SMART goals - setting yourself up for success
Hi all! This is something that I did for the first month before I tried to count calories or add exercise. I found it really helpful! Actually, I think that I would probably have failed if I tried calorie counting right away - I was addicted to caffeine and bread and couldn't imagine eating a lot of fruit and veges!
SMART GOALS - Setting yourself up for success!
I read that making a resolution such as "Eat healthy in 2008!" was almost certainly doomed to failure. 
Why? Not specific enough! The idea is to make S>M>A>R>T> goals (an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely).
So instead of saying "Eat healthy", the idea is to make a S>M>A>R>T> goal, eg. I'll eat 2 pieces of fruit every day, ticking them off on a chart, and reward myself by going to the movies if I get 50 ticks within 4 weeks (in 4 weeks, you could actually tick off 56 if you never missed a fruit snack!). That's a good goal because it is very specific, you can measure it, - it is achievable (provided you can afford the fruit), it is realistic (you can maintain it) and it is timely.
The idea of doing it for four weeks is that research shows that it takes at least 21 days to form a habit. So after your fruit challenge you should be so used to adding fruit to your shopping trolley and snacking on it, it will be a habit that stays with you!
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what to do - post your goal here and check in to let us know how you are going! Be very specific and realistic - that way you set yourself up for success.
Reason: 4/14/08 set as sticky post for a week; 4/21/08 unstickied.
My Healthy eating goal was to eat 20 salads in 4 weeks... day 10 of 28, 7 salads eaten so far...on track so far. I have noticed that I find it easier to eat a salad when at work and more likely to make a lunch without heaps of veges when at home for lunch (eg. Weekends), while I did allow for that in my goal number, I'd prefer to aim to have salad every day and have the 20 be the minimum.
Wk 1
Wk 2
One brisk morning walk ticked off!
If only getting up at 8am was so easy, But I have gotten up at 9, which for me is a big improvement! Still waiting for the weather to warm up a bit to go swimming, but anyway I haven't given up yet!
Have good days!!!!
Deciding on my goals... got Special Stickers and Created Calender pages to fill...! 
Exercised well last two days, and then went past 13,500 steps on my pedometer today while away from home and unable to do my weight lifting or cardio...
Planning two sets of goals-- one SMART set that will Challenge me, but be achievable if confronted with obstacles, and one Optimum set of my Best Effort, that I'll strive for, but not fret over as long as I keep my SMART set of goals!
(I think Jella is currently on a short vacation trip, and will return shortly...! )
Hi all, back from my camping trip. This trip had been delayed and delayed due to fantastic fishing weather - hubby and sons couldn't tear themselves away from their boat! We'd had everything packed for day waiting to shove into the car and head off. I almsot got to the stage where I though that we'd never head off for the camp when suddenly my men were all madly throwing the gear into the car and calling to me to jump in! I managed to have enough time to was the dirty dishes and put out the rubbish before being dragged away.
Beautiful camping trip in what is normally very desolate country in the Australian outback. But due to a good wet season, all of the rivers and waterfalls were full and though there is never much grass and shrubbery out there, what there was was all green! Slept in the tent some nights and under the stars on others - you've never seen stars till you go to the Australian outback! Swam most of every day in the river and gorge. Did some fossicking for topaz but after finding a few my daught and I lost interest quickly and went back to swimming!
So, tried to stick to my SMART goals while on camp. We'll start with food - managed to eat a salad lunch everyday except yesterday when the fresh food ran out! Today is the first day of my thrid week and have ordered a salad wrap from the shop near my school (we don't have a canteen at our school).
Wk 1
Wk 2
Wk 3
Didn't do quite as well with my exercise goals - will post these tonight!
Welcome back! Missed you here!
Anybody else use a pedometer? I've been trying to get as many days as I can at 10,000 steps... it has really helped challenge me!
Hi all,
So how have my exercise goals been going??? OK - not too easy to do interval training when camping out in the Aussie outback - the ground was very rocky and covered in gravel. Not really suitable for running. But on the other hand, I swam every day for several hours and went for many long walks. I have decided to mark myself as missing the training sessions on those days even though I was very active - it just wasn't the type of activity that i was aiming for.
Got back into the swing of things this morning with a half hour walk and jog early this morning. Started under a dark sky - with my daughter (7 years) and son (just off 12) - to keep me company. They really enjoyed themselves and I hope they will come with me each morning! I am just off now to do my strength exercises and wash the dishes before bed
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Goal 1 - To walk 30 minutes daily and to build up my jogging intervals from one minute of jogging to five minutes of jogging over 4 weeks.
week 1 -
Well, first day of the second week of my exercise challenge. I increased my interval of running to one and a half minutes with periods of walking in between. I am sore today! My run today went down to the waterfront, through a nature reserve to the boat ramp then round the block and back down my street.
Had to laugh - my neighbour saw me run past his house and then half an hour later run past in the opposite direction. He told my husband how impressed he was that i'd run for so long and so hard. It made him do a double take - he couldn't have been more surprised if he had seen pigs flying past his house! Hubby was amazed too. I almost hated to let him know the truth - that i only ran for about 7 minutes out of my 30 minute walk and it just happened that I was doing an interval of running as I went past the neighbours!
So far i have done interval walking/running on 4 out of 8 days. That's right on track!
2bb - looking at getting a pedometre today. This should be fun & keep me motivated. There is a program in Australia that workplaces and individuals can sign on to - called the 10000 step program. My secretary and I actually joined earlier this year but so far haven't actually started counting steps! Time to start now.
