Working smarter not harder is always advice we hear no matter what endeavor we are pursuing. But sometimes the phrase is misunderstood.
Working smarter not harder is always advice we hear no matter what endeavor we are pursuing. But sometimes the phrase is misunderstood. To be clear, when it comes to weight loss, hard work and commitment are necessary. That does not mean that the journey has to be difficult. In fact, with some proper care and planning, weight loss itself can be safe and easy! Keeping that in mind, allow us to introduce you to SMART goals. Setting SMART goals is a great way to help make your weight loss journey more structured, measurable, and achievable. Beyond that, by setting a structured approach, we can help make the process easier on ourselves by setting small benchmarks that keep us disciplined. So, let’s go over SMART goals and how we can work them into our weight loss journeys.
Set Specific Goals
Whenever we start a weight loss journey, we are full of hope, and we always have a vague goal in mind. But sometimes we get so far ahead of ourselves that we stop focusing on the small steps in front of us and we end up not following through. With that in mind, it’s important to be specific about what you want to achieve in terms of your weight loss journey. For example, instead of setting a general goal like “I want to lose weight”, set a specific goal like “I want to lose 10 pounds in the next 3 months”. This will give you a safe and clear target to work towards and help you stay motivated!
Goals Need To Be Measurable
One of the main obstacles people encounter when trying to lose weight is inconsistency. This can come in many forms, but regardless of the cause, the solution is surprisingly easy. It’s essential to track your progress in order to measure your success. Choose a method to measure your progress, such as weighing yourself regularly, taking measurements, or tracking your food intake. For example, weighing in on your day off, in the morning (before breakfast) is a simple way to track progress without overdoing it. This will help you see how far you’ve come and motivate you to keep going. After all, hope keeps the dream alive, and nothing fuels that quite like seeing the wins stacking up!
Be Sure That Your Goals are Attainable
While it’s important to challenge yourself, you need to be sure to take care of yourself. Therefore, it is crucial to set realistic goals that you can actually achieve. After all, it’s important to be safe and not put your health at risk. An ongoing and successful weight loss will improve your health significantly, so no need to do too much too fast. Losing weight at a healthy, sustainable rate is generally considered to be 1-2 pounds per week. For those of us who need to lose weight for our health, this is an easy goal. So, make sure your goals are in line with this rate of weight loss.
Goals Should be Relevant to You
Ask yourself what is your reason to lose weight? Obviously, your weight loss goals should be relevant to your overall health and well-being. But go beyond that and ask yourself why you want to lose weight. For many, it stems from wanting to improve self-image and self-esteem, whereas some of us want to live healthier lives for the sake of our loved ones. It’s important to find a reason we care about beyond results. The more personal the reason, the easier it is to focus on the task at hand. Be sure that your goals align with your values and goals.
Time-Bound Goals Keep You Honest
While we all acknowledge that healthy weight loss is a marathon not a sprint, it is still important to set an end date. After all, we all want to get to the maintenance phase of our weight loss journey, where all we have to do is take care of ourselves with the habits we’ve developed. Setting a deadline for your goals will help you stay on track and motivated. Make sure to give yourself enough time to reach your goals, but also make sure your timeline is realistic and more importantly, safe. Another important point to raise here is to take care of our mental health throughout. When it comes to weight loss, sometimes we can be a bit obsessive, and we lose hope when we don’t hit our exact goal. But even if you fall a pound or two short, don’t lose sight of the larger goal. Any safe weight loss is a victory, and even if we come up a bit short, we’re moving in the right direction!
Step by Step, Day by Day
Remember, every journey is made up of thousands of small steps. Setting up SMART goals is an extremely helpful approach to weight loss, and it’s built on stacking up small wins on top of each other. Nobody is perfect, and we all have off days. It happens to everyone. But make sure that every day, you keep your goals in mind. Easy life hacks, like putting motivational notes on the bathroom mirror go a long way to making sure we prioritize taking care of ourselves. The more it’s on your mind, the more likely you are to follow through because after all, nobody is more accountable to you than you!
Talk to the Experts
We understand that losing weight can be challenging, but we believe that with the right support and guidance, anyone can succeed. With over 40 years of serving the community, Olivera Weight Loss has made caring for our patients our priority. We know every patient comes into our care with the hope of improving their health through weight loss. With that in mind, our team is here to offer hope and encouragement every step of the way. We genuinely care about our patients and are committed to helping them achieve their weight loss goals in a safe and easy way. We offer a range of services and resources to support you on your journey, including personalized meal plans, exercise recommendations, and support from our team of professionals. We hope these tips on setting SMART goals for weight loss will help you get started on your journey. Remember, the most important thing is to be kind to yourself and to take things one step at a time. With hard work and dedication, you can achieve your weight loss goals and improve your overall health and well-being. If you have any questions or need additional help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Olivera Weight Loss. We are here to support you and help you succeed.
