It is that time of year when we start thinking about resolutions for a healthy New Year. Losing weight, eating healthier, exercising and quitting smoking are among the most frequent resolutions. New Years resolutions are easy to make, but not so easy to achieve. To turn a resolution into reality, it is necessary to prepare and plan. Consider your overall health vision. To stay focused on your health journey, goals will help guide you towards motivation and accomplishment. When setting goals, remember the acronym: SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, and Timely!
The first step in creating SMART goals is to assess areas of health you want to address. Your weight is affected by other areas of your health and genetics. So, it may be helpful to focus more of your goals on health behaviors like diet, water intake, or exercise. Once you have your list of behaviors you’d like to work on, choose one or two you’d like to start with.
Goals need to be Specific:What am I going to do?
When setting goals, it is important to be as clear and concise as possible. Solely stating “I want to be healthier”” does not provide a specific goal. Broad statements, like “I want to lose weight” make it challenging to track your progress. It is helpful to focus goals on defined behaviors that can contribute to weight loss. For example, increasing the number of vegetables consumed each day.
Goals must be Measurable: How will I track my progress?
Setting measurable goals allows you to assess regularly whether you have been able to meet your goals and track your progress. With something concrete to measure, you can better assess and identify when interventions might be necessary.
Aim for goals that have specific outcomes to track, such as: increasing vegetable intake by consuming a salad at dinner 5 days a week.
Goals should be Achievable:What steps will I take to make this happen?
It is important to be honest when creating goals. Evaluating what is realistic leads to a higher success rate. If goals feel impossible to achieve, you are much less likely to stick with them. Small changes that lead to slow, long-term successes are better than making big changes all at once that feel impossible to sustain.
- If you don’t eat vegetables regularly, it might be too challenging to set a goal to consume 5 servings each day. Set a target you may be more likely to hit and feel proud of.
- The same goes for reducing intake of something that is regularly consumed. For example, a soda drinker may try to limit intake to 1- 8oz. serving a day.
Try to limit the number of resolutions – if you set too many goals, you may get overwhelmed and not reach any. You can always adjust goals along the way, but it is important to be realistic!
Goals need to be Relevant: Is this important enough to me to want to do it?
A relevant goal supports what you really want for your life. For example, if you really want to improve the quality of your diet, you are much more likely stay inspired and on track throughout your journey. When setting goals, make sure you can clearly see how achieving them will improve the bigger picture, whether it is improving blood sugar levels, dropping weight, or being able to move around more easily.
Goals must be Timely: When will I do this?
The final part setting a SMART goal is choosing a deadline to accomplish the goal. Creating a timeframe for your goal helps you be more specific and stay on track with your goals. Choosing deadlines also gives you checkpoints to monitor your progress and evaluate what is and isn’t working for you. Be sure to give yourself a reasonable amount of time to achieve the goal. Many people tend to overestimate what they can do in a short amount of time and underestimate what they can do long term. For example, it may take several months to drop 10 to 20 pounds. Remember, slow and steady progress can lead to success and lifestyle changes in the long run.
Start thinking about New Year’s resolutions now. Set SMART Goals and be a winner!
