Smart Goals Creating an action plan to decrease calories and increase physical activity is crucial for achieving long-term weight loss. |
Think of goals as a road map to help us succeed. They give us a clear idea of where we want to be and how to get there. SMART goals are especially useful. |
So what is a SMART Goal? |
Well, it’s a strategy used to develop a goal so that the goal is specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-based. Let’s put it into practice. Take a moment to think about what your goal is. For example: “I want to decrease calories in my diet” Now, let’s make it SMART. We need to know how much will be done and when it will be considered done to make your goal MEASURABLE. For ACTION-ORIENTED, you are committing to take action, not just thinking about doing something while making the goal practical or REALISTIC. Finally, let’s give our goal a time frame so it can be TIME-BASED. |
Let’s break it down: |
“I will have low-fat milk with my cereal every day this week. I will limit my sweetened soda intake to no more than three cans per week” Our goal is SPECIFIC because we have stated that we are going to limit sweetened soda and use low-fat milk instead of higher calorie options. We are using low-fat milk every day and cutting back on our sweetened sodas per week to make our goal MEASURABLE. This is ACTION-ORIENTED by committing to the action by stating what you’ll do to reduce calories. Our goal is REALISTIC because you’re taking small steps instead of big steps, like limiting sweetened sodas as opposed to eliminating them completely! And finally, this is our goal for this week to make it TIME-BASED. Now, move on to the following exercise to develop SMART goals for both decreasing calories and increasing physical activity! |