Setting Realistic Weight Loss Goals You Won't Quite

Successful weight loss plans have 3 research-backed elements.

Why do some people keep their weight-loss resolutions? Eliminating the post-holiday sugar hangover and pressure to fit into jeans without an elastic waistband makes weight reduction in the new year much like any other time of year.

Scientific research shows what to include in your weight loss program to stay to your resolution, including:

• Process-oriented rather than outcome-focused
• Find an online community, coach, dietician, doctor, friend, or partner to assist you without judgment.
• Set goals that contain your most important improvements and benefits.

One study found that 126 overweight women achieved their difficult health objectives and self-regulated by focusing on the process rather than the outcome of a weight loss program1. This method may be helpful for folks who become worried out when their weight fluctuates or who want to shed a lot of weight but don’t know how. Most essential, a process-oriented approach stresses the steps you take to move forward and finish.

How this could affect you:

1. Focus on a health objective other than weight. Tracking your glucose can help you improve metabolic health, energy, and sleep by eating, exercising, and living a glucose-stabilizing lifestyle. May lose weight as a bonus.
2. Instead of six-month goals, focus on daily micro-changes. Start with one tiny positive adjustment each week, like eating more vegetables, until it feels achievable, then add another.

One study of 157 prediabetics2 examined weight loss goals and tactics that worked and didn’t work. Just over half of participants lost weight in six months; these people were ready to change but struggled with food.

Illness, environment change, intermittent diet adherence, stress, and depression plagued the less successful group. Researchers found that focusing on clinically or personally significant goals and finding a socially supportive environment to achieve them is key to weight loss success.

How this could affect you:

1. Purchase a science- or expert-designed software or employ a dietician, professional coach, or doctor to establish a personalized dietary plan.
2. Start an exercise routine with a neighbour or close friend. Meet at each other’s front doors at agreed-upon times and days to walk or run, drive to the gym or Pilates studio and take a class, etc.
3. Journal about your priorities. Writing freely without sharing it can be cathartic and teach you about yourself and your values. You may find that you value fitness—the ability to chase your dog or kids—more than weight, and losing weight may be a secondary objective to moving more. This process can be repeated as needed to determine what you want at that moment.

Actionable Goals Can Help You Lose Weight

How do you make a good weight loss or other New Year’s resolution plan?

One large-scale New Year’s resolution experiment3 tracked over 1,000 people’s goals for a year to see how they did. After one year, 55% believed they had maintained their resolutions. Approach-oriented participants (59%) outperformed avoidance-oriented participants (47%). Additionally, the supported group was exclusively and significantly more productive than the others.

For those who kept their New Year’s resolutions, this study’s two key findings are:

1. Setting approachable goals
2. Support helped them reach their goals.

A scholarly paper examined how avoidance goals affected resource depletion and well-being over one month according to two investigations. Both research demonstrated a negative association between avoidance aims, self-regulation, and well-being.

It makes obvious that avoidance aims can negatively affect people because we try to avoid undesirable results. However, approach goals emphasize the benefits of hard work.

See how these 6 trials might customize your weight loss.

Avoidance vs. Approach Goals

Our language and motivation for pursuing approach and avoidance goals differ. These goals affect us psychologically differently.

Carleton University psychology professor Timothy Pychyl says seeking avoidance goals leads to negative feelings about progress, less life satisfaction, feelings of ineptitude, and worse self-esteem.

Because they lack purpose and often seem unattainable, avoidance objectives are difficult to maintain.

Examples of language and motivational distinctions between these goals:

Avoidance goal: I binge-eat potato chips, therefore never again.

Approach goal: I’ll occasionally eat potato chips.

Avoidance goal: I won’t eat after 6 p.m. because someone said it would make me acquire weight.

Approach goal: I’ll eat when my body senses hunger.

I’ll exercise more in the new year to avoid weight gain.

Approach goal: I’ll exercise more in the new year for health benefits.

If you don’t enjoy doing something or feel inept, you’ll likely make an avoidance goal that’s hard to keep to. Over time, you may postpone and follow the plan less before giving up.

Reframe your goal. Choose something you like above something you must give up. Utilize your innate motivation for a habit by building on it.

Instead: I’ll eliminate carbs to lose weight fast.

I’ll eat carbs from veggies, fruits, legumes, beans, and unrefined whole grains to receive nourishment while losing weight.

Does gluten-free mean low-carb?

I struggle with running, but I’ll start in the new year because I’ve heard it helps lose belly fat.

Try this: I adore weightlifting, so I’ll add a session each week for variety and strength.

A SMART Weight Loss Goal?

The SMART framework sets quantifiable, time-bound goals using a process-oriented approach. SMART is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Limited. SMART helps you remain on track and set modest weight reduction objectives.

Let’s see how this can help your New Year’s resolution:

Be explicit about your goals. Simply saying, “I want to go to the gym more” won’t get you there. Add, “I will go to the gym for an hour Monday through Friday before work.” Your aim is now specific enough to achieve.

Measurable: How will you know you’ve reached your target or are close? Of course, data! Plan your metrics to track success. Apps trucker includes weekly glucose reports, meal logs, weight graphs, and more. Use applications and tools like these to keep on track.

Realistic: Make your ambitions achievable. Stretch objectives can motivate at work but demotivate at home. Talk to your doctor, another professional, or a trusted source about a realistic weight loss goal. You are unique and your health and value go beyond charts and BMI recommendations.

Relevant: People vary. A workout and nutrition plan that works for your friend may not work for you. Focus on your process and lifestyle-based smaller goals. Schedule afternoon or evening workouts if you’re not an early riser and don’t want to start right away. Protect your training time like a must-attend work meeting.

Finally, set a weight loss goal timeframe. Time limitations should be relevant, measurable, and achievable. Create micro-goals you can achieve in a few weeks or a month, then adjust them based on their performance. Once you find what works for you, this technique might help you pivot so you don’t give up if you fail a mini-goal.

Divide weight loss goals into quarterly goals. This can help you stay motivated throughout the year, create a routine from your healthy behaviours, and track your progress over time.

Remember that weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint, while setting New Year’s resolutions. You need patience and self-love to change your self-care. Give yourself grace, make smart goals, and prepare to feel your best.