At the start of this blog a few months ago, I shared with you my Aha Moment and my Plan of Action. I was on a mission to change my health and fitness, and on January 4, 2011, things began to change. Now when I look back I can’t believe how fast the time has gone! I shared the beginning of my journey so I wanted to share a little more from the “middle.”
Something that has helped my journey tremendously is setting goals. First, I set long-range goals: I wanted to take a year to lose weight and then I wanted to take the second year to get stronger. So immediately I knew I was on a 2-year plan. No quick fixes. Next, I decided on some short term goals. I wanted to lose 1-2 lbs. per week, and I wanted to celebrate each 5 lb. mark. Honestly, at first I wasn’t convinced that I would lose anything, but as I began shedding a pound or two a week, it was extremely helpful to meet small goals and feel that I had accomplished something. So I set goals in 5 lb. increments and then wrote goal dates in my calendar. I weighed myself every Saturday morning and recorded my weight. Little by little the one or two pounds per week added up, and I began meeting my larger goals.
A really good acronym to remember when setting goals was shared on Dr. Oz this week (I’m not sure who created it originally):
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
A good goal is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. You don’t want to set unrealistic expectations for yourself and feel like a failure. For example, I have realized as the year is coming closer to an end that my long-range weight-loss goal was probably too high, so I have had to adjust it accordingly. I have had to have some grace for myself as my body plateaus and my motivation goes up and down.
Although there have been times when I have needed to give myself grace, I have also seen the confidence that meeting some of my goals has created. It has definitely translated into other things in my life like boxing, box jumping, lifting more, trying new exercises, working with trainers, getting on airplanes(!), etc. It’s created in me an even bigger goal of wanting to be fit for a lifetime not just these 2 years, and I’m sure I’ll be setting and re-setting goals in that time. This girl does not want to grow old gracefully. I’d rather do it with some boxing gloves on!
