Goal setting for success

Luckily, over the last few years most peoples idea of the perfect body has moved from super skinny to, a much healthier, lean, toned and fit look. More like the bodies of those that appear on the front of fitness magazines rather than those strutting down the catwalk. That’s great, it’s certainly a much healthier ideal to have. But, for most people, still equally unobtainable. Why? Well, unless you are blessed with amazing genes, those bodies take a lot of hard work, dedication and sacrifice to create. Those people put a lot of effort into looking the way they do. They spend a lot of time in the gym or doing their chosen sports (often at the expense of time with friends and family) and they stick to a rigid nutrition plan ( often making eating/drinking socially difficult). For them, the trade offs are worth the results but for many of us they are not.

Of course, I am not trying to say that you shouldn’t aim high or that you should give up trying to improve your diet, fitness and the way you look because it’s all too hard and inconvenient. Just that you should be realistic, when setting yourself goals, about what it takes to achieve them, what changes you are prepared to make, how sustainable they are and how you are going to do it. At this time of year a lot of people are already struggling to keep to New Years resolutions or have given up completely. Possibly because they hadn’t really thought about the lifestyle changes that would be necessary and how they were going to implement/make way for those changes in their, already busy, lives.

Here are my top tips for setting and achieving your exercise and nutrition goals:

• Before setting yourself goals be realistic about what changes you will need to make, how much time you have available and how those changes will fit in with your lifestyle indefinitely (because you have to keep doing it if you want to maintain your results). For example, if you are a busy, working mum with limited childcare/help, going to the gym 3 times a week may be very difficult to sustain and time away from your family too big a trade-off. Instead you could set yourself the goal of doing 2 exercise sessions at home each week plus a family activity at the weekend                                                           
• Break your overall goal down into smaller chunks! If your goal is to lose 4 stone it can feel like you have a long way to go to achieving it. Break it down into less daunting 'mini goals'. For example lose 2Lbs in the first week, 7Lbs in the first month, 2 stone in the first 6 months, 4 stone in a year.
• Make a list (actually write it down) of all the changes you need to make to achieve your goal. So, if longterm, sustainable weightloss is your goal some of your changes might include increasing your intake of vegetables, reducing sugar intake, eating less processed food etc.
• It will be tempting to try and make all these changes at once to try and get the quickest results but this is actually the fastest route to giving up for a lot of people. Instead, it will feel much easier and you are more likely to change your habits long term, if you introduce one or two changes at a time.

• Make yourself accountable to someone. Tell someone, whether it’s a Personal Trainer, a friend or partner, what you are planning to do and ask them to check how you are getting on.

• A failure to keep to your goals one week is not an overall failure its just life! There are going to be days, weeks or even months where life throws up some unexpected scenarios and you struggle to keep to your plan. It’s ok not to be perfect all the time but it’s not ok to give it all up, thinking you’ll try again when things get easier (life rarely stays easy for long!) Look at why you didn’t manage to do what you set out to do and come up with solutions so it doesn’t happen regularly. For example if you had a particularly busy week at work, got home late and just grabbed whatever was quick and easy to make because there was nothing else in the house, perhaps you could plan your meals in advance before doing the weekly shop (there are lots of super quick and healthy meals you can put together if you have the right ingredients available)

• DON’T GIVE UP. Whatever you do, don’t give up and revert back to your old ways. Remember why you wanted to make the changes in the first place (write down your reasons and stick them somewhere you will see them everyday). Re-assess your goals and look again at what you need to do to achieve them. If you are struggling to do it on your own, enlist the help of a Personal Trainer, join an exercise group or team up with a friend so you can encourage each other.

• Celebrate your success. Look at the positives as well as the negatives. At the end of each week, take a look at what you have achieved. You may not have done everything you set out to do but even if you made one small change it’s a step in the right direction. It’s the little things that add up to make the big things.

Good luck in achieving your goals.ck here to edit.