Are you being S.M.A.R.T about your happy weight goals?
Hi, Thanks for dropping by today. Are you on your own Happy Weight - Healthier Living Journey? I’d love you to let me know how it’s going.
I’ve just been changing the image on my SMART GOALS FOR WEIGHT LOSS EXAMPLES blog posts and it’s inspired this post. I’ve also had the word COMMITMENT come up for me a lot this week.
So that’s what I thought we’d talk about together today.
When I started writing these Happy Weight - Healthier Living posts, I knew I wanted to be 100% honest with you.
However, that doesn’t always mean I’m 100% honest with myself.
Years ago when I was at my heaviest, somewhere around 14 stone (I stopped weighing myself at that point).
I used to secretly eat things like chocolate and several bags of crisps in one go. I seemed to be able to convince myself that if nobody else knew, it didn’t really happen.
I don’t do that now.
I still enjoy chocolate and crisps but not as a secret eater.
But, I’ve been running that word COMMITMENT around my head this week and I still feel like I’m lying to myself sometimes when it comes to my eating habits.
I eat quite healthy meals - I feel like I have a manageable balanced diet when it comes to my main meals.
But I still eat too many not-so-healthy foods as snacks.
I don’t want to cut out foods because I know this doesn’t work for me, I end up binging on them. This is an old habit I really don’t want to revisit.
I would eat to the point where I felt physically ill and was frightened to go to sleep.
I would be sick sometimes too because I’d eat way too much for my body to handle.
So, a blanket ban on any food is a no-go for me.
But, back to commitment.
Am I committed to achieving my Happy Weight?
I am. But… I haven’t committed to the changes I need to make yet.
Let’s get back to those SMART goals and combine them with commitment.
What is a SMART Goal?
S- Specific
M - Measurable
A- Achievable
R - Traditionally R stands for Realistic but I’m changing this to Raised Vibrations (Feeling great about the goal)
T - Time-Based
My SMART Happy Weight Goals
I am committed to taking some form of exercise daily until the end of September- This can be a walk, a YouTube Workout or anything extra to my everyday physical activity. I know I feel so much better when this happens.
I am committed to eating a Healthy(ish) diet 90% of the time. I will track this to the end of September. Things like crisps, chocolate, cake and chocolate biscuits can make up - Up to 10% of my food intake. 90% isn’t exact. It’s an estimated guide. Tracking will help me see clearly where any problems come up and when this is easy for me.
I am committed to mindful eating and planning ahead to the end of September- This is really important for me. For example, tonight we have a planned family meal. We’re having a Chinese. This is fine with my plan for achieving a happy weight I can live with. What’s not fine for me is ordering a Chinese on a spur-of-the-moment whim because I’m hungry and can’t be bothered to cook.
All 3 goals are a commitment from today to the end of September. Of course, these are habits I want to build for life but I wanted to put a time frame to them for tracking (measuring).
My September Commitments To Track Daily
Exercise Daily of some kind (yes, this includes dancing around my living room)
90% Healthish Eating over the course of the week
Eat mindfully and Plan ahead
Healthy(ish)eating?!
Okay, let me explain this one. The reason I’m not at my happy weight is not having a small pizza with a load of salad and maybe a dollop of coleslaw.
That’s perfectly acceptable in my healthy(ish) eating lifestyle that I can maintain and be happy with for life.
Eating 3 bags of crisps, 3 bars of chocolate and getting an unplanned takeaway is not healthy(ish) eating.
Eating healthy(ish) all day and then having a planned normal-sized chocolate treat is fine - That’s my 10%.
I’m not aiming for super healthy and cutting out a load of things I enjoy.
Here’s my 2 week healthier eating meal planner if you’d like it.
I’m aiming to get to my happy weight (9 stone 5 to 9 stone 10) by building healthier habits that I can live with for life.
I feel like my SMART commitment goals go a long way to getting me there.
How about you? Are you committed? Are you setting your own SMART Commitment Goals?
Please note that individual Happy Weight - Healthier Living posts are not emailed out. They will be included in the Mindset Boosts (round-up posts)
Wendy xx