2. You’ll do it later, (like after your youngest graduates high school, or college… or weans their first born).
3. You’re not too sure what exercises to do or foods to eat. (So, sticking with what you have been doing that got you to this point is a great idea).
4. You just don’t have any motivation right now. Maybe in the future, say when all the planets align in one straight line on a Sunday afternoon, in a year that ends in an odd… or even number.
5. You’re feeling pretty tired these days with everything going on. You’ll get to it once you have some energy…. and that will be… when?
S.M.A.R.T-R (pronounced “smarter”)
SMART-R stands for:
S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Action oriented
R-Reasonable
T-Timed
R-Reasons why
Specific
Your goals should be detailed, clearly defined, and stress exactly what you’re going to do and what you want to achieve. The goal needs to be specific so that you can see it, attain it, and measure it. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight, set a specific goal to lose 3 inches off your waist or lose 5% of your body fat. “I want to lose weight” is different from “I want to lose 10 pounds of fat and gain muscle mass by doing 3-5 cardio workouts and 2-3 strength-training workouts per week, over the next month.” Of course, once you achieve this goal, you need to maintain it… by doing 3-5 cardio workouts and 2-3 strength-training workouts per week.
Measurable
Know where you are starting from and where the end should be. For example, if losing a percent of body fat is the goal, then you need to know what your percent of body fat is right now. If your goal is to lower your cholesterol, you need to know what you level currently is. In short, get tested. For body fat percentages, go to a gym or somebody who can measure your fat percentage with calipers, or another accurate method. There are lots of ways to measure body fat, but not all are accurate. But whichever method you decide to use, use the same method and the same person when you check for end results. If you use the caliper method, go back to the same person to check your “after” or “during” results. Get your blood tested for cholesterol and triglyceride levels and then test again later.
I would not suggest using a bathroom scale for any measuring. They are very inaccurate and your weight can fluctuate several pounds each day. I cannot stress this enough. Also, there are things that you can’t measure, like happiness and self-appreciation.
Action-Oriented
You can’t just think yourself to success, you really need to physically do something. You need to figure out what action you need to take and then you can take it. Decide which classes you are going to do, or when you will do your cardio and how. For example, “I will run X miles each morning, or Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I will do strength-training, Tuesday’s and Thursdays and every other Saturday.” That’s action-oriented.
Reasonable
This may be where we lose a lot of you. What one person thinks is reasonable, is pure fantasy to another. The thing is that many “fantasy” goals can be reached if given enough effort. And that’s entirely up to you. This may be where you decide it is worth your time to have some personal help. If you say you want to lose ten pounds in a month, that’s a lot different than saying you want to lose ten pounds in 2 weeks. Both are achievable, but have very different plans of attack. The latter goal depends on much bigger lifestyle changes. But you can still do it.
If you make the goal of losing ten pounds in two weeks, but don’t make the lifestyle changes needed to achieve that goal, you will be disappointed and lose motivation. Not a good thing.
Timed
You need to give yourself a schedule. Set a deadline. If you set the goal to lose ten pounds, but don’t set a deadline, what pushes you? Yes, you can still progress slowly, but it might be so slowly that you don’t notice it, therefore quit. Not a good thing.
Reasons Why
So, first you decide that your goal is to lose ten pounds of fat in one month but you need to have a personal reason why. Something that touches you for the long term. Your “reason why” is the motivation for you to achieve your goals, and it’s probably the reason behind why you bought the treadmill or the rotting fruits and veggies.
“I want to look good at that wedding, or that reunion or dance,” is not long-term. “I want to feel good about myself when I look at myself in the mirror, and I want to be able to play with the kids and grandkids, and I want to do the Dakota 50 when I’m fifty, or 60, or 70 (maybe we can get Perry to add a few age classes), and I want to climb a different pile of rocks or cliff-face every summer, or I want to run in a couple marathons each year and beat my time each time. These are long-term and more personal. And the added benefits of achieving these goals is that you get to look good at the reunion or wedding or dance.
If you lack clear reasons for doing something, why would you do it?
Now that you have a guide to setting goals, get to setting.