If you’re like most of us, you probably have health goals you are working on achieving, and also like most of us, you may be challenged to meet them. We often start on what seems like the right track, only to fall off track within the month. Your goals are probably not the issue, but rather the plan for meeting them, so keep your goals and get SMART about attaining them.
Rather than having broad, general goals, such as “lose weight”, SMART goals are full of detail that will make the difference between giving up on your goals and being able to cross them off your list as done. Let’s run through the acronym.
Specific
The goal should contain the details about who, what, and why. Who is involved? What is it you’re setting out to do? Why is this goal important?
For our “lose weight” goal, it might read something like this:
I (the who) will lose 15 pounds (the what) to reduce my risk of heart disease and have more self confidence (the why).
Measurable
The question to address here is how or how much.
I will lose weight by eating 25% smaller portions and not having sweets in the house.
Attainable
Goals should be laid out to achieve success, so that small goals lead to big ones. This will set you up to stay with your plan long enough to see the end result. Make your first small goal realistic, and once you’ve had favorable outcomes, set another realistic goal, and before you know it, you’ve been triumphant over your big goal. Take into consideration the positive outcomes of your accomplishment.
I will lose weight 5 pounds at a time, and celebrate each 5 pounds with a non-food reward of a movie with friends or a hike with my daughter.
Relevant
If the goal doesn’t resonate with you at a personal level, it will be very hard to get there. When my clients come into the office for nutrition consultation and are only there because their physician sent them, their chances of success are minimal. Ideally, we work together to find a reason that matters to them, for example, to be able to ride all of the rides at Disneyland. This tends to be more effective than their physician saying they want to get their lipid values down. If we cannot find a personal reason for being at the visit, that person is said to be in the pre-contemplative stage of change, and planting a seed for change and giving information for consideration is all that can be done.
Relevant goals should also be realistic to your current situation, resources, skills, and time available.
It is important for me to lose weight because I want to have the self-confidence to ask for a raise.
Time-Bound
Answer the when question. Set relatively short time frames to achieve your goals. This will help you stay committed and maintain focus on the prize. At the end of the time period, evaluate how things went and change any of the components to increase your outcome.
I will lose 5 pounds in 10 weeks (state the date in your goal).
Put It All Together
Changing behavior and creating new habits is hard and takes time and consistent—albeit not perfect—effort, but setting SMART goals will improve your odds of success. Set a goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound, then track your daily progress as you work toward long-term success.
I will lose 5 pounds every 10 weeks by eating 25% smaller portions and not having sweets in the house. I am doing this to reduce my risk for heart disease and increase my self-confidence to ask for and receive the raise I deserve. I will reward myself with a movie or hike with each 5 pound loss until I’ve lost my full 15 pounds by May 1, 2019.
Download the PDF here: Nutrition Connection’s SMART Goals Model
Karen Fisher, MS, RDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website at www.NutritionConnectionNV.com
{ 0 comments… add one now }
{ 1 trackback }