Goal setting is an approach to getting better results in fitness, education, business and most other endeavors that have a definable outcome. Once a goal is established, you need a plan outlining the steps necessary to reach that goal. This means changing your behavior and developing new ways of doing things. That sounds simple enough, but changing behavior can be one of the hardest things you do. Just ask anyone who has tried to quit smoking or overeating.
Considerations
If your goal is to lose weight and generally improve your fitness level and health, educational and informational strategies may help motivate changes in behaviors necessary to reach your goal. For example, a fitness prescription based on your current fitness level can provide you specific exercises, eating behaviors and other changes to follow. A doctor or personal trainer may be able to provide you a basic fitness prescription, or if you have a workplace wellness program, the program's coordinator may do likewise. Other strategies to help motivate behavioral change include health education. The more you learn about the risks of unhealthy behaviors and the benefits of healthy choices, the more likely you are to make the right choices.
Potential
Incentives directly affect many behavior choices, such as the paycheck you receive for doing your job. Try setting an incentive for meeting your fitness goals. Workplace programs may provide prizes for employees who meet weight-loss and behavior changes, such as smoking cessation. You can do something similar, though don't make your weight-loss incentive food related. If you meet your monthly weight-loss goal through proper diet and exercise, treat yourself to something you'd like, such as a new outfit or a round of golf. Try setting aside money that you might have normally spent on soda, beer, junk food or cigarettes and use that money for your incentive reward.
Identification
One way to make sure your behaviors are helping you reach your goals is to keep a journal in which you record your daily food and drink intake, as well your exercise and physical activities. Keeping a food diary is a proven way to help lose weight and keep weight off. By seeing in black-and-white what you're eating and how much you're exercising, it will reinforce the idea that good results follow good behaviors.
Effects
A person with goals tends to perform at a higher level, and the more specific the goal, the less time is spent searching for the right approach or behaviors to move forward. For example, if your goal is to lose 20 lbs., you can adjust your eating behavior to cut down on portion size, eat healthier snacks, reduce or eliminate junk food from your diet, and engage in an exercise program that will help you burn calories and build lean muscle mass. Along the way, you can see if you are making progress toward your 20-lb. goal and adjust your behaviors if you're not losing weight.
Expert Insight
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute provides an approach to goal-setting specific to weight loss, yet its ideas are applicable in other areas too. Goals should be "specific, attainable and forgiving." While eating less is a good goal, a more specific goal of eating 500 fewer calories per day is more specific and can be measured. It can directly affect behavior because you can find 500 calories in your diet to eliminate. If your goal is still losing 20 lbs., make it a realistic one and say you want to lose 20 lbs. in six months and then focus on losing 1 to 2 lbs. per week. Trying to lose 20 lbs. safely in two weeks isn't realistic. The NHLBI also stresses that your goals need to be forgiving. If running for 30 minutes every day is your goal, but you have a day where work and family priorities don't allow for it, perhaps running five days a week is better, because it is more forgiving and flexible.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Lean Works, A Workplace Obesity Prevention Program
- Diet Channel: Weight Loss Program, Part 4: Changing Eating Behavior & Setting Goals
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Guide to Behavior Change
- University of Southern California: Goal Setting with SMART Goals
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