SMART Goals! Eating and Exercising through the Holidays

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ? St. Francis of Assisi

Week 2 of the New Traditions Challenge in the Games forum is up.  A Year-end Lifestyle Challenge.  

It's calorie-count members and friends playing together with friends while we work on how we eat and exercise through the holidays :)  Feel free to join us here!

Feel free to join late (double back and catch up if you want to or just join us now :)  If you have to skip a week, don't fret!  Life happens this time of year.  Let's do the best we can to have a gr8 end of the year instead of the same old, same old eat our way to New Years!  Gah!  Let's send 2006 out with a bang!  A Healthy bang :)

Excerpts ~ from the Challenge...  

Here come the Holidays!  Eating out!  Gettogethers ~ Extra Food.  Extra Shopping.  Never enough time or money.  Can we say stress???  How do we get all our normal stuff done and all the extra fun stuff?  How do we organize and prep and arrange and pull it all off without loosing our cool?  Tearing our Hair Out?  Gaining 10 lbs???

Smart Choices!  Adjustments!  A little planning & little focus, a little time each day to take care of our own needs, a few changes and perhaps a little support here :)

Part b) Last Weeks Goals!  How did you do?  Did you meet your goals?  If not, why?  Were they realistic?  Did you want to do them?  Did it turn out you didn't like the goal?  Life interrupt? 

Were your goals S.M.A.R.T. Goals?

• Specific ~ state exactly what you want to achieve, how you want to do it and when you want to do it.
• Measureable ~ some way to tell that you did it!  Like walking the dog for 10 mins each morning and night... Take a watch ;)
• Attainable ~ Before you actually set your goal, is the goal reasonable for you?  Do you have the time and desire to do it?  The $$, the energy? The umph???
• Realistic ~ Goals should be within your ability to do it within your personal limitations (physical ability, food preferences, likes & dislikes).
• Trackable ~ Tracking can keep you motivated.  Encourage you when you look back and see the changes!  How do you track?  A food or activity log?  Weight Log?  A list of goals and gates met?  A list of problems solved?  A list of Hopes and Dreams?

Click here to read more about goal setting from the Mayo Clinic.  The tips apply to more than just weight loss ;)

Thank you for posting the information on SMART goals! I remember that from my corporate days and it is totally appliable to real life! Especially for my goals of adapting to a healthier lifestyle.