Weight Loss Goals by Jane Thurnell-Read

At any time lots of people are dieting – they set themselves a goal of losing a certain amount of weight.  If you look at the information on setting your goals you will see that you are told that the goals need to be measurable and specific – so you don’t just want to lose weight, but set a goal for a specific amount of weight. All well and good, but setting ONLY these types of goals is the way to failure or putting back on the pounds you have lost.

So how do you set weight loss goals that will help you keep you motivated to lose weight and keep it off. Specific numerical goals are important, e.g.

• I want to lose 14 lbs
• I want to weight 135 lbs
• I want to wear size 10 clothes

But you need to set other goals too. These goals reflect your habits and attitudes. Holding yourself to these standards means you are likely to lose weight in a healthy weight and keep it off. You need to set these habit and attitude goals and work just as hard to achieve them as to follow the particular diet you are on. 

Examples of habit and attitude goals are:

• I normally eat slowly so that my body has a chance to tell me I’m full. Eating more slowly can really reduce the amount you eat. Check out your skinny friends, and you will find most of them eat slowly. I am usually one of the last person to finish eating a meal.
• Eating healthily is normal for me. I like and choose lots of fruit and vegetables. I don’t see eating healthily as a punishment or a penance or something I’m doing “for now”. I am not on a diet – I have adopted a healthy life style that has lots of benefits in addition to weight loss.
• I don’t always eat everything on my plate. Again check out your skinny friends, and you will probably see that sometimes they leave a tiny piece of pizza crust or 4 peas on their plate. They’re full and they
• I rarely eat without thinking . I usually pay attention when I’m eating – I don’t just sit in front of the TV and stuff food in.
• I hardly ever use food as a reward. Occasionally I do, but in general I find other satisfying alternatives.
• I hardly ever eat food because I’m bored or worried. I normally eat because I’m hungry.
• On occasions I do overeat, but that’s OK. My body can handle that.
• Whatever my weight is, it will fluctuate to some extent and I will accept that as normal, but I won’t kid myself if my weight starts creeping up that it’s all down to fluctuation.
• I’ll help and support family and friends that want to lose weight and/or eat more healthily too, but I won’t judge them by how big they are.

I’m not saying it’s easy – sadly for most people weight loss is not easy, but by focusing in this way you have much more chance of attaining the ideal weight and body you long for. Perhaps more importantly you stand a better chance of keeping the weight off.

Copyright 2010 Jane Thurnell-Read
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