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Setting a health or fitness goal, part 1 of 2
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Do you have a health or fitness goal? If you've joined the Fat For Food Fitness Challenge, you've got something to work toward. This two-part article examines how to set a goal and how to stay motivated until you reach it.
For some, a goal may be a number on a scale, getting to the gym five times a week, doing cardio for 30 minutes each day or fitting into a certain size of jeans. For others, it might be something a little more abstract like making good choices, giving up a bad habit like smoking, fitting in fitness whenever possible, or just making it through the day without eating candy. A good place to start is with your BMI, or Body Mass Index, which measures body fat percentage based on your height and weight. A healthy BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
Whatever your goal is, make sure it is specific and measurable, shoot for a realistic time to completion, and then develop an action plan. It’s no good to say, “I want to get back to my high school weight,” if you don’t come up with a way to make it happen. If you’re looking to improve your health and fitness, it’s important to remember that you didn’t get “out of shape” overnight and you won’t get back into shape overnight either. Be patient and take it one day at a time.
Experts say that even losing ten percent of your body weight will dramatically improve your health. So do the math. If that number is still overwhelming, break it down into increments, pound by pound, or workout by workout if necessary, until you get there. Create a reward system for every milestone: 10 pounds equals a new book or CD. Getting to the gym five days a week equals a new download for your mp3 player. Use whatever motivates you and stick with it. By focusing on the smaller goal, you're still working toward the larger goal, but without the all or nothing attitude, which often results in failure. Slow and steady wins the race.
A healthy loss is one to two pounds a week, so figure out how much you want to lose overall and then estimate that you can lose about three pounds every two weeks on average. That should let you know how long it will take to reach your goal. But expect peaks and valleys.
Several factors can slow or speed your metabolism, so don’t get discouraged if you’re not seeing the results you were hoping for right away. In the beginning, you should strive for consistency in your eating and exercise plan and don’t worry too much about what the scale says. Just make sure you’re getting the right nutrients and proper exercise each day and you can build on those good habits as you progress. Good building blocks set you up for greater success down the line.
Tomorrow’s article will focus on ways to stay motivated and keep yourself on track. What goals do you have?
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