How to Set Realistic Weight Loss Goals

Losing weight can be one of the most difficult challenges you will face in life. Fighting cravings to eat unhealthy foods. Resisting the temptation to be lazy and watch TV rather than getting some exercise by taking the dog for a walk or going for a jog. It is hard to change your eating habits, you like the food you eat or you wouldn't eat it. A weight loss program requires a lot of willpower and you need to be mentally prepared for that in order to win the battle, lose weight and reach your goals. As you can see, motivation and mindset for weight loss are crucial. While exercise and healthy eating are just as crucial, without mental preparedness you will never achieve your weight loss goals. The person who understands this will ultimately be victorious. So be like a good little boy scout and 'be prepared'.

One of the most helpful weight loss tools for motivation during a weight loss program is a weight loss goal setting worksheet. This simple little worksheet will help you prepare yourself mentally for the challenges ahead. The purpose of this worksheet is to get you to write down your weight loss goals. It's great to write these goals down and place them in a prominent location as this makes your goals seem more real and provides a reminder for you whenever you see them. A great place to display your worksheet is on the fridge. That way, whenever you are tempted to indulge in a snack you will see it where it can encourage you to either skip the snack altogether or at least choose a healthy snack rather than one that is high in sugar, fat and calories.

A weight loss goal setting worksheet should contain several components including; Start date, start weight, goal weight, goal size, goal period, reason/motivation, future goals and milestones.

Here is a more detailed description of each of these components.

1. Start date: The date you started your weight loss plan.
2. Start weight: Your weight when you started.
3. Goal weight: What weight do you want to reach? For example, if you are 200 pounds now and you want to reach 150 pounds then 150 pounds is your goal weight. Ensure that this is an achievable weight that takes your height and body shape into account. Your doctor can advise you of an appropriate goal weight according to your BMI.
4. Goal size: As with your goal weight. If you are currently size XXL and want to be an M (medium) then this is your goal size. Again, this figure should be achievable and healthy.
5. Goal period: The length of time in which you want to reach your goal weight? Needs to be practical. If you want to lose 100 pounds then don't have a goal period of 12 weeks, as that is more than 8lbs per week, an almost impossible figure to achieve. Your goal period should aim for no more than 2lbs weight loss per week.
6. Reason/motivation: Why do you want to lose weight? What is your motivation? Maybe your weight is affecting your health, putting strain on knees that have arthritis, onset (type 2) diabetes etc. Maybe you want to improve your health in order to live longer for the sake of your family and children. Maybe you're getting married and just want to look your best.
7. Future goals: Is there anything you want to be able to do after you lose weight that you can't do now? Play a sport? Run around the park playing with your kids. Getting back into your favorite outfit?
8. Milestones: Sometimes it helps to take notes of milestones like when you reach a significant weight milestone or get back into a pair of jeans that hasn't fitted you for six months. Or when you can climb that flight of stairs without huffing and puffing and having to rest for ten minutes after doing it. Reaching milestones makes you feel good about yourself and motivates you to continue.

As you can see, the worksheet is fairly comprehensive. Writing it and displaying it in a prominent location will help you remain motivated to achieve your weight loss goals.


Julia Bell is a student of nutrition dedicated to helping people overcome obesity. Obesity is the number one health issue of the twenty first century. Learn how to live a healthier life by maintaining healthy weight and exercise habits through her weight loss blog.

Visit http://bestwaytoloseweight4u.com to download a FREE weight loss goal setting worksheet with no sign up required. Just visit the downloads page.

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Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals

What are the essentials you need to successfully lose weight and attain your weight loss goals?

The saying "you are what you eat", does have a grain of truth in it. Your body weight will depend on the types of foods that you eat. For example if you follow a non-vegetarian diet you will weigh more than someone who is a strict vegetarian and eats lots of fresh veg.

To lose weight and take control of your diet, you need to take a long hard look at what you actually eat in a day. Lots of people miss this point, and go chasing off after the next fad diet to hit the market. In reality fad diets can do more harm than good to your body. In most cases fad diets will prohibit certain food types which can mean that you will be starving your body of essential nutrients that it needs to survive. When you body realises this it will start to store fat rather than burning it to produce energy. So the result will be that you may well lose weight initially, but when you stop the fad diet you will in all reality put back on what you have lost and a bit more besides. Some so called fad diets do have a place in a weight loss program, but only ever short term for a quick boost.

There is not an easy way to lose weight, but there are a couple of essential things that you will need in order to be successful with your weight loss.

Firstly, you will need a definite weight loss goal, and you will need self-motivation in order to achieve your weight loss goal.

So define yourself a weight loss goal. For example, how much weight would you like to lose over a certain period of time? Are you looking to lose just 7lbs, or is your weight loss goal to lose 40lbs or 100lbs? For those that need to lose more weight it will of course take a longer time, and be harder than those that have just a few pounds to lose. Setting yourself realistic weight loss goals is important as this will effect your weight loss plan.

