How to Set Realistic Weight Loss Goals – 6 Helpful Tips

30-Second Summary:

• Losing weight is one of the most terrifying and challenging things you can ever do for yourself.
• Unfortunately, many people quit even before they can start to lose weight.
• Setting manageable and realistic weight loss goals can make you focus better and stay motivated. Research shows that the most successful plans are SMART– specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
• You need to reconsider your plans and focus on a better diet plan, work on your fitness goals, and change your perspective.
• It’s also essential to get enough sleep – lack of adequate sleep increases your hunger hormone, ghrelin, and reduces your ‘satisfaction’ hormone, leptin, which contributes to weight gain.

Introduction

Every year, as the New Year bell rings, many people lay out their journals, scribbling down what they wish to accomplish in the new dawn. For most, losing a couple of waist inches is at the top of the list. However, unless you know how to set realistic weight-loss strategies, you might be getting in your way from the get-go.

To be more precise, losing weight takes commitment, planning, and time. As a rule of thumb, if a weight loss program promises fast results, then it’s probably not the most brilliant idea. Many experts agree that shedding more than two pounds per week is hard to sustain and an unhealthy way of managing weight.

By taking advantage of the benefits of exercise and making permanent changes in your lifestyle habits, you can figure out the best approach to your weight loss goals. That said, if you want to get rid of the love handles this year, here’s how you can set realistic weight loss goals that you can follow through.

Establish Your State of Mind

As with diet and exercise plans, weight loss goals can also be behavioral or what many call ‘state of the mind’ goals. These forms of strategies include:

• Paying close attention to the nutritional fact labels and ingredient contents on your food products
• Eating slower
• Avoiding negative ‘self-talk’ like telling yourself you’re not capable of losing any pounds
• Requesting for assistance from a professional or friends and family
• Adopting better stress and anxiety management strategies like meditation
• Keeping a daily gratitude journal
• Ditching the car for a bike ride to work, or a walk to the mall
• Staying abreast with new research that relates to diet, exercise, and weight loss

Figure Out Your Diet Plan

You need to set a game plan for your meals. You can’t expect to shed any weight if you keep munching on the same snacks and calorie-filled meals. Moreover, hopping on the treadmill alone can’t compensate for a diet filled with processed foods.

The good news: You don’t have to start juicing up every day, give up carbs forever, or commit to a vegan lifestyle to lose weight. While these changes can quickly help you lose some pounds, they mostly tend to be short-lived, especially if you don’t adopt them as part of your new life.

Instead, make small achievable diet goals like kicking out processed sugars and replacing them with water, choosing white meat over red meat, or incorporating more whole-grain meals.

You can also try various dietary supplements like VivaSlim, which claims to help curb cravings and boost metabolism for improved weight loss.

Focus on Your Fitness

While hitting the gym alone won’t help you achieve your weight loss goals, setting short-term fitness goals along the way can help keep you motivated. Perhaps you want to train for a 5K, improve your strength, practice yoga, or run a 30-minute mile.

These short-term strategies are measurable and typically involve a deadline, which is more achievable than getting the ‘Chris Hemsworth’ or ‘Teyana Taylor’ body.

Moreover, setting realistic fitness goals will help you feel more committed to leading a healthier lifestyle. As the saying goes, ‘the journey is more vital than actually attaining the goals. The journey helps you relearn and adopt new habits that allow you to enjoy and maintain the goal.’

Be Realistic

Don’t try to be an overachiever. While getting the perfect abs and chiseled body is essential, you need to remember to set realistic and manageable goals.

For instance, if you typically consume many fast foods, and your objective is to cook healthier meals from scratch six nights a week, make sure you schedule some time.

Make sure you also factor in time to research healthy recipes, get all the ingredients, and clean up after cooking. If that’s not achievable now, then you should probably set your goal to three nights a week until your schedule shifts or cooking becomes an effortless habit.

Track Your Success

It would be best if you didn’t forget to take time to monitor your progress and revel in all the hard work you’re putting in. You can use a weight loss journal or numerous apps to track your food intake and exercise programs.

According to fitness experts, people who do this are more likely to stick to their goals and maintain the same level of enthusiasm.

Be Open-Minded

The key to a successful change in weight is keeping an open mind. Acknowledge that it takes time to break old habits and purpose to make permanent healthy alterations.

Even if they don’t involve HIIT programs or green smoothies, trying new things can help you enjoy the weight loss process and stay grounded. You might even find it helpful to keep a journal and jot down some notes about your journey.

This will not only help you keep track of your goals, but it can help you recognize your feeding patterns, explore your feelings, and allow you to make changes where need be.

Final Words

Approaching weight loss from a better perspective allows you to get in tune with the aspects that might have contributed to your weight gain in the first place.

Investing in a healthy diet plan will always be an ideal way of shedding some extra weight, but to truly optimize your well-being, you also need to work on your fitness goals and apply better stress management strategies.

In any case, Rome wasn’t built in a day – in the same way, you need to incorporate various strategies to achieve your weight loss goals.

References:

https://blog.nasm.org/setting-smart-fitness-goals

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170828093759.htm

https://hub.jhu.edu/at-work/2020/01/15/focus-on-wellness-drinking-more-water/

Editorial Team

This article is published by our independent team of health and wellness pundits that publish original and informative content to empower readers to take charge of their health and embark on a physically, mentally, and emotionally balanced lifestyle.