BEATTHEBELLY - Blitz Your Health Goals Step by Step

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Goal setting is a thorny challenge - how high can we afford to set the bar by creating realistic yet achievable goals without selling ourselves short?
The old saying goes if you aim for nothing you will hit it every time; equally there are plenty of proverbs prompting action over inaction. So how can we make and achieve goals in an upward ascent to reach the pinnacle of overall health we strive for?

A recent practical article from Harvard Health describes a way of making and achieving realistic goals step by step. This stepwise approach is key to achieving the most achievable goals first, enabling an attempt a new higher goal - like training to climb everest by starting with smaller mountains and working up to the main event.

If you are trying to lose weight you need to set a realistic timeframe and fast weight loss is never healthy or sustainable long term; reaserch shows many yo-yo dieters put it all back on again in the following weeks; any weight loss needs to be sustainable and part of our everyday lives to maintain the healthy weight we are trying to achieve.

I strongly recommend the stepwise approach if you have been trying to lose weight for some time. My approach with this blog has been to single out one issue area and work on it to improve overall chances of losing weight with a healthy lifestyle.

So how about you read this article and watch the video, then look back through the blog and see if there is a tip you think acheivable this week.
Make a plan of how you will achieve the goal, write it down in detail and put it up where you will see it most and share your ideas with others who will encourage you to achieve it.
Give yourself a goal review date eg three weeks with a weekly review to check on progress then execute your plan and see what changes.

If you come unstuck at any point go back to the basics and see what caused you to fail - redo the plan to encompass the barriers and overcome them.
After a minimum three weeks achieving the new habit you can tick if off as it has becomes part of your lifestyle; then move on to the next goal.

Bottom line -

DO set goals, write them down and tick them off.

DON'T expect to lose in weeks what you took years to create!

Dr Ben Sinclair
Twitter:@menshealthtips
Sinclair Health Limited

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