Formulating Fitness Goals
for the New Year

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

New Year's Resolutions-Diet-Fitness Goals

With the New Year at hand, it is the perfect time to get health-focused!  We all begin the new year with a clean slate.  

It is like the beginning of a new race, one that begins in January and ends in December.

Next year at this time, what would you like to weigh?

Would you like to be healthier? Would you like to be more fit?

If you find yourself dreaming about apples and carrots rather than experiencing visions of sugarplums dancing in your head, then your little inner voice (the healthy-minded one) is calling out to you!  

It's saying, "Go for it!  Achieve your weight goals once and for all this coming year!  Diet NOW - bite the bullet and reach your dreams!  Get healthier!  Get fit!"

If you choose to answer the call, the following outline could help you in achieving all your fitness dreams.

Recording Your Fitness Goals

- Purchase an expensive blank book and spray it with your favorite scent.  Next, as you savor the heavenly aroma, start jotting down some fitness goals that you would like to accomplish next year.  Calculate your fitness goals by using the following chart at Diet Bites: STANDARD WEIGHT CHARTS.  Don't mix fitness goals with other personal goals.

Make Goals Doable

- As you are formulating your fitness goals, make them doable!  It's a lot like budgeting; you don't want to set your weight loss too high because if you don't see yourself moving quickly towards that specific number, you'll get disappointed and will probably quit your fitness plan.  On the other hand, if your goals are too low, you won't stay motivated.

A good plan is:

If you need to lose 100 pounds or less, then by all means, put that down as your goal.
If you need to lose more than 100 pounds, put down 100 pounds as your goal.  We'll tackle the remainder beginning next year.
Plan to lose on average, 2 pounds per week.

Establishing a Date to Achieve Your Fitness Goals

- Pull out your calendar.

- Create a weight loss schedule.  You can do this by using the 2 pounds per week as your projected weight loss.  (If you lose less than this, then you'll need to take a look at your diet plan, UNLESS you want to lose the weight at a slower rate, and some people do.)

Let's say that you want to lose 40 pounds.  Let's also say that we are in the month of January, and it is the 2nd day of the month.  This means that you should reach your weight loss goal by or before June 1st.

Begin marking your calendar by filling in the numbers that you should weigh each week. Example: Zak weighs 250 pounds and wants to lose 55 pounds.  He would mark his January calendar as follows:

When Zak reaches the end of the month and has met his goals, he plans to reward himself by purchasing something he likes.  He may also choose to enjoy a treat that he likes, and he may do this as often as he likes just as long as he includes those calories in his diet...which brings us to rewards:  

List Favorite Foods & Also Those Which are Difficult for You to Resist

- Compile a list your favorite foods in the book that you purchased.  Plan to include these foods in your diet throughout the year as 'rewards'.  RIGHT NOW - write down the amount for each of your favorite foods that you will allow at 'reward time'.  Example:  I love cupcakes, the ones covered with marshmallow and coconut bits.  I know that these have about 200 calories per cupcake.  Therefore, I might allow myself 1 cupcake, two times per week as a reward.  I would make sure to include those calories with my daily total.

- Write down the following naughty items: (yes, it's okay to write naughty words for this exercise): oil, butter, margarine, sugar, cream cheese, full-blown cheese, sour cream, soda, soft drinks, chips, Mayo, salad dressings, ice cream, full-blown cream, egg nog, buttermilk.

These items will virtually kill your diet, so you'll need to find a way to supplement healthier choices.  Beside each of the items above, jot down healthier items that you might substitute. Example: For sugar, you could substitute no calorie sweetener.  For chips, you might pencil in popcorn.  For Mayo, you might prefer mustard, or light Mayo.

Choosing Exercise & Activity

- Think about an activity that you would like to do.  Some great choices include: roller skating, riding a bicycle outdoors, walking, hiking, swimming, jumping rope, and weight lifting.

Make a promise to yourself that you will devote at least 2 hours per week to the activity. That's about twenty minutes per day.  You can do this!

The activity will give your diet a double boost!  Rather than running on a tank of Regular, you'll be running on Ethel.  For one, the activity will cause you to lose more weight.  Two, you'll feel better because you'll be 'unstagnating' your system.  Three, you'll be healthier from the activity.  See?  It's a win-win situation!

- Promise yourself that you will stick to your diet plan and that this will the year you succeed!

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