Setting Weight Loss Goals

Setting weight loss goal is a crucial part of losing weight successfully. It is much easier to embark on a journey when you have a clear picture of the destination. Having personal weight loss goals gives you a much stronger sense of purpose and increases the commitment level you feel.

However, there is a wrong and a right way to set your weight loss goals. Doing it wrong will lead to failure. In this article, I want to show you the right way to determine your own goals and to actually achieve them in the near future. If you want to shed pounds effectively, make sure to read this article all the way through.

3 Criteria For Successful Goals

Before you rush to set your goals, make sure they have the following characteristics:

1. Realistic – Your goal must be possible to achieve. For instance, trying to lose 10 pounds in 2 days may seem like a great goal but it’s not realistic.

2. Reasonable – A goal can be realistic in a general sense but it may not be reasonable for you. Let’s say that a certain diet program requires you to train for an hour each day. If you do so, you can lose 5 pounds each week. However, you just can’t put in an hour each day to train hard. You simply don’t have the time. Therefore, the goal of losing 5 pounds a week may be realistic but it’s not reasonable for you.

This isn’t so bad. It’s good to set goals according to your personal situation in life. In addition, reasonable weight loss goals are also healthier ones more often than not.

3. Measurable – For you to be able to really determine whether you’ve achieved your personal goals or not, they have to be measurable. You can’t just say something obscure such as “I want to lose weight”. You have to make your goals more definite such as “I want to lose 20 pounds” is a much better goal.

In addition to making it easier to actually judge your achievements, your mind reacts more favorably to concrete, measurable goals. You will find that the commitment you feel toward achieving your goals rises when they’re measurable. Make sure that they are.

Tips for effective Weight Loss Goals

1. Write down your goals – I’ve explored this issue in depth in a separate article: writing down your weight loss goals, so I won’t discuss it further, other than to say that putting your goals in writing creates a more powerful commitment and motivates you further.

2. Create short term goals – One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated is to meet your goals. This is one reason why setting short term goals is recommended. You simply have more chances to pat yourself on the back and to achieve success. Another reason is that life changes so keeping your goals realistic and reasonable is much easier when they’re for the short term.

3. Keep your goals in mind – You can’t just set weight loss goals and be done with them. You need to keep them in mind to have a clear picture that you’re working towards. By constantly keeping your goals in mind, you’re enforcing your commitment to yourself and improving your chances of success.

4. Set new goals constantly – As you’ll be setting realistic short term weight loss goals, you need to set new ones once you achieve the current. For instance, if you started out by wanting to lose 3 pounds in a week, once that week is over and you find that you’ve succeeded, make a new goal immediately. Don’t wait. Always have something to aim for.

5. There will be setbacks so deal with them right – You can’t lose all hope if you don’t achieve a certain goal. There will always be setbacks with any weight loss process. It happens so get over it and focus on achieving this goal in the shortest time possible. You will find that you’ll be able to make ground with future goals.

In Conclusion

Setting reasonable weight loss goals is a big part of losing weight successfully. However, you can’t just do it any way you please. Follow the tips I’ve outlined above and you’ll find it much easier to stick to your program and to shed weight for the long term.