If you meet your goals you will be encouraged to continue with the weight loss program, but if you do not meet them then you will become discouraged and maybe even stop trying to lose weight. So don't make your goals unrealistic. If you set your first goal up to be a weight loss of 10lbs in five days, then it is not going to happen (unless you follow a fast weight loss short term diet plan), so you will fail, feel miserable and find your diet program harder to stick to.

Set yourself a realistic weight loss goal. Now think about what is motivating you to lose that weight? Do you want to look better? Feel Better? Fit into an outfit for a certain date? Has your doctor advised you to lose weight?

Whatever your own personal motivation is to lose weight, jot it down and keep looking at it when you feel discouraged. No-one else needs to see this, or know what your motivation is, this is purely to help you to keep yourself motivated to reach your weight loss goals.


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Are You Afraid of Losing Weight? - How Fear Can Stop Your Goals

I love horror movies. I grew up in the era of Hellraiser, Freddy Krueger, and Halloween. The drama and the special effects had me hooked. I think most people can't stand the gore of these movies, because it directly targets a fear that is even more frightening than walking up to Jason on a dark street.

This is a key element in successful progress of any new initiative. You are an emotional, sensitive and creative soul, and it is this that makes you unique, kind and a positive force on our planet. You should be proud of your accomplishments. You should be smiling as you think of the good you have done over the years.

Then you may turn your thoughts to things that you would like to do to further this positive action building. Maybe you want to quit your job, and start a business. You are really always thinking about it, it is something that comes up time and time again.

You are really excited and chipper when you think about this idea. You plan the outcomes of what you want to do, accomplish, and produce. You are excited about your market space, and you really think you can make a difference.

But then, you let a hurdle, a challenge come between you and your dream. Just like seeing Freddy Krueger appear, you stop in your tracks. Your fear about handling accounts payable, taxes, or incorporation versus a LLC, bump you back. You are letting Freddy, with his long knives, scrape around in front of your face, and you once again, get up, sit in rush hour, and go to your workplace, where you let Freddy laugh in your face.

Your fear has won. You are victim to the power it has over you. You will never realize your dream to start that great business. You are afraid of failure. You think, it is better not to start, I don't want to fail.

Don't let this dumb fear begin a process of seeding its way into your excuses. You are only as strong as your fears. Your fear to fail may be the strongest one you race through in your mind. Do you realize that most successful businesses have one if not two failures under their belts? Why are you letting this little thing stop you from your dreams?

You are stronger than your fears, you just need to find the tools to over come them.

So, how does this apply to weight loss? Your fear is an emotion that can be used to assist you in your goals to lose weight. Once you address your fear to fail, and recognize that you are going to lose the weight, your success will happen. You will experience some initial failures, however, eventually you will be the winner.

No weight loss technique, just like any new business, has a written guarantee. You must overcome this dynamic emotion, as it will rule you if you let it. Accept the possibility of failure, but hold your head high knowing that your dream for weight loss is achievable. You have the power, now, find the tools!

Remember Freddy? Well, he went bye bye in the end....


To learn more about weight loss, and how to change your weight loss plan, visit our website at http://www.secretsloseweight.com

Join our mailing list, and learn how to consistently lose weight, with your specific body in mind-and action. Specific, healthy, and solid knowledge will bring you effective weight loss. You have the power to change your life, and change your body.

Cheryl Hanson
Living Frontiers

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How to Achieve Your Goals Quickly

To be successful in goal setting you need to work consistently and persistently towards your goals. This doesn't mean however, that you shouldn't try and achieve your goals in the quickest amount of time possible. I can't think of anyone who would want to take longer than they need to, to achieve their goals. This article provides you with seven tips to help you fast track your goals and achieve them in the quickest amount of time possible.

. Know exactly what you want to achieve: To turn your dreams into reality you must first understand the specifics of what you want to achieve. Once you know the specific details you can then turn these into a tangible plan to achieve your goals.

. You need to stay motivated: You can do this by keeping your end goal in mind. Actively imagine what it would feel like to achieve your goal and be living the life that you want to live. Put pictures up in strategic places around your home or work to keep reminding you of what you are trying to achieve.

. Spend 15 minutes a day imagining: This will again keep you motivated and help you remember why you want to achieve your goals. When times get tough this will get you through. Set a specific time of day to do this, one where you don't have any distractions.

. Plan your goals: To achieve your goals you need to sit down and actively think about what is required of you. You then need to break this down into manageable chunks. If you know what you have to do, then all you have to do is do it!

. Make sure you can measure all of your goals: If you can't measure your goals it becomes very difficult to see how you are progressing.

. Work on your goals every day: As long as you are undertaking a task every day you will keep progressing. When you don't feel like doing this, think of why you want to achieve your goals and then get back to work.

. Commit to your goals: Once you have decided you want to achieve your goals commit to them. Tell trusted friends about them, and make a commitment to yourself to do whatever needs to be done to achieve them.

The key to being successful in goal setting is to consistently work at your goals every day. If you want to speed up the process, then use the tips above and incorporate them into your goal setting process. While there are a lot of challenges along the way, and you may need to keep motivating yourself, the rewards of achieving your goals are definitely worth it.

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