Establishing exercise and diet goals is essential when making healthy lifestyle changes. Goals help us to identify what we want to accomplish and develop steps for how we are going to succeed. While exercise and diet goals are important for motivation and tracking progress, they can lead to frustration and discouragement when they are too aggressive or unrealistic. The Association for Applied Sport Psychology provides advice regarding the principles for effective goal setting that can be applied to help you establish exercise and diet goals.
Step 1
Identify the goals that are most important to you. Consider setting one diet goal and one exercise goal each week to avoid feeling overwhelmed with too many changes at once. If you accomplish those easily, add more the next week.
Step 2
Select goals that are moderately challenging. Goals that are too easy won't motivate you, and those that are too hard will discourage you. Set goals that require effort, but that you can still realistically accomplish.
Step 3
Write down your goals and review them often. The Mayo Clinic recommends writing down goals along with details about each one. Where will you perform your activity? When will you cook your healthy meals? How will you fit in exercise and healthy snacks each day?
Step 4
Set goals that are specific and measurable, which will allow you to observe your progress. For example, setting a goal to walk for 30 minutes five times each week, or to eat at least 2 cups of fruit each day is specific, and you can measure it.
Step 5
Choose a time frame for when you will accomplish your overall goal. For example, if you want to be able to run three miles without stopping or drink eight glasses of water regularly every day, set a date for when you will accomplish this such as by June 1.
Step 6
Incorporate short-term goals with your long-term goals. List them as process, performance and outcome goals. For example, if your outcome goal is to successfully run a 5K race, your process goal would be to find or create an 8- to 12-week training schedule, and your performance goal would actually be performing the workouts on the schedule such as running three times per week.
Step 7
Focus on positive goals instead of negative goals. A positive goal would be to enjoy a small portion of your favorite dessert only two times per week. A negative goal would be to stop eating dessert every night. You accomplish the negative by accomplishing the positive, but the positive goal is much more motivating and less discouraging.
Step 8
Seek out the support of those around you. Tell friends and family about your goals and ask them to support you in your efforts. Their support can come in the form of words of encouragement or in actions such as watching the kids while you exercise.
Tips and Warnings
- If weight loss is what you wish to accomplish long term, keep your goals focused on diet and exercise. A study by the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa found that setting goals focused on diet and physical activity were predictors of using dietary and activity strategies to lose weight as opposed to simply setting general weight loss goals, such as losing 5 lbs. this month. Always plan for setbacks as you work to accomplish a goal, and don't be too hard on yourself when one occurs. The Mayo Clinic states that setbacks are a natural part of behavior change and suggests brainstorming how to overcome potential barriers and obstacles. Remember to reward yourself when you accomplish a goal. Stick with nonfood rewards that support your efforts such as a weekend hike with family at a nearby park, a night of dancing, a massage or a day on the golf course.
- Be aware of those around you who keep you from meeting your goals. Sharing your goals with those who support you can be helpful, but there may also be people in your life who unconsciously sabotage your efforts. Ask friends to meet for a walk instead of a meal, or ask your office mates to keep donuts and candy in the office kitchen and out of general meeting rooms and hallways.
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