Will You Achieve Your Goals in 2010?

Happy New Year! I hope this year brings you much health and happiness!
This is certainly a time of year that we all reflect on our lifestyles, habits, and our future goals.
I'm going to take a huge leap and assume that most of you have even made some sort of goal regarding your health or fitness level for 2010. Allow me to provide some information and encouragement which is an integral part of all goal setting, and certainly works well for health and fitness:
Is your goal SMART?
All goals need to have start dates, end dates, and plenty of details to keep you on track along the way. In other words, your goals should be:
Specific - instead of saying "I will exercise more this year," be specific! Once you reach your final goal, how many days a week or hours per week do you want to be working out? Likewise, be more specific than "wanting to lose weight" ... how much weight do you plan to lose?
Measurable - all goals should have a measurable component. Minutes exercising and pounds on the scale are easily measurable. So are health goals like lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. Some goals you may need to get more creative with... lowering stress for example... perhaps create a 1-5 scale that you can use to analyze your stress level occasionally.
Action Oriented Write your goals out in sentence (paragraph if needed) form and add specifics about HOW you will achieve your goals.
"I will exercise two hours a week by going for a 30 minute walk four times a week."
"I will lose 1 pound a week by keeping track of my caloric intake and making sure that each day I have a deficit of 500 calories."
"I will decrease my stress level by going for a 10 minute walk every time I feel anxious, going to a yoga class at least once a week, and making sure I allow myself one hour each day to do something that I enjoy."
Realistic It is certainly easy to get a little carried away with goal setting. I encourage you to aim high, but keep it realistic! If you don't run, don't set a goal of running a marathon next month... give yourself 6 months to a year to train. Likewise, your end goal should be something that you have to build towards... so if you are already able to walk 30 minutes a day - four days a week, you'll want to set your sights a little higher!
Timely A very important component of your goal setting... make sure you have an end date! What good is a goal without a deadline pressing upon you, keeping you accountable?

Finally, set your main goal to be your "long term goal" and create at least three "short term goals" to help you take the appropriate steps along the way. Here are a few examples:

1. Long term goal: I will lose 20 pounds by June 1st by creating a 500 calorie deficit each day (and thus losing an average of 1 pound a week).
Short term #1: In January I will sign up for a calorie tracking website and keep track of how many calories I consume daily. I will also start walking 15-20 minutes most days of the week.
Short term #2: In February and March I will focus on continually increasing the number of minutes that I walk each day (to one hour) while continuing to control my caloric intake.
Short term #3: In April and May I will increase the intensity of my activity by jogging for portions of my 1-hour walks.

2. Long term goal: I will eat 3-5 servings of vegetables a day by April 1st.
Short term #1: For the month of January, I will focus on sampling one vegetable each day (various colors), in order to discover my preferred veggies and cooking methods.
Short term #2: For the month of February, I will focus on eating two servings of vegetables each day, and by the end of the month I will also be drinking one V-8 each day.
Short term #3: For the month of March, I will make sure to eat a serving of vegetables with lunch each day and fill half of each dinner plate with vegetables.

Whatever your goal... make sure it's SMART!

A few more tidbits to help you on your journey:
- Check out my last post linking to a 3 month - weekly exercise program from the American Council on Exercise.
- Stay tuned to http://www.fittbritt.com/ to receive FREE online personal training for the month of January! (Hopefully coming next week!)

Have a HEALTHY 2010!
~ Fit Britt