mouth. The accountability alone will have a dramatic affect.
Set a goal to clean out your pantry and cupboards and get rid of all junk food and as well as any sweets, and fatty foods.
Set daily goals to drink 8 glasses of water a day. You will be hitting the bathroom a lot but you will not be as hungry, and the extra exercise going back and forth to the bathroom will be good for you.
Exercise
Set goals for how many times a week you want to exercise.
For each workout set goals for your attitude and effort. This will keep you from showing up to the gym just to say you did but you really didn't push yourself while you were there.
The Scale
Set a goal to only weigh yourself once a week so that you do not become scale obsessed.
Everybody can fluctuate 2-3 pounds a day so there is no sense getting stresses out by normal weight fluctuations.
Goal setting helps you break down the overall desire of losing weight into these tiny manageable steps which you can focus on and experience victory after victory. Goals also provide a source of motivation when it is lacking. They are those tiny little butt kicks that get us going when we are feeling sluggish. Good luck.
