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Setting Goals When Dieting

By Mary Westhoff


As with all things in life, setting goals is highly important when dieting. When you are looking at things and being honest and objective you will notice that many of the things you've accomplished in life have been accomplished because you had a goal and also had a clearly detailed plan and well thought out process for achieving your goal. That being said, why is goal setting very important when it comes to a great diet plan?

First because it is difficult to achieve a goal if you do not have a clearly defined goal. There are times in ones life when it is impossible to tell whether you are going to succeed or fail because you aren't certain with what the desired outcome should be anyway. Identifying your dieting goals well before hand eliminates this particular unwanted possibility.

Second, having dieting goals gives you a measuring stick by which you can judge your process. This is very important so that you know when your efforts are failing big time and when you're moving along schedule as planned. Lets put it this way, you will know when to celebrate and give yourself a big reward and when to give yourself a swift talking to.

Now that we know why we set weight loss goals, let's discuss how we should go about setting those goals that are so important for dieting success. You need to set goals that are obtainable without being impossible for you to achieve. If you set goals hap haphazardly that are beyond your ideal reach you will discover that frustration will be your best friend or dieting partner until you reach the time where you give up all together and have no results to show for it. In order to avoid this type of failure you should take well care to insure that your goals are possible for you to achieve.

When it comes to weight loss be specific when setting your goals. Rather than setting a total goal of 40 or 60 pounds start with a specific goal such as 10 pounds in one month. Then you can extend the goal to the next month until you've reached the overall goal of 40 or 60 pounds. It is much easier to lose 10 pounds four times than it is to lose 40 pounds at once. It's a trick of the mind but it works. Ten pounds sounds simple and achievable. Forty pounds sounds like an insurmountable obstacle.

Another thing about goals is that you want to hold yourself accountable but you shouldn't call the whole thing off if you only lose 9 pounds instead of 10. Instead, find out where you dropped the ball for the final pound and set your 10-pound goal for the next month.

You should also take good care that you are working hard with your personal goals and not the goals that someone else is insisting on or pushing you to do. The fact is that if it's personal to you, it will be much more rewarding than if you are doing this for someone else. If your heart isn't in it, there are very few goals that are going to motivate you properly.

Finally, you should establish small (non-food) rewards for accomplishing your dieting goals. Perhaps your reward will be a new accessory for your new (or new old) wardrobe or a pedicure for your new look. Make your reward something fun and frivolous and teach yourself that accomplishing your goals can be accomplished by something other than food. This is a key to dieting successfully.




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