Get Smart in 2015 – Set Behavioral Goals Not Weight Loss Goals

2015 is almost here and according to the web site “Statistics Brain”, 45% of Americans usually make a new year’s resolution. And the # 1 resolution for 2014 was “to lose weight”. This shouldn’t surprise most of you reading this. I’m sure that “losing weight” is one of the most popular resolutions every year.

I’m also sure that “losing weight” is a very poor goal to set for yourself –especially if your ultimate goal is to transition to a healthier lifestyle.

I’ve been taught to steer people away from setting specific weight loss goals.

Top Achievement is a leading online personal development community, and they encourage folks to set S.M.A.R.T goals. Any goal that you set should be:

S: – Specific

M: – Measurable

A: – Attainable

R:-  Realistic

T: – Timely or Tangible

Specific – A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

• Who – Who is involved?
• What – What do you want to accomplish?
• Where – Identify a location
• When – Establish a Time
• Which – Identify requirements and constraints
• Why – Specific reasons, benefits or purpose of accomplishing the goal

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.

Measurable – Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as:

• How much? (e.g. exercise intensity, frequency or duration)
• How many? (e.g. days of week you’ll practice desired behavior)
• How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – When you figure out goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You obtain the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals, you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic – To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic, you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it, there is no sense of urgency.

T – can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you experience it with one of the senses, that is taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing

When your goal is tangible, you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

There are also two crucial components of a goal that are not incorporated in the S.M.A.R.T guidelines.

Goals must be:

1. Behaviors and
2. Within Your Control

The reason a specific weight loss goal is not a good goal to set is because it is not a behavior and it’s not really something you can control.

Let’s say someone sets a goal for a 10 lb. weight loss in a month. She proceeds to go on an unhealthy diet and successfully loses 10 lbs.  A feeling of success in her case would NOT be good for her long-term health.

If on the other hand she sets a goal for a 10 lb. weight loss in a month and proceeds to follow a healthy diet and exercise regimen.  She may feel like she failed if she loses just 7 lbs. in a month. This would be unfortunate because she should feel proud that she has successfully begun to transition to a healthy lifestyle. It would be very unfortunate if she decided that her new regimen didn’t work because she didn’t lose 10 lbs.

If you’ve set weight loss goals in the past, but have not succeeded for the long haul, try a new approach – a S.M.A.R.T approach.

Incorporate the S.M.A.R.T guidelines as you set your personal goal of transitioning to a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet.

A WFPB diet will almost assuredly result in a healthy weight loss, (mostly body fat) if indeed you need to lose body fat.

Remember don’t set your goal so low that it won’t motivate you, or so high that it is unrealistic. Setting a goal of transitioning completely to a WFPB diet overnight may be too high, but setting a goal of adding just one vegetable to your daily dietary intake may be too low to get you motivated.

You may want to start with one S.M.A.R.T goal and build on it once it is achieved.

I believe the following example includes a behavior within a person’s control that incorporates the S.M.A.R.T goal guidelines:

I will prepare and eat home made dinners that contain only whole and minimally processed plant foods (fruits, veggies, whole grains. legumes, nut and seeds) for the next 30 days.

Upon achieving this goal, I will feel confident that I can build on this goal by adding another WFPB meal to my diet.

Remember, weight loss goals work about as well as the “Cone of Silence”, so let’s GET SMART in 2015 and set behavioral goals!