Goals

Goals are a great way to kick start your healthy lifestyle. Wanting to reach a certain point can be the motivation some people need to keep with it.

However, I have noticed lately that most goals are short term. How do you expect to achieve the lifestyle you want if your goal has an expiration date?

For example "I want to lose 20lbs before (Friends) wedding"

That is great you want to do that, but what is going to happen after the wedding? Is all your hard work out the window? Doesn't that seem a shame and a waste?

The best way to stay on course is to have both long and short term goals. These goals need to be achievable. I can't say "I want to look like a supermodel (size 0) by the end of the year" when I am a size 10. I will never get down to that and I would get discourage. And where do most of us go when we get discourage?

Into those forbidden goodies that taste so great and go straight to our thighs, and stomachs and of course hips!

So to avoid this endless cycle of short lived goals, what you need to do is come up with where you ultimately want to be. For me it was in a size 10. It had nothing to do about weight but the size of my jeans. When I started I was a size 24.

Now that you have that ultimate goal, now come up with a series of short term goals.

Mine where:

(Start as January)
By the end of the first month lose 5lbs
By summer I want to be in a size 18
By my birthday (November) lose 50lbs
By the start of the new year be in a size 14
by summer be in a size 12
by my birthday (November) be in a size 10
By summer keep the weight off
by my birthday keep the weight off and start setting new goals

New Goals:
Run a marathon
Do a half iron man
Do a 5k in under 30 minutes
Keep the weight off for 3 years
Keep the weight off for 5 years

You can see how setting these goals not only kept me on the path, but changed my life for the better. I am no longer set on LOSING weight, I am set on being healthy, active and happy!