“Get Fit – Making Goals That Stick”

We are two weeks into the New Year, have you already lost your motivation to work out?
You planned to go to the gym everyday until you finally lost those pounds. Your fist week was a success but somewhere along the way, you fell off the wagon. Now you are wondering what went wrong.
Every year you commit to getting in shape but something usually gets in the way. If this sounds familiar then chances are that you are working hard…but not SMART. A BIG mistake that people make when it comes to
getting in shape is that they create goals that are unrealistic.

According to Psychology Today, the top two New Years Resolutions that people commit to are Losing Weight and Exercising more. It sounds good but the problem is that there is no plan of action behind it. This is where most of us go wrong.

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Time bound. Creating SMART Goals is a great way to really accomplish a task because you are ultimately creating a strategy with a designated time frame. If your goal is to lose weight, you can write a smart goal that looks like this:

Specific: I commit to losing a total of 40 pounds
Measurable: by exercising 2 -3 times a week for 60 minutes
Relevant: I will eat less fast food and more whole grains, vegetables and lean meat. I am doing this to improve my overall health.
Time bound: I plan to accomplish this goal no later than December 31st 2019.

I commit to losing 40 lbs. this year by exercising 2-3 times a week @ 60 minutes per day by eating less fast food and more
lean protein, veggies and whole grains. My deadline is December 31st. I will improve my overall health.

If your goal is to get in shape this year, you can begin with creating a SMART Goal. Remember consistency is key when it comes to fitness. It’s better to start off with smaller goals that you can really accomplish. Instead of
going from 0 to 80 in 2 seconds, try a slow and steady approach. It’s better to make plans to exercise consistently for 2 days a week then working out 10 days straight and falling off the wagon completely and trying to hop back on next year.

Please log back in next week for our next topic – Fitness for the Busy Body and Making Fitness a part of your Lifestyle.