Tuesday, January 6, 2009

What An Excellent Concept - The Crazy Foxes Biggest Loser Blog! Gotta Love It!

What an excellent concept, The Crazy Foxes Biggest Loser Blog! I love it! Here's one of my articles about weight loss and setting goals, so...

Do You Think Goal Setting is Important in Dieting?

As with most things in life, I believe that setting goals is very important when dieting. When you look at things truthfully and objectively you should notice that most of the things you've accomplished in life have been accomplished because you not only had a goal but also had a clearly planned and well thought out process for achieving that goal. That being said, why is goal setting so important when it comes to dieting?

First of all, it is difficult to achieve any type of goal if you do not have a clearly defined one. There are times in life when it is almost impossible to tell whether you are succeeding or failing because you aren't certain exactly what the desired outcome should be. Identifying your dieting goals before you begin eliminates this particular possibility.

Second, having dieting goals gives you a guideline by which you can judge your progess. This is important so that you know when your efforts are falling behind and when you're moving right on schedule or, maybe, ahead of schedule. In other words, you will know when to celebrate and when to give yourself a swift kick to the rear.

That's why we set weight loss goals, but how do we go about setting those goals that are so important for dieting success? You want to set goals that are aggressive without being impossible to achieve. If you set goals that are beyond your reach you will find that frustration will be your dieting partner until you reach the point where you give up all together. In order to avoid this you should take great care to insure that your goals are possible for you to achieve.

When it comes to weight loss be specific when setting your goals. Rather than setting a total goal of 40 or 60 pounds start with a specific goal such as 10 pounds in one month. Then you can extend the goal to the next month until you've reached the overall goal of 40 or 60 pounds. It is much easier to lose 10 pounds four times than it is to lose 40 pounds at once! It's a trick of the mind but it works. Ten pounds sounds simple and achievable. Forty pounds sounds like an insurmountable obstacle.

Another thing about goals is that you want to hold yourself accountable but never call the whole thing off if you only lose 9 pounds instead of 10. Instead, find out where you dropped the ball for the final pound and set your 10-pound goal for the next month.

You should also make sure your goals are personal to you. The truth is that if it's personal to you, it will be much more rewarding than if you are doing this for someone else. If your heart isn't in it, you'll find that the motivation just isn't there as well.

Finally, you should establish small (non-food) rewards for accomplishing your dieting goals. Perhaps your reward will be a new accessory for your new (or new old) wardrobe or a pedicure for your new look. Make your reward something fun and frivolous and teach yourself that accomplishing your goals can be accomplished by something other than food. Goals are the key to dieting successfully.

Much success to everyone!! Feel free to visit my health and fitness blog anytime! Let's go get 'em!

1 comment:

  1. Great post, Brenda! I am working on setting realistic goals including losing 45 pounds, increasing exercise, reading positive reading materials just to name a few of my goals.

    For me, committing to start the CF loss program equals success so we are already off to a great successful start!

    See you at the scales!

    ReplyDelete