Bought my pedometre this afternoon. Got home only to discover that the battery it came with is flat, even though it had a plastic insulator to prevent it from losing charge while on the shop shelf. So gotta return it tomorrow and get a new one. RATS!
I'd be really interested to know how many steps I add to my daily number of strides by going for my morning walk. Someone I know told me how shocked they were at the low number of steps their pedometre read - getting up to 10000 a day wasn't easy for them.
Right now, it's just an interest thing as my goals are focussed more on making my morning walk/jog a habit and increasing my stamina. Maybe, I'll make 10,000 steps a day my next SMART goal.
Tonight I AM going for a walk!
Hi there caro!
How many walks have you done?
Sorry about the pedometer, Jella! 
I'll try to post my exercise goals today-- while you sleep! This time zone difference is quite a challenge in this thread, lol!!! Hope your Thursday dawns Lovely! (In a few more hours, lol!)
I wonder-- what time do you usually get online-- in your time zone? Before school, after, lunch break? At home in the evening? It might help me catch you better if I knew when to expect you-- especially as you shift to an earlier bed-time/rising to Achieve your SMART goals!
Yes! Now that i'm getting up at dawn to go for a walk/jog I am forcing myself to bed earlier!!! No more midnight postings for me.
Thursday has indeed dawned lovely - entering my fav time of the year! Autumn!
I usually pop on in the afternoon - round 3pm my time and again in the evening - 8pm. You are the timezone expert - got no idea what time that is for you!
{{{Laughing!!!}}}
Just what I expected! Your 3 p.m. is my 12 midnight...! Your 8 p.m. is my 5 a.m.... Love ya'... but not THAT early, lol!!!!
THAT is funny! Eastern time will be 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.... the day behind you... in our Spring time vs. tomorrow in your Autumn!
If folks know you'll be in while they sleep, it might help everybody catch up... I'm used to it, so I'll go right ahead, now that I know when to expect your replies!
Anybody else in a different time zone? I'm in USA Central time, one hour behind Eastern time... I don't know what UK would be...? Or GB...? I wondered today, if there is a time zone 9 or more hours behind California time... that would be yesterday to me!
My goals...
3 hours cardio avg. per week...
Weight Lifting 2x avg. (for rough weeks), as 2-3x will be my usual goal. Some weeks might be impossible, so an avg. is my SMART goal.
Pedometer steps of 10,000 daily for 5x a week... averaged if needed, as this might be difficult some weeks...
My ambitious goals are higher... but my SMART goals will be these three exercise goals... I want more cardio, but this week has shown me that a SMART goal may be much less than the 90 min. daily I desire! As it is Wednesday night for me, and I haven't achieved my cardio goals yet, I need to figure what I can reasonably do before Sunday...
Thanks for the SMART plan, Jella-- I really need it!
Congratulations on your running--GOOD JOB!!!!
P.S.-- I've long admired your name, Shrinking_caro!!!
Jella, you are a GEM.. Thanks for the great post.. WOW! Why didn't I check this out sooner.. Oh well, I'm checking it out now.. Okay! This will help bring some type of balance in trying to get those main things I need into my diet everyday..
So I'm going to use my Smart Goal for 2 different things..
I love to workout, but I will love to get these legs of mines into tip top shape, and this is going to help with that..
I love veggies, but knowing this will help me get more of them in during the week... WOW! You are smart lady.. Thanks for the heads up on this great Idea of yours..
I am going to give it a shot for a month and report back to you all..
Smart Goals.
Do more toning workouts on my legs.
Eat more salads
Eat more fruit.
Thanks....
lynnhaslost - These are three really good goals. In order to make them SMART goals you need to check that you have checked that they are
S - specific? - M - measureable? - A - acheiveable? R - Realistic? - T - Timely?
Being specific means getting into the nitty-gritty and really naming the habit or behaviour that you want to achieve. For example, having toned legs is not a behaviour. The behaviour is to do regular toning workouts on your legs. But what does regular mean? Daily or twice a week or every second day.
Give yourself a time to work in - make sure it is 3 weeks or longer so the behaviour has a chance to become habit. You need to consider how you will measure your success.
How are you going to measure your success? This will depend upon your specific description of the behaviour. eg. if you plan to do a leg workout for 30 min every second day then you might want to aim for six hours of leg work out in a month (1.5hours a week), or make a target number of workouts - eg 12 workouts over 4 weeks. Make the goal number a little less then what you would achieve if you stuck to your goal perfectly - this allows you to have slack days which is more realistic than setting the goals so high that you would be unlikely to succeed (and may get disheartened and give up!)!
FRUIT & VEGE GOALS
My salad goal that I am currently doing is for four weeks, aiming for 20 salads. That gives me two alternative days a week. When I first started, increasing my fruit was something that I really wanted to do so I aimed for 40 pieces of fruit during the month of January - that worked out to being two serves of fruit per day for 5 days each week. Some days it worked out that I had one fruit, no fruit or three pieces - it all worked out and i ended up going over my goal amount quite easily.
2BB (2beittybitty) posted this link on another forum which i found really helpful on understanding what a serve of fruit actually meant-
http://nutrition.about.com/od/fruitsandvegeta bles/f/servingfruit.htm
GOODLUCK ON FINETUNING YOUR SMART GOALS!
2BB - thanks for the compliment on my screen name - took a while to think of something that was encouraging instead of negative!
s_c
Is it really true that Bush brought it forward because he was lobbied by the golfing industry????
Edited to say - I lost TWO hours this year! I was in the US when your clocks went forward and back home when ours did. So my question is, when do I get that extra hour back?!
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