Friends with S.M.A.R.T. goals

JessBbody
JessBbody Posts: 523 Member
in Introduce Yourself
According to many personal development books I've read, the best goal-setting practice is to make your goals S.M.A.R.T.:

SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ACHIEVABLE
REALISTIC
TIME-SENSITIVE

So if you have a SMART fitness goal please share it!

For example, my goal is to lose 10 lbs and three inches from my waist by February 10th. That's the specific and time sensitive part. It's measurable because I can use a scale and a tape measure and I can track my progress and results.

I'm giving myself six months to lose (at least) 10 lbs because that's achievable. One nutrition tracker originally calculated (because I really want to lose 20 lbs in total) that I could lose 20 lbs by January 27th. But it said that my calorie intake would have to be 1200-1500 / day at that rate. To me that's not realistic. I would be starving all the time, even if I could restrict my food to so little.

I also have a personal goal to exercise at least 20 to 30 minutes a day 5 days a week.

Would anyone like to join me in this challenge?

This amount of exercise is what I've calculated I will need to lose weight at about a half lb per week without restricting calories too much under baseline maintenance (I'm good at exercising but calorie restricting usually makes me too hungry). I'm aiming to lose weight slowly with a calorie deficit of 200/day.

We could check in every day to say what we did and for how long, and maybe guesstimate how many calories we burned, perhaps using the Fitness Tracker. Or we could check in once a week.

For example, last week I did a 20 minute cardio video 3 days of the week, and walked for 30-40 minutes twice.

So far this week (starting yesterday) I did a 20 minute fat burning Walk at Home with Leslie Sansone (on YouTube). I also walked for 30 minutes today.

I will be doing mostly workout videos, and most of it will be cardio. I am also going to try to walk at least 3 days a week.

So feel free to join me! I look forward to giving and receiving encouragement. Also, state your fitness goals. Mine are to lose 10 lbs and 3 waist inches by February 10th!


Replies

  • human_bean
    human_bean Posts: 51 Member
    Hi Jess! Love your approach, would love to join you!:)
  • JessBbody
    JessBbody Posts: 523 Member
    human_bean wrote: »
    Hi Jess! Love your approach, would love to join you!:)

    Thanks human bean! I don't think I can add friends yet but I will add you when I can. Glad to have you aboard. Feel free to share your fitness goal or check in here with your nutrition / exercise.

    I'm still working on getting into the habit of tracking my food but today I ate a bowl of chicken soup, some orange roughy, asparagus, mussels, and I'm going to have a turkey sandwich.
    I walked for 30 minutes.

  • human_bean
    human_bean Posts: 51 Member
    My name is Rita :) I just sent you a long message in private, didn't know it's a limited function to add friends! Anyway, we can check in here :)

    I'm looking to work off 11 lbs in 6 months, I'm trying to stick to 1700 calories a day (1200 base calories a day + around 500 calories from activities), but if i still feel hungry on a certain day, I'm OK going over that budget, budget is more of a suggest,not a strict rule, i mainly focus on exercising.

    I walk 10k steps a day + exercise 4 times a week, I also try not to eat late and create a long break between dinner and breakfast (14+hours).

    Do you plan meals ahead of time?
  • JessBbody
    JessBbody Posts: 523 Member
    I don't plan meals, but I eat very similar things every day. I need to start meal planning because I get very bored with my food.

    My check in for the day:
    I did a 30 minute Walk at Home with Leslie Sansone video on YouTube. It's 4:46 and I've eaten eggs and a chicken sandwich.

    I have 973 calories left to spend.

    I'm probably going to take a 30-45 minute walk outside at 6.

    Incidentally I eat a lot of meat and protein and am looking to slowly head in the direction of more plant based.

    If anyone knows how to make vegetables delicious or beans interesting please share!
  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    Totally agree!

    Aside from a medical barrier I believe the issue with giving up comes down to SMART.
    People get lost in their journey. They set out goals that are NOT

    Specific
    Measurable
    Achievable
    Realistic
    Timely

    Any time you set a goal each one of these is crucial to your success. Set SMART goals that you can attain and set progress within the required reward, motivation cycle for your personality. If you need daily reward satisfaction your goals need to be task based. If you are more patient your reward can be monthly challenge based. If you are single minded and visionary you can set long term goals to a target.

    Know yourself and set appropriate SMART goals that lead to your finish line.
  • ZenDream
    ZenDream Posts: 208 Member
    I agree with the SMART framework. I'll add that consistency, perseverance and patience is fundamental to the process and lack thereof is the number one reason for falling short.

    In my own experience, the primary obstacle to long term success has been the eventual lack of adherence to the plan and/or giving up. While I was meeting many goals along the journey, it was the absence of perseverance and, ultimately, patience that caused me to fall short, historically anyway.


    I did some reflection, identified what I considered to be the elements of success and the conditions for success. I remind myself daily and operate in accordance with those principles . It either meets the elements of success and the conditions for success or it does not. So since mid June I've been on the path (again lol). It does feel different this time through.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I started this goal last week:
    Add 5lbs to squats on Monday, 5lbs to deadlifts Wednesday. Repeat goal until I hit 150 on squats.

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