Advice On Goal Setting

On a recent show, Todd Whithorne, the co-host of Dr. Kenneth Cooper's radio show, commented about the "all or nothing" mentality that often affects exercisers. He said that some of them seem to feel that if you aren't doing a marathon, then it's not worth doing. It struck me that this same mentality often affects those who want to lose weight.

For many of us, we have been getting out of shape for years. Rather than trying to do something that will be extremely difficult, the experts in goal setting usually recommend establishing a reasonable and achieveable goal WITH a timeframe, then we establish a pattern of little successes as we work towards our big goal. For a non-exerciser, the simple act of walking for 20 or 30 minutes can be quite a challenge, even at a 3 mph pace. For someone like this, a reasonable goal might be to walk two miles in under 30 minutes by April 1st. Once they have achieved that, their next goal might be to get that time down to 28 minutes or to walk continuously for and hour.

These kinds of goals are achievable, and because they are achievable, you are less likely to give up on them than the "lose 35 lbs. by June 1" goal. While it's possible to lose weight at that kind of rate, unless you are seriously overweight, it's pretty unlikely. Thus, that goal is likely to result in failure. If, instead, the goal was adjusted to "lose 15 lbs. by June 1" and an intermediate goal of "lose 5 lbs. by March 1" was set, then that intermediate goal, even if it is missed slightly will still keep you on track for the bigger goal. Isn't it better to feel positive about going to the beach because you're 15 lbs. lighter than during the winter, than negative, because "I'm still fat"?

Make your goals reasonable and achieveable. You can then set a clear pathway to a substantial goal. Good luck with it.