How SMART Are Your Fitness Goals
May 14, 2010
I can understand why people watch The Biggest Loser. It’s message is straight-forward and life-affirming, potent and to the point. I’ve heard similar exhortations from the preachers of my tele-evangelical childhood. Jillian’s message is this: Just because you are an overweight, lazy, gluttonish, greedy, over-eating, under-exercising, self-deprecating, under-achieving lollygagger doesn’t mean you are beyond redemption.
Salvation is as easy as surrendering your will, your appetite, large chunks of your day and all of your calories to a higher power (known as a personal trainer) and in this case, signing a release form that says that if you die during the show’s training, it’s your own damn fault.
It occurred to me last week as I watched this show that many of my gym’s members would probably be willing to go through this torturous regime if they could for once in their entire life, get to their fitness goal or in other words, look like they did during the brief window of that 5 minute period as a 19 year old when their belly was flat, their jeans were tight in all the right places and when the body image planets of their fitness universe aligned in a similar occurance as rare as Hailey’s comet.
The problem is that it would probably take a staff similar to The Biggest Loser’s in order to accomplish their goals. Why? Because they are unrealistic. If I ask you to (quick!) shout out the magic number on the bathroom scales that you’d like to weigh if you could snap your fingers and make it happen, what would that number be? And more importantly, is it realistic?
In order to achieve your goals, whether they are weight-loss or lifestyle issues or more general goals, like getting your sh__ together, which by the way is not specific enough either, they must be achievable. Another acronym I like to use is S.M.A.R.T.
Make sure your goals line up with the following:
S-Specific- Be as detailed as you can when setting your goal. Don’t say I want to lose all the weight I gained after my last pregnancy or I hate being a fat pig.Say I want to lose 22 pounds by July 4th, losing two pounds per week.
M-Measurable. You can’t just say you are going to take up jogging. Commit to jogging 3 times a week, doing say, 3 miles in 45 minutes.
A- Accountable- This is where The Biggest Loser scores big points with me. There’s nothing like getting on the scales every week with a TV audience in the millions watching whether you’ve gained weight or not to motivate you with accountability. If you can’t get on the show though, tell a close friend or a spouse about your goals and ask for their daily support. Checking in with someone regularly makes it harder to back slide.
R- Realistic- If you are 5’5″ woman, I hate to break it to you women of Greenwich but 109 lbs may not be achievable. Without starvation that is. Pick a weight that you know you can get to without self-torture or eating disorders.
T-Trackable- Make a chart and put it on the fridge so that you can see your progress. It’s very reinforcing to check those days off when you did something hard (that you didn’t want to do) and also to see how you do over time. Some results are not noticeable unless you can stand back far enough to observe. A chart allows you to zoom out and applaud your discipline.
So make a summer goal now and stick with it using my sure fire SMART technique. I know Jillian would approve
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