Setting Goals and Sticking to Them
Who else wants to set goals and achieve them? Goals such as losing 40 pounds before bathing-suit season or spending 90 minutes a day sweating at the gym. Changing your eating habits to choose less junk and more quality. Finding a better job, or a soul mate.
The problem with goals is life intrudes, work and family demand our time. And in regard to exercise you find that walking on a treadmill is just plain boring. Discouragement sets in, followed by inaction, guilt, avoiding thinking about your goal, eating lots of calorie enriched foods. And you say the battle is lost.
This cycle isn’t inevitable. You can set realistic, achievable goals for a more healthy life when you have the right information. What’s more, your goals-whether for weight loss, exercise or both-will produce results that enable you to look more desirable, feel more energy and be healthy.
Get going the right way
Goal-setting is more than making a wish and hoping it will come true. Done correctly, goal setting is proven to be effective for making real changes in your physical & mental activity.
To set and achieve your goal, research shows it helps to follow this process.
- Understand what you want to change. (Many times you need guidance)
- Establish a goal.
- Write the goal down with a timeline
- Begin a goal-directed activity
- Track your progress
- Reward yourself
Sounds simple? So why do January’s good intentions often end up discarded by February? Many goals start out being too difficult or too general. That’s a set up for failure.
Before deciding on your goal, get a clear view of your current lifestyle, what you want to change, and how fast. Be realistic. Are you looking for a huge transformation? Like you want to lose 75 pounds… that is great, but you will want to plan on 8 – 10 months. Do you need a 15 pound reduction to fit into your skinny jeans? Plan on 3 – 4 weeks to accomplish this in a healthy manner.
Be certain you understand that a weight loss goal must include long range changes to be effective, don’t fall for the diet pill in a bottle routine or a super starvation diet!
Be careful to not sign up for more than you can commit to. Don’t make a goal to spend 2 hours in a gym 4 days a week, when you know that is not possible to maintain for the long term.
Your time commitment is often the reason most goals are never reached. The GOOD news regarding weight loss is 12 minutes should be all you need for exercise if you know what you are doing. The Doctor Directed Weight Loss Program has proven that 7 -12 minutes of the right high metabolism exercises will cut your fat 9 times more than 60 minutes on a tread mill, or a 50 minute aerobic exercise class.
And anyone can commit to 7 – 12 minutes per day… Doctor Directed even shows you how to use the commercial time of your favorite TV program to lose buckets of fat for life.
Be Specific
Choose a well defined, positive goal for a short period of time. Make it taxing enough to motivate you, without stretching your capability.
If you haven’t exercised in years, don’t overdo it the first week – you’ll get sore and the exercise is over. Instead, think of your goal as, “I’ll start at this level and work myself up to more intensity.”
When setting goals your secret is to always state “so that” Example: I want to lose 25 pounds… So That – I can fit into my new swim suit… So That – I can go to the beach… So That… I get noticed by the right men…. So That Well you get the idea. The more specific you make your goal the higher your chances of pushing yourself to attain your goal.
Choose The Right Exercise For Weight Loss
Pick a goal-directed metabolism boosting exercise that’s fun and enticing enough that you’ll keep doing it. Social support helps you stay motivated, so try to exercise with a friend, spouse or child. There is no one who will keep you accountable more than your own kid. Especially those between the ages of 5 and 14.
Split your goal into smaller achievable chunks. Instead of saying, “I want to lose 50 pounds,” state your goal as “I will lose two pounds this week.” You’ll probably be able to meet that goal successfully, and even repeat it the following week. Remember, recommended weight loss for most people is 1 – 3 pounds per week. It is easier to lose the first 10 pounds.
Many people get overwhelmed when they have a huge goal, so they put it off. By setting and achieving a smaller goal, you get encouraged which spurs you on to continue the process.
Remember for something to become a habit, you need to continue it daily for at least 23 days.
Benefits of High Metabolism Exercise
Short bouts of the right high metabolism exercise – for 7 -12 minutes per day are the most healthy for anyone wanting to achieve health, shrink their waistline, or improve their fitness level. Gone are the days of the 60 minute jog or the 75 minute treadmill routines. Those aerobic exercise routines have been proven to actually cause your body to store fat, decrease your heart size and shrink your lung capacity.
Weight Loss Without Exercise Is A Waste.
Weight maintenance without exercise is a waste of your time,” says Dr Hackbart, director, Natural Health Research Institute. You can lose weight with diet alone, or special diet formulas but without changing your metabolic rate it is inevitable your weight will come back, and usually with a vengeance. Most weight loss diet programs generally only cause your fat cells to shrink.
If you are not increasing your metabolic rate, you are only shrinking fat cells; in a sense you are dehydrating yourself making yourself less healthy. When you go off the diet, your fat cells rehydrate causing you to gain weight rapidly. The bad news is you also will create more fat cells.
Incorporating the Doctor Directed High Metabolism exercises only take 7 – 12 minutes per day, boosting your metabolism for up to 24 hours and completely eliminates fat cells. You stay hydrated, improve your health and have less fat cells. With this formula you stay in your skinny jeans for as long as you want.
Track your progress
Track your progress by writing your goals down with a timeline.
Check off items as you accomplish them. The act of placing a check mark next to a goal accomplished is very encouraging and motivates you to move to your next goal. It also serves as a reminder to put things into action or catch up on your goal. Successful people are compulsive record keepers.
When you reach a pre-set goal – reward yourself with a relaxing bath, a special treat, time alone listening to a favorite CD or other enjoyment. Rewards for good accomplishment make attaining your goal more desirable and inspire you to continue moving forward.
Keep going – Never give up
Don’t give up just because you missed the first goal you set. Reload and fire again. Look at what’s possible to achieve right now. When you put together multiple short-term goals, you soon discover that you have accomplished your long-term goal that once seemed so impossible. When you make a small change, it’s an awesome accomplishment.

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