It’s time to think about your own goals. If you haven’t already looked at the Healthy Weight Healthy You Goal setting and Motivation pages, you might want to have a look through those first to help you with setting your goals.
You may have lost weight before and want to keep the weight off this time. You may want to make healthy changes to help you feel better or make life easier. We recommend picking a small number of goals to focus on. This may be 1, 2, or 3 goals. Answer the questions below to get started - Don’t forget to keep the values you identified in mind as you go!
My SMART goal:
- Specific - Make your goal as specific as possible. What exactly do you want to achieve?
- Measurable – Identify a way to measure your progress whilst working towards your goal. How will you know when you’ve achieved it?
- Achievable – Your goal should be just out of reach but not out of sight. Is your goal challenging but doable?
- Relevant – Think about your values. Is this something that will really make a difference to your life?
- Time-bound – Set a time by which you would like to achieve your goal. By when do you want to achieve it?
My short-term goals
Set yourself up for success with achievable goals that you can fit easily into your lifestyle. These may help boost your confidence and motivate you to continue. Could you make some healthier swaps for some of your favourite food and drinks? Could you try to do more active travel, leaving the car behind for short journeys? Or perhaps adding a new activity instead of watching TV.
Try to make them as specific as possible. For example:
- I will drink 6-8-glasses of water a day
- I will walk the dog twice a day for 30-minutes
- I will have only one takeaway a month.
You may want to take some notes or use the Set Your Goals download.
What might get in my way?
Look at your long-term goal and the shorter bite-sized goals you’ve just written down. Spend some time thinking about what might get in your way.
Set yourself up for success
Think about what you can do to help you with those barriers; and how you can build in the support you need. If your goal is to cook healthy dinners at home during the week, a lack of time might get in the way because you have to work late or have family commitments. You might want to plan what you want to eat and the time you need to prepare it. You might also consider cooking in bulk to cover a couple of days.
It may help to write these down:
If _____________________________________ happens
Then I plan to __________________________________.
We all have days that don’t go to plan, and it’s easy to feel like giving up. How will you deal with those days when you don’t feel like being active, have had a bad day, and want to eat comfort food? Perhaps you could call a friend for some motivation and support. Maybe you could invite a friend to join you on a walk or listen to some uplifting music.
Review and renew!
It’s important to review your goals regularly, whether weekly or monthly, depending on your goals. Ask yourself, am I making progress? Congratulate yourself on the small successes. Every small step in the right direction brings you closer to your destination. If you are not making progress, why not? Is there something you can change to make your goal more realistic or manageable for you to achieve? Could you make the goal more motivating for you?
Continue your journey
Click on the next page Weight maintenance to continue your journey.
