Setting SMART Goals (Part One)

In today’s blog I want to start to look at goal- setting as a way of  helping us to achieve desired outcomes. In short, “If you aim for nothing you are certain to achieve it.” As a teacher who needs to motivate other people I have discovered that goal setting is a powerful tool. I teach my students to set SMART goals. These letters remind them that goals should be: Specfic, Measurable, Adjustable, Realistic, Time-framed. Other people might use a different set of meanings but these ones communicate the right idea.

Taking these points one at a time we need to understand that goals need to be Specific or focussed. What do you want to achieve? In this case the answer is simple...substantial weight loss. Sure, we we want to improve our health and (maybe) our sex lives; we want to look more attractive and get more active and probably we would like to live longer. All these things are part of our ultimate purpose but the simple focus is, “LOSE THE WEIGHT.”

The next question is, “How will you know when you have achieved your goal?” The golden rule is: “IF YOU CAN”T MEASURE IT, YOU CAN’T CHANGE IT!” So step two is, "Weigh yourself!

When I started this weight-loss project my body weight was 125 kg (or 275lb for those of you who are not metrically aware). Yeah, I know that is ridiculously overweight but the guilt-trip has to get left behind along with the excuses! I designed an Excel spreadsheet which allows me to record and graph my weight changes utilising a couple of useful statistical  functions which I will share in a later blog. 

Health experts are big on recording PERCENTAGE OF BODY FAT. Is it useful? It is certainly shocking and that is (for me) a motivator. When I looked up the US Navy method of comparing height and weight my body fat came out at 31-34%. Ughhhhh! Imagine it,one third of me is fat! If that doesn’t focus my goal to lose weight what else will? (If you want to check it out for yourself, I will put a link at the end of this blog). I am also recording waist, chest and neck measurements. (Ladies should also record their arm circumference and mid thighs)The only other thing I am keeping is a simple food log of what I eat during the day. If my eating program goes “Splat!!!” I can look back and see what I did wrong and try and correct it.

Body Fat (US Navy) Calculator


Next blog: Setting SMART goals (Part Two)