Goal-Setting 101: How to set S.M.A.R.T. goals

**Goal-Setting 101: How to set S.M.A.R.T. goals**


Setting goals is a powerful way to stay motivated during your weight-loss journey. Goals give you something tangible to work toward and they are a way of measuring your progress. The key to setting goals is to ensure that they are S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely:


*Specific: Just saying you want to lose weight is not specific enough to motivate or guide you during your weight-loss journey. Sit down and decide exactly how much weight you want to lose. As an example, setting a weight-loss goal of 30 pounds is more specific.


*Measurable: Track your progress by weighing yourself once a week and using a measuring tape to measure your chest, waist and hips. Even if the scale doesn't move every week, it’s still possible you are losing inches. Also, don’t forget to check how your clothes are fitting. Write all of these observations down in a journal every week.


*Attainable: Your goals should be challenging, yet still possible to achieve with the resources you have on hand.


*Realistic: It didn’t take you a week or a month to gain the weight you are trying to lose, so don’t set yourself up to fail by expecting you can lose that much weight in an unrealistic amount of time. Typically, you can expect to lose about two pounds a week.


*Timely: Setting a deadline is a powerful way to motivate yourself to achieve your goals. If your goal is to lose 30 pounds, give yourself four months to make that happen.


Here are a few other suggestions for harnessing the power of goals and making the most of your journey:


Spread the word. Sharing your goals with others makes them even more of a reality and your friends, family and co-workers can hold you accountable.


Write them down. Record your goals in a journal. Writing them down makes them that much more of a reality.


Set multiple goals. What else do you want to accomplish besides losing weight? Do you want to be able to run around the park with your kids? Or lower your cholesterol or blood pressure by a certain number of points? Tackle a new challenge at work? Sit down and brainstorm all the possible things you’d like to accomplish and pick three to five of the most important goals you’d like to focus on first.


Set small daily and weekly goals. This keeps you moving forward and it also gives you a chance to see how all you’re doing adds up to help you achieve your bigger goals. For example, sit down each week and decide what you want to accomplish. Maybe your goal is to bring home-cooked lunches to work every day (instead of hitting the fast-food drive-thru). Write this goal down and check in at the end of the week to see if you were able to accomplish it.


Review your goals every day. Post them on your mirror, computer monitor or refrigerator or program them as a reminder in your smartphone so that you will see them often.