#1. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals!

Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

An example of this would be: I have lost 5lbs(measurable) in 5 weeks(attainable and timely) by working out for at least 30 min a day(realistic) and eating within my calorie range. (the whole thing is pretty specific, wouldn’t you say?)

*notice this is in PAST tense. Always write your goals as if you’ve already done them! 
Marking a date on your calender or setting a daily reminder on your phone can be a powerful reminder of the goal you’ve set for yourself. (I do both of these!)






#2. What Gets Measured, Gets managed.

You can’t know what direction you’re going unless you’re measuring and keeping track. Different things work for different people. By measuring and tracking your progress, you will begin to notice trends about YOURSELF that might not necessarily be true for other people. Some examples of what I’m talking about are eating or not eating before a workout, what time of day you have the most energy, what foods give you the most energy (or make you feel like you’ve got a brick in your stomach), if cutting carbs makes you gain or loose weight (I stopped eating carbs for a while and my weight loss STALLED. I began incorporating whole grain bread and pasta back in and saw a significant difference! but remember, that’s me. The same might not be true for you.)


#3. Replace One Habit at a Time

It’s the old adage, Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day. The same is true for rock hard bodies and abs that can cut glass. While it’s nearly impossible to “break” a habit, it is possible to replace them with a healthier or more productive option. Experts claim that it takes 4 weeks for something to become habit. Choosing one per month will lead to 12 newly replaced habits per year!

#4. Tell Someone Your Goals!

Having an accountability partner will increase success in ALL areas of your life. Lying to yourself is the easiest thing in the world, but adding a friend to the mix will cause you to feel as though you are letting someone down besides yourself if you don’t follow through. I recently posted on facebook about my goal to stop drinking alcohol for a period of 3 months and had 6 people “Like” my post at 8 people wanting to join me. Now when I think about drinking, I think about those people and it takes the desire away.


#5. Eating TOO little Will Make You FAT!

I once convinced myself that I could survive on as little at 800 calories a day, NEVER going over 1200. WHY did I do this and WHERE the hell did this idea come from?? The Media. I was watching E! news and they said that all the thin celebs were only eating 1200 calories a day, so obviously I believed them and thought this was the “magic number” to being skinny. Not so. I couldn’t figure out why even though I was working out 6x a week I was still holding on to all this weight. It wasn’t until I actually did my research did I learn that I actually needed to be eating 1500-1800 calories a day! WHAT?? how does this make sense?? It’s called “starvation mode” and it is a REAL thing. Your body, being the amazing machine that it is, will SLOW your metabolism to make up for the lack of energy intake. This causes the body to STORE your fat and burn up you lean tissue and muscle instead! EEK! scary stuff. so my recommendation for anyone reading this is to hop on over to freedieting.com and check out the daily caloric needs calculator on the left hand side. This will give you the number of calories you need based on your age, weight, and activity level. The NEXT step is to start tracking them! I use MyFitnessPal but there are TONS of options for calorie trackers. And yes, those 3 M&Ms or bite of your friend’s Mac & Cheese counts! Even just an extra 100 calories per day over your needs can result in a 10 pound weight gain in a year!!

 



Part 2 coming soon :)