One little thing I’ve learnt, both from myself and from my ‘partners in crime’, is that when it comes to weight loss as well as exercising, setting clear and defined goals is a very important thing. Short-term, middle-term, long-term goals - all of these three types are essential to the pursuit of weight loss, and probably to its maintenance too.
Of course, the very first goal in this will probably be “I want to be thin”. Reword it as “I want to reach my ideal weight” or “I want to be fit”, this doesn’t matter; while it’s a very healthy goal, it’s just too vague to be a strong help in the long run - perhaps because of its overwhelming nature, that can make us feel crushed under the task, so to say, on these days when discouragement threatens us and nothing seems to go right.
Regularly enough, I’m struck by such thoughts; that I’ll never reach a healthy weight, that it’s too much, that it takes too much time, that I’ll collapse in my resolve as soon as a new job or harder times jump on the scene. Whatever can cross my mind and put me down, so to say, is a danger. However, it seems easier, less overwhelming, when I know I can fraction this in smaller, closer, more attainable goals. And when I reach them, these small successes contribute greatly to make me understand that no, I am not doing that for nothing.
Although it’s not specifically related to weight loss, I quite like the acronym by which Krista summarizes the setting of such goals: SMART (as in Specificity, Measurability, Achievability, Realistic and Time). Let’s not fool ourselves, it can be applied to other domains than weight lifting, really, because it’s just so logical and efficient.
Specific goals are a very good thing, as well as being able to measure them. “I want to lose 1-2 pounds every week” seems far more attainable and concrete than “I want to drop 50 pounds someday”. “I want to drop 10% of body fat” is more precise than “I want to be less fat”. It gives us a focus, something to work on and to quantify. Evidently too, these goals need to be achievable and realistic - we all know it’s impossible to lose 20 pounds per week, if we want to keep the weight off for good and not lose a good deal of water and muscle through some fad diet, and setting these goals too high would just be as overwhelming as a general, vague aim. Finally, giving ourselves a time limit allows us to plan, and in case something doesn’t go as intended, we still have a definite time frame in which we know we can work to reach the goal. I personally find that it avoids disheartened thoughts such as “I made bad food choices/I didn’t exercise today, I’ll never reach it!”; maybe it’s just my way of being, yet it gives me more resolve to do better in the days to come, as I know that ‘I still have this time left to make it’.
This goes for weight goals; this goes for exercise goals, too, or for whatever big task I have to undergo. Fractioning it in smaller, precise, limited in time tasks makes it seem more attaineable. So, if it works… why not try it, and see where it leads? It’s a goal in which there’s nothing to lose, after all…
