The Importance Of Setting Goals:
Weight Loss After Pregnancy
by Beverley Brooke
One
of the best things you can do is set some goals for yourself.
Goal setting is an important aspect of any successful weight loss
strategy. The type of goals you set will depend on the amount
of weight you have to lose and your personal fitness goals and
desires.
It
is important that you set goals that are SMART. What are smart
goals? They are goals that are:
-
Specific
-
Measurable
-
Acceptable
-
Realistic
-
Tangible
You
want to set ‘specific’ goals rather than abstract
ones. What is an example? “I want to lose 1 pound per week”
is an example of a specific goal. “I want to lose some weight”
is not very specific, and won’t set the stage for a successful
weight loss program.
You
also want to set goals that are measurable. You can for example,
monitor your progress at weight loss or monitor the amount of
food you put into your body every day.
You
also must choose goals that are acceptable for you and your particular
situation. Losing weight because someone else wants you to is
not an acceptable reason to lose weight... in fact it is a terrible
reason to start a weight loss program! You have to make a conscious
decision to lose weight for yourself, for your health and for
your well being.
It
is vital that you also set goals that are realistic. Wanting to
lose all the weight you gained one week after delivery is not
a realistic goal. In fact, most women will take up to a year or
more to lose all the weight they gained during pregnancy (not
all though!). It is important that you remember that your body
is recovering from the Herculean task of birthing a baby. That
said you should take things one day at a time, and set goals that
are attainable and realistic.
Tangible
goals are goals that you can actually reach. If you have a large
bone structure for example and are five feet nine inches, trying
to get down to ninety eight pounds is not a real tangible (or
smart or safe) goal. When setting tangible goals you should also
determine a time frame for completing your goals. This will depend
on how much weight you gained and how much time you can allocate
to an exercise program.
Setting
a timeframe for reaching your goals will help them become more
tangible, and will help you stick with your fitness and exercise
program.
Consider
setting one or two short term goals, one or two mid term goals
and one long term goal. Your short term goals are things that
you can accomplish in less than a month. Your mid term goals should
be goals that you would like to accomplish within a six month
time frame and your long term goal should be something you aspire
to in a year or more.
©
Beverley Brooke
Article
by Beverley Brooke- Visit http://www.pregnancy-weight-loss.com
to ensure a healthy pregnancy for mom and baby and lose weight
after pregnancy.
Article
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