There are so many cliché statements I could make about setting a goal. I envision a junior high library full of posters with pictures of jets saying "aim high," or of a President or astronaut that says, "you can do anything if you set your mind to it." The thing is, the people who are successful in whatever they do have more than a goal, they have a plan and they have focus. Whatever goal you have, do you actually realize it's possible? You can be within your BMI. You could become athletic. Even if it doesn't have to do with weight, if your goal is to become a millionaire, if you make a financial plan and stick to it with focus, you will become what you aim for.
You can attain your health, fitness, and eating goals. It is possible. What is stopping you? What has stopped you before? We will go into obstacles more on a day to come but today we are talking about your goals. Not accomplishing your goal is most likely a mental issue.
Sorry to break it to you but it is your head that's the problem. I don't care what diet you tried before, if you would have followed it you would have gotten results; but you didn't, so the question isn't what's wrong with the diet, it is what is wrong with your head? My hope is to deal with some of those mental issues in this blog and part of this will be setting goals today.
Before we set goals let me tell you a little story about myself. At one point in my life I was pretty close to my goal weight. I had been doing weight watchers and I had lost a good amount of weight. At 24 years old I was feeling pretty good about myself. There was one major problem. At this point in my life, I had been struggling with smoking cigarettes and drinking excessively for about 5 years. It was something I thought I enjoyed but also hated. Honestly my life was a big mess. This is a very long story but to make it short, what finally happened was I started going to church - something I had never done in my life. I had not even believed in God before this. After trying everything on my own to quit smoking and drinking, I gave this burden over to God in prayer. I submitted my whole life to Him and a miracle truly happened. I became a new person and I never wanted to smoke or drink excessively again.
A few months after this I was still looking pretty good from my recent weight loss but I realized I was still struggling with the way I was eating and the way I was thinking of food. I actually found out that I had an eating disorder called compulsive eating. I had been seeing a counselor to work through some of my other issues and I very meekly brought up to her how I wanted to deal with this eating disorder. She did not take me seriously at all since I was thin. And I thought, "maybe I am ok." A few months later I met the man I would one day marry. I kept the weight off as we dated and lost even more weight before our wedding. But the thing that was wrong in my head was still there and I gained about 50 pounds in the 6 months after our wedding. I will come back to continuing this story later but for now I want to say something about the goal setting. My ultimate goal is not my weight. It is good to set a goal that is measurable so I do think you should have a goal weight. But my ultimate goal has more to do with my relationship with food and how I deal with it and think about it.
Here are my goals:
I will enjoy food but do so in moderation. I will think of food as fuel for my body. I will not obsess over how many calories I can eat or how much I weigh. I will renew the way I think about food. I will find out what my triggers are as far as overeating or binging is concerned. I will find ways to re-direct the triggers towards something that is good for me instead of something that sabotages my goals. I will stick with my calorie counting even if I go over my calorie limit. I will exercise and I will discover a kind of exercise that I enjoy. I will not give up if I make a mistake, instead I will learn from it through journaling. I will make time for me. I will trust God to give me the strength to do this. I believe that I am worth fighting for and I will fight for myself to win this battle.
While my mission is to accomplish the above I believe I will see the results of my effort in my weight. My ultimate goal weight is ________. (My current weight is ________) Please make sure your goal weight is within your healthy BMI. If it is not you will need to adjust your goal. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
Now your goal might be something that might take a year or more, you are going to need to set daily and weekly goals to keep you focused on your ultimate goal
These goals should be ATTAINABLE, or you are setting yourself up to fail! I remember a great friend giving me advice years ago as I told her my goal was to go to the gym 5 days a week. "Why not make the goal 3 days a week, it doesn't mean you can't go more than that, but make your goal attainable." Of course I didn't take her advice, I did the 5 days a week the first week and then I burned out. I also don't recommend depriving yourself of food you love. Make your goal to eat it in moderation. This is a lifestyle!
First short term goals that will lead towards my ultimate long term goal are:
food goal:
fitness goal:
other goal:
These goals are the beginning of a roadmap to who you want to become. You aren't in a hurry, focus on the journey as you aim for the destination.
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