How to make your 2016 health goals come true

We all have visions of how we’d like 2016 to roll out. Many of them include goals for creating or enhancing our health. The start of the New Year makes anything feel possible. Some things you may tell yourself this year …

• I want to eat healthier
• I want to exercise more
• I want to lose weight

Than, reality hits. You either have to do something or stop doing something to make this happen. This is where the rubber meets the road. Habits and behaviors are difficult to change.

You need a plan to get from where we are now to where we want to be. The plan needs to fit your life, your lifestyle, not anyone else’s to be successful. Before you even get to the planning stage consider these three strategies to increase your chances for succeeding with your health goals for 2016.

Discover your “why”and  goals fall into place

It’s so easy to say we want something but have you ever asked yourself why you want it? The why you want something will become the oxygen to flame your motivation to take action and continue to take action. This is especially important when the shine starts to wear off these newly minted goals.

The reason most people lack motivation is because they haven’t clarified what is really important to them.

One easy way is to discover how important something is to you is to ask yourself, on a scale of 0-10, how important is it for you to do, be or have  x, y, or z?

If your answer is below 7 behavior change specialist say that means it’s not important enough to you to take the actions needed to make the goal happen.

Here’s are some examples of “whys”:

• Want to lose weight to have more energy …
• Want to feel sexy … again …
• Want to fit back into my fabulous clothes … that are hanging in my closet …
• Want to stop using medications to control my diabetes … reverse diabetes ..
• Want to feel more confidence to … return to work … go on dates … wear a bathing suit …

To help clarify your why, ask yourself the following and fill in the blanks:

I want to ___________ so that I will/be//do/have _____________.

Focus on 2 or 3 specific goals – maximum

It’s easy to fall into two traps when setting a goal; making too many goals and/or not being specific about the goals.

Having too many goals to work on at one time leads to feelings of overwhelm.

Overwhelm leads to confusion.

Confusion leads the mind to do nothing.

We’re stuck and we wonder why.

Try picking a few goals that are really important to you. In your mind, they should stand out like capital letters to get your daily attention. Like a camera lens, slowly adjust as needed to keep them in focus at all times.

Along with focus comes the specifics of the goal. New Year resolutions are not goals since they generally don’t have any specifics attached to them. A frequently glibly stated New Year resolution “I’m going to cut down on sugar” has a low probability of happening.

Without knowing where you are now and where you want to be, how will you know you’ve succeeded? The devil is in the details!

Research has consistently shown that writing out goals leads to a higher success rate. The process of writing out your goals plants your goals in your subconscious mind. Unknowingly, your subconscious will take over decision making.

Try this simple formula when creating a goal: I will go from go from X to Y by (when). Examples:

• I will go from 150 pounds to 130 pounds by May 1, 2016.
• I will reduce my sugar intake by selecting plain yogurt over flavored-type yogurts.
• I will begin a running program January 4^th and complete a 5K run on April 12, 2016.
• I will stop drinking 1 glass of wine every night before bed and drink only 1 glass on Saturday or Sunday with my dinner meal.

The goals don’t have to be achieved 100% of the time to be effective. In fact, many goals can never be achieved 100%. This is where progress over perfection wins.

 Focus energy on your daily actions and the goal outcome will follow

We often hear “keep your eye on the target” and for weight loss this can be a specific number on the scale. Zeroing in on a target (or outcome) can use up lots of energy when the scale doesn’t budge.

Try devoting more mental energy to the actually actions for weight control – things like portion management and healthier choices for snacks. This is where a plan and a healthy dose of perseverance is needed to succeed.

This is where many people get tripped up. Especially when it comes to dealing with the daily obstacles faced to maintaining healthier eating and exercise habits.

My experience shows that many haven’t put the time or energy into the small stuff that creates the big result of weight loss. Planning meals, shopping for food, reducing portions, prioritizing sleep, and moving more are steps to focus on to shift the needle not only on the scale but on your confidence.

Another stumbling block happens when we try to do all these healthy things at one time, and often for the first time. Our natural desire to not want to change, in spite of declared intentions, becomes the louder voice in our head. It all becomes “too hard” to do or keep up. Having one to two actions to try out each week helps to keep resistance quiet. In fact, following through on your plan creates the self-confidence to continue to move onward.

The voice in your head says “I just want to lose the weight now!”

Quick weight loss is seductive and sometimes an effective jump start strategy. Weight loss and especially maintenance requires a sustainable eating and exercise plan. A plan for the “day after” the diet ends is how your why, your specific goals and your focused attention on the small stuff are weaved together to create your tapestry of success.

Closing the gap of where you are to where you want to be …

Change is a multi-step process that does not come naturally for most of us. From research we’ve learned that change is a definable process – that once understood – can take you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future. The next time we’ll take a look at how mindset affects our success.

Can being too optimistic really be a bad thing?