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Fitness and diet are a much-talked-about topic today. Everyone wants to be healthy and fit, and two inevitable ways to achieve that have always been exercising and healthy dieting. This article gives insight into how to set healthy fitness and diet goals.
Starting a fitness journey is not easy. You will have to make a lot of changes both in food and lifestyle. It can be overwhelming, especially at the onset, and you may find yourself having to give up. However, setting fitness and diet goals can help you stay on course. A well-structured goal can give you that extra push needed to keep going even when you lack the motivation or inspiration.
What is goal setting?
A goal defines the results you are trying to achieve, and setting goals can be a powerful way to help you achieve what you want in life.
Setting goals is all about identifying what you want to have or improve on, drawing up actionable steps on how to achieve that, and then focusing on those steps to get the desired result.
The importance of setting goals
Setting fitness goals is important for your fitness journey. With goals, that which seems impossible starts looking possible. Goals keep you on your toes and push you through discomfort and challenges until you achieve your aim. Setting goals is important in every aspect of life, rather it by your career, academics, personal growth, or body fitness. Setting fitness goals is a way to hold yourself accountable.
The importance of setting goals includes:
- Goals serve as a measuring stick, i.e. for measuring progress
- Goals offer motivation and provide purpose
- Goals help you define success
- They hold you accountable
- They help inform your action, i.e., they help you determine the next thing you need to do
- Goals help you set your priority
- Your goals help you communicate your purpose to others
- Setting goals make it easier to recognize progress
- Goals can boost your morale
Tips for setting effective fitness goals
Have you gotten to the point where you want to make changes to certain life habits that affect your body fitness? Setting fitness goals is one effective way to set yourself up for success and get motivation. Let’s get started with tips for setting practical fitness goals!
- Don’t procrastinate
- Define your goal
- Set SMART goals
Specific goals: Specificity means a clear definition of what you want to achieve. If you set a fitness goal that simply says, “I want to get fit”, that is a very broad and ambiguous goal. It doesn’t pass as a practical goal because it is not specific. What exactly does ‘fit’ mean for you? That is what you have to describe. You have to be detailed by describing the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘how’, and ‘why’.
Measurable goals: You should set goals that you can track and measure. This will help you know when you are close to achieving your goals and motivate you to push harder to achieve the set goal. For instance, saying you want to perform “30 pushups” is a good goal because here, you can measure your progress using the number of pushups you can do in a row.
Achievable goals: While your fitness goal is meant to challenge you, it should also be achievable and realistic. It is great to set big goals for yourself but it is not practical to set a goal that says, “I want to be able to do 100 pushups in a row within two weeks”, when you may not be able to do 10 pushups in a row when starting off. Breaking that big goal into smaller achievable bits will help your fitness journey. Not being realistic and setting unachievable goals can ultimately lead to disappointment. We want to always set ourselves up for success and having achievable goals will help build your confidence and help towards achieving long-term fitness goals.
Relevant goals: Don’t set a fitness goal of “doing four rounds of dumbbell workouts four times a week” because that is your friend’s goal. Whatever fitness goals you are setting should be relevant to your life, your lifestyle, and your health. Think of why you want to achieve that goal and how it can improve your quality of life.
Time-specific goals: In life, we work with time. That applies to goals we set for ourselves as well. Your fitness goals should have a starting time as well as a deadline. Say you want to be able to do two rounds of 20 pushups within a specified period. Attaching a realistic time frame to your fitness goals makes it all easier to plan and create schedules aimed at achieving your set goal.
Tips for setting diet goals
Dieting can be an important part of achieving your fitness goals to get to the target weight you would like to achieve. Just like setting fitness goals, you have to be SMART when setting your dieting goals. Here are some tips for setting effective diet goals:
- Start with setting small goals
- Figure out the diet plan to work with
- Don’t expect results overnight
- Track your progress
Mistakes to avoid
There are some common mistakes people make while setting their goals. You must avoid making these mistakes when setting your fitness and diet goals. Learn from the mistakes of others to avoid pitfalls on the path to achieving your goals.
Here are some mistakes to avoid:
- Not tracking your progress
- Not adjusting your goals when necessary
- Punishing failures or failing to celebrate success
While punishing yourself can be counterproductive, celebrating your achievements, no matter how small they may seem, can be helpful and can motivate you.
- Focusing on the wrong things
Conclusion
Having a healthy fitness and diet goal can help your fitness journey. However, ensure you set the right goals, goals that are SMART. Write down your reasons for selecting that goal, and most importantly, keep track of your progress while at it.