5 Goals Smashed into Stone

For many of us in this crazy world, interests come and go. We see something that piques our interest, swear we will do that someday, and end up forgetting about it. A great example of this would be reading an inspirational article about something you like (ie cooking, fitness, etc) and wanting to do that activity too. We forget to actually follow through a lot of the time though. What is great about being adventurous and liking to try new things is that we are not actually limited to ONE thing! Crazy, right? So how do we determine real goals versus an artificial one.

I have found that writing down any resolutions you make to be the most potent. I have mentioned it before that this is a fantastic way of revisiting your goals and keeping you fixated on them. I would recommend having a list of five things written down on a piece of paper (better yet, have a few copies) and placing them somewhere you will visit often...by often I mean at least 2-3 times a day. This could be the fridge, bathroom, car or any place that you go often enough to have an effect. This will keep you honed in on what you want to accomplish. And these don't necessarily have to be specifically a weight loss goal, just goals of things you would like to get started on or focus in for the next three to six months.

Now goal-setting is an art of its own. Through my place of occupation, I learned of an awesome acronym that helps with goals and keeping them as strong and attainable as possible. The 5 guidelines to making goals  are:

Specific- General goals don't work. If you wanted to travel, be specific on WHERE you want to travel.
Measurable- Numbers keep us focused. If you want to lose weight, get an idea of where you want to go.
Attainable- Unrealistic goals are caustic. Set your sights on goals that are feasible in a given time frame.
Stretching- Although we want realistic goals, we also want to get out of our comfort zone a bit.
Harmonious- Sacrificing self and soul for a goal is harmful. Obtaining your goal should feel good.

An example goal would be as follows: I want to lose 10 pounds in a month by eating 2 healthy meals per day and incorporating 3 weekly exercise routines into my schedule.

This goal has all the qualities of SMASH, will keep you focused, and you will know if you have been maintaining it because there are rules for accomplishment. A whole bunch of genius all balled into one concept. If you want to be even MORE specific, be my guest. I try to make the goals still simple enough to understand without muddling them with crazy rules.

Diet Whiplash

There is no better feeling after taking the plunge into a diet than getting some results. Immediately you feel lighter, stronger, and suddenly you seem to catch your reflection more often (cause you're damn sexy). Let's face it, we get an ego boost once we decide to make a big change and stick to it. But here is the caveat about this high we get, if we start to fall off the wagon, then there is an equal and opposite reaction that hits you. It is unforgiving and mean. It will kick you in the face, tell you you're ugly, and compel you to stop your journey. I coined this phenomenon "Diet Whiplash".

It can happen after a party, a big dinner, or a fun-filled weekend, but nonetheless you are left feeling a bit empty and depressed because of the lack of fervor for your diet regimen (and workout schedule). You start to look at yourself in the mirror and don't get that incredible sense of empowerment, it's the opposite. The "id" voice comes in and tells you that you're ugly or fat, whatever your insecurities are, they seem to stick out more. To be frank, it sucks and we have ALL been here at some point, just maybe not have articulated or voiced too well.

There is hope though! This is actually a biological response that you can overcome. When we diet, your body will start to change on the inside. If you started working out as well, this effect can be compounded. The thing is, your body likes to hold onto its current shape. In the wild, being overweight has its advantage: survival. Biologically your body is saving for starvation even though in our 1st world mindset, that probably will not happen. So your body reacts in multiple ways to get you to stay the same. It will tell you that what you're doing is wrong and to stop getting rid of the excess fat. But wait, we get endorphin highs from working out and dieting right? My answer: Your body sometimes hates you and pulls you in two directions at once.

It is easy to ignore this voice in the back of your head when you are focused and doing well on your journey o' health. The times it comes out is after the aforementioned stumbles. Ignore this voice! Do not give in to its demands! And also, do NOT step on the scale (it is the "id" voices ally in this endeavor). The reason I say no scale is because you WILL have a temporary bump in weight, which causes you to lose even more steam...it can spiral posthaste and you will gain you nothing positive. I know because I have been hit by Diet Whiplash before (and currently handling).

So here is my three step process to overcoming Diet Whiplash (aside from ignoring it and avoiding all local scales for a bit):

1) Write down and tune your goals, again and again.

When we have our goals finely tuned, it sets us up for success. We can omit our goals in an instant if we stop focusing on them. So simply do not lose focus (write them down, put them on the fridge, repeat them out loud to yourself)

2) Look back at what has worked for you.

We are a product of our past actions. This can be used is the battle against falling off the proverbial weight-loss wagon. One of my personal favorite things to do is to look at back on my successful days (I tend to write down what I ate and any exercise done on said days). Whatever you did that made it a successful day, do an encore of it. Was it a certain meal? Exercise? Meeting with a friend to discuss your weight-loss? Dig deep and find the inner happy place, then perform it.

3) Clean yourself. And smile while doing it.

I mean this in both a literal and figurative manner. We all know that feeling after an accomplished shower. This sense of cleanliness has a bunch of positive effects. It leads to feeling good about yourself and will start wrangling you back into that positive place to continue your path to a healthy life. There is a mental addendum to this as well: You must smile while primping yourself, whatever your ritual may be. Think of good things from the past and smile like you did at that time. Visualize it...I have definitely done this and ended up smiling like a goober, but it works. All it takes is a small shift in mentality to set you right.

Diet Whiplash is something we all go through, learning to deal with it will prevent lost time and anguish. Be positive and take control!! Don't hold quarter for the "id", you're WAY cooler than it gives you credit for.