A story as old as time, the constantly rising popularity of healthy living does not look like it will ever fade. What does fade though, is our motivation. Weight loss journey starts with signing up with a nutritionist, taking a gym membership and rising with the sun. However, as the weeks go by, the intensity and motivation keep reducing. If this is your story as well, know that it is not you, it is your goal. The only thing you have done wrong is the goal you have made. While most people feel that their goals fail because of their own laziness or lack of motivation, the real reason is very different. Most of the time, the goal itself is flawed and not suited to you. In fact, research says that only 16% of weight loss resolutions succeed.
This makes us wonder, what are these 16% doing differently? Here's a method that works with most people! Defining a health goal that is big enough to need an entire year can be daunting. It is only natural to not know how much is too much. So, follow these steps and make 2023 about achieving your health goal.
Also Read: How To Lose Weight Fast: 10 Tips to Shed Kilos the Healthy Way
Here're 4 Steps You Can Follow To Achieve Your Health Goal:
1. Define just a broad goal, more like a theme
Instead of making something specific like "25 kgs weight loss" your goal, maybe make fat loss and body toning the theme.
2. Define what success should look like
When it comes to health goals, keeping them fluid is the key! Instead of making "fitting into a size 6 jeans" your goal, define your health using more holistic metrics. Waking up fresh, bringing down HbA1c levels to normal, being able to do 108 Surya namaskar or running 21 km in a marathon are all defining the same thing, i.e. weight loss and/or fitness gain. However, these goals are more enticing and motivating in the long run. Such goals also ensure you keep overall health in mind at all times.
3. Once you know what success looks like, you simply need to reverse-engineer it
Let's say your theme is disease-free living, and your success looks like HbA1c levels <6%. Simply make a list of all the changes you need to make, and add the tiniest change that you can think of. These changes can range from quitting sugar to sleeping at the same time each day. But have this list in front of you. This list becomes like a ready reckoner for you to refer to at all times. This also gives us the opportunity to strike out the changes made successfully (and we all know how satisfying striking out completed tasks can be).
4. Bring in a professional if you feel out of depth
You may not know what you need to do to achieve your goal or even if you know everything that needs to be done, sometimes it still is difficult to stick to something new. Signing up with a professional like a nutritionist or a personal trainer can be a complete game-changer in your health journey.
With these 4 steps, be rest assured that you have a fool proof goal that will succeed.
Also Read: 10 Mistakes To Avoid When You Are On Weight Loss Diet
In case you don't know where to start, here are 10 health goals that are very relevant in our lives today and definitely need attention in 2023:
- Regain stamina and overall health post Covid.
- Bring back all blood parameters to their healthy range.
- Become fit enough to go for a super intense trek in the mountains.
- Do 108 Surya Namaskars.
- Reduce or get off diabetes medications.
- Cook all meals at home.
- Stop being angry all the time.
- Regular periods each month.
- Go back to normal body fat mass range or bring body fat to below 30%.
- Bring down smoking to social occasions only.
Stay Healthy, Stay Unprocessed.