Posts Tagged ‘goal setting’

Have you ever sat down with a bag of chips, swearing to eat just a few and by the end of your favorite movie find that you inhaled the entire bag? Or opened the jar of peanuts to find it mostly empty and you don’t remember where they went?

This happens all too often, mindless eating that fills us with calories and harms our health. And often, it happens beyond our conscious awareness. Scary, huh?

That’s why keeping a food diary can help you learn a lot about yourself in terms of what, and how much, you eat. Tracking the food that you eat helps you avoid unconscious eating and makes you more aware of what you put in your mouth. In fact, research shows that keeping a food diary will help you not only lose weight but keep the weight off once it’s gone!

As you track your meals and snacks, pay attention to the nutritional breakdown of the foods and drinks you’ve eaten each day – including calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat. It is important to keep track of not only what you eat but also when and how much. In your diary, write down everything you eat throughout the day and record the time of day. And don’t forget to include your beverages. Many a 1,000 calories have been consumed by drink alone. Also keep up with water intake so you can know if you are staying well hydrated, or not. You will likely be surprised how often you find yourself eating –and drinking – something during the day!

It’s also a good idea to jot down your mood at the time that you began eating. Where you stressed out, sad or even happy? Log your mood next to the food items and then start looking for patterns to emerge regarding why you are eating when you do. For example, as you track what and when you eat, you may see that you are snacking out of boredom or habit, even when you are not really hungry.

You can use any type of notebook or diary to track your food consumption. Some people use their calendar as their journal or online software with tracking tools. Remember that it doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it just need to be used routinely. The main thing is that you consciously keep track of everything that goes in your mouth.

And also remember that your weight loss program does not just consist of what, how often and how much you eat. It also requires that you make a conscious choice to change the life-long habits that got you unhealthy to begin with. Keeping a food diary to track your food intake is simply the first step in recognizing what your current eating habits are so that you can course correct as necessary. This will assist you greatly in being successful and in adopting the habits necessary to maintain your amazingly healthy new body for the rest of your life.

I’ve caught myself in this trap, touting the statistics and reminding everyone who will listen that obesity is the leading killer in the US. I speak about the dangers of obesity and how being overweight shortens life and lengthens disease. But I’ve been thinking….is this the right focus? Is talking about death enough to motivate people to seek life? I’m beginning to believe no.

Just tonight I had a conversation with a young father with many years of life ahead of him. I listened to him as he spoke with great knowledge of how diabetes ravages the body, of how being obese will cause him to die many years before is necessary. And, how even this knowing doesn’t stop him from his need to stop for fast food, drink a soda or eat the food his co-workers bring in. This amazingly smart young man knows that the path he is walking is slippery, yet he finds difficulty in making wiser choices and beats himself up for his lack of willpower.
So…is discussing death enough to make us want to choose life? After all, the #1 cause of death is death. Everyone will die. It’s a certainty.

Let me ask a better question…..What is the #1 cause of life?

What do you live for? Your family? Career? Being on stage? Helping others? Dancing? Singing in the shower? Walking in the rain? Making love? Hanging out with friends? Being a contribution to society? Giving back?
These, I think, are the leading causes of a life. The “why’s” that can motivate us to stay on this earth longer and in a stage of good health and abundant energy. The true motivation to exercise, eat well, manage stress, sleep and live life by design.

The next time you are tempted to drive thru and receive a bag of nutritional pollution, I urge you to focus on LIFE and ask yourself this question…..how do I want to live? If the answer to that question is a desire to feel sluggish, run-down and tired, unfocused, unsure and unhealthy, flabby, foggy and fatigued then continue to stick your hand out that window and consume that fast food. Continue to eat ice cream, candy bars and pizza. Fill up on potato chips, soft drinks and mystery meats.

If, instead, you want to feel energized, focused, productive and creative,  you want to be fit and trim and like what you see in the mirror. If you simply want to discover your full potential, then your diet will consist of lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and plenty of lean protein sources (fish, beans), and of course water as your beverage of choice.

As a society, let’s remove the fear of death from the equation and stop focusing on trying to avoid, fix, heal or cure illness. Instead, let’s focus on life and the choices we can so easily make each day that will allow us to enjoy outrageous health during our abundant life on this planet.

Setting Goals for Success

The necessary first step for your weight-loss journey is to set goals that will effectively move you through the process.

Essentially, there are two kinds of goals to consider: outcome goals and process goals. Outcome goals look to the end, or outcome, of your journey. What do you hope to achieve with your weight-loss? Is there a target weight you have in mind? A special dress or pants size you want to fit into?

Process goals work differently. They walk you through the journey, step-by-step toward your outcome goal. A process goal might be the choice to workout three times a week or to drink 64oz. of water every day.

The key here is to set goals that offer challenge but are not too unrealistic. When you focus on moving through your process goals one day at a time, before you know it, you will have achieved your outcome goal as well!

Those small daily victories amount to a huge and gratifying overall success!