SETTING YOUR 2006 WEIGHT LOSS RESOLUTIONS

November 26, 2005 – It is January 1, 2006 the morning after much
celebration and sealing your new year’s resolution. Yes, this
year you will lose the spare tire, saddle bags, and J-Lo
attribute! You make a mad dash for the computer and search for
“lose weight super-duper fast, “you rush to the bookstore to
read all the books in the diet and fitness section, and browse
the aisles of nutrition supplement stores. You join a swarm of
people on jogging paths, gyms, pools, and fitness classes in an
effort to meet your new year’s weight loss resolutions. But the
average resolutionists do not realize that in actuality it’s an
exercise in futility. In the end, the effort is no different
than a puppy chasing its own tail. The three major reasons are
that goals are vague and unrealistic, there is a lack of
accountability, and most people do not provide room for error
thereby quitting at the first slip-up. Let me give you a guide
to setting up your resolution.

Goals

The most important aspect of achieving your resolution is to
set a specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic time
oriented goal (S.M.A.R.T). Your goal should then be broken down
into achievable objectives. In addition, your goals should be
able to first meet a personal inner desire; it should really
mean something to you. It should create a long lasting fire to
drive you into action, to push through obstacles and barriers,
and most importantly, keep a smile on your face. Here are the
steps to writing your weight loss goal:

1. Identify why this goal is important to you.

One of my clients, I’ll name her Julia, told me she wanted to
lose ten pounds before a trip to Italy that was going to take
place in three-months. About two weeks into this “lose ten
pounds before a trip to Italy” plan, she started to miss and
cancel sessions. She must have canceled and been a no-show to
our training sessions for about two weeks when I finally got her
on the phone. During our conversation I found that she was doing
nothing more than procrastinating a very vague and not so
meaningful goal. In essence, 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 home town in southern Italy. Her father
had died young of cardiac arrest, was overweight, and had never
realized his dream of taking his children to visit his hometown.
In addition, she was approaching her father’s age when he passed
away and this trip had made her reflect on her health status.
Her goal now was to “reduce her weight by ten pounds and lower
her cholesterol to normal in order to be alive and healthy to
take her children on a trip to their grandfather’s home town
before they went to college.” At this point she had a deeply
meaningful goal that she continues to work as her children grow
up.

2. Get S.M.A.R.T. with your goal and create objectives.

S.M.A.R.T. goal setting means that you are being specific about
the end result, providing a way to measure it, making sure it
has an achievable and realistic outcome, as well as a due date.
That means that Julia’s goal to “lose ten pounds before her trip
to Italy” only met only one of the five criteria. A more
effective way wording your goal would be to write something like
following:

Today, December 31, 2005 I plan on losing 10 pounds before my
departure to Italy on April 1, 2006. In March I will get my
annual physical and my cholesterol levels will be normal. After
my trip, I will maintain my results exercising three times per
week and maintaining healthy eating habits in order to take my
children to Italy in five years.

Next, you need to set up your objectives. Your objectives are
smaller goals that will lead to your goal.

In order to achieve this goal, I will lose between 1 to 2
pounds weekly by: 1. Completing a one-hour cardiovascular
workout on the treadmill on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before
breakfast. 2. Complete a 30-minute full-body weight-training
workout on Thursday and Saturday. 3. I will eliminate all sodas
and sugary snacks. 4. I will make sure to eat only single
portion servings at each meal.

Her goal now is specific and measurable “lose ten pounds, reduce
cholesterol to normal levels, ” achievable and realistic since
we know that it is possible to lose one to two pounds per week,
and she has a timeline that includes weekly actions leading to
her trip departure in April.

Accountability

What are you going to do to make you accountable for your goal?
At work you have a boss that you answer too when you do not meet
deadlines. I’m sure that it keeps you on the “straight and
narrow”. For a weight loss goal who do you have keeping you on
the straight and narrow? Also, do you have a way to track your
progress? The key is finding multiple sources to keep your inner
fire burning. Then let me tell you of a simple way of doing this.

1. Get a coach!

Assistance should be two-fold, one to provide you with expert
information to help you effectively and efficiently achieve your
goals and, two, a support group to share your experience and
boost each other forward. One way is to use a fitness coach. I
don’t mean just a trainer leading you through a workout but a
professional dedicated to assisting you through 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 experience,
learn from others, and drive each other forward. My online
support group myfitnesscoach-for-weightloss is a sure fire way
to get you involved with others who have similar goals. In
addition you will end up making lifelong friendships from around
the country or even the globe.

3. Tell someone significant in your life. Let the important and
significant person in your life know will do wonders for you.
For one, you will end up with a cheering section composed of
someone who knows you well. Second, they will be a personal
source of accountability that will make sure you stick to the
healthy options in a restaurant menu, assist you in choosing a
power walk over an ice cream Sunday, and pick you up when you
have a slip-up.

Learn from Slip-ups My first lesson as a trainer was to let
clients know that the sudden binge, occasional milkshake, or
social eating is normal. The most important thing is that you
learn to manage these slips and drive forward towards your goal.
It is said that Thomas Edison had ten-thousand failed
experiments in his quest for a light bulb. That is a ton of
persistence! If you slip, recap that moment decide what your
action plan will be the next time you have something similar.
After the recap, you immediately go back to acting on your goal.

Second lesson I learned as a rookie trainer, is that you have to
be flexible with your plan. For example, if Julia found that she
suddenly was given a heavy workload and had to miss her evening
workouts because of late nights at the office, she should find
an alternative way of getting her aerobic exercise and her
healthy eating. She could take two or three fifteen minute
breaks, put on her cross trainers and walk up and down the
stairwell or go for a power walk. For meals, she could pack
healthy snacks, a salad, yogurt, and fruits so that she is not
tempted to raid the vending machines. Of course, each case will
be different but you will have to get creative and be flexible
to adjust your plan.

The secret is to keep yourself moving forward through realistic
and achievable fitness objectives on your way to your goal. The
author Stephen Covey says to “start with an end in mind.” Write
down a vision of your ultimate goal. Then set up realistic and
achievable objectives lasting about 6-weeks each. Seek success
at each objective and keep moving forward until you arrive at
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 that
I have been able to provide a guide to taking your first step to
a fit and healthy 2006. Please visit my site for more
information on achieving your fitness goals at
myonline-fitness-coach.com

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