- Do you find yourself going to the gym for a few days or even weeks and then suddenly falling off?
- Do you cut out all the “bad” foods for a few months or weeks to lose some weight but find it to be dreadful and emotionally damaging?
If you said yes to any of those then just know you’re not lazy and you don’t lack any intelligence. There is just one fundamental method you’re missing here. You’re missing the value-based goals. Even I was missing this when I first started my fitness journey. If I had known this information I wouldn’t have fallen off so many times during my journey.
Now you’re probably wondering how do you set value-based goals. Well let me explain to you how in five easy steps.
1.Figure out what your values are.
Make a list of 10 fitness value goals you have. Then you will narrow your list down to seven goals you think are most important. Not disregarding the left over three. If seven is too much then choose three to start with.
2. Setting your outcome-based goals
These goals are for example you want to be able to do 20 push-ups or lose/gain a certain amount of fat or muscle. Think of your values as your tour guide and the outcome based goals as your destination. Only work on your outcome-based goals, don’t add any more to your list until you achieve the ones you have already chosen. If you add more this can result in falling off your journey. Be able to commit to your goals for 12 weeks (some outcome-based goals may take longer than 12 weeks). Make sure these outcome-based goals align with your values.
3.Determine behavior-based goals
Just like any journey we may have some small issues getting to our destination. Behavior-based goals are the step by stepping stone actions you take each day. This way you’re continuously having those small victories that most people don’t think they deserve (but they do). Make a list of two – five behavior-goals that can help you move forward in this journey. You can make a list of
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Daily movement
- Sleep
- Stress
Choose two that stand out to you the most and then add to them.For example if you choose fitness, you want to lose 15lb in the next 12 weeks then your behavior goals would be to lose 5lb-10lb in your first 12 weeks. Another example if you choose nutrition can be that you want to eat more green vegetables.
4. Plan your action steps
These steps will be how you implement your behavior-based goals. Clear intentions on how you will implement these steps will help you stay on track to move towards your goals daily. Think about exactly what you need to complete your behavior-based goals. This is when you broaden your behavior-based goals. Example being you wanted to eat more green vegetables then you would say ” I want to eat 1 cup of broccoli with my lunch and dinner. Add in one green smoothie a day”.
5.Knowing the challenges
You may hit certain times where you feel a mental block and even physical this step is to help you overcome those. Take a minute to think of how your next 12 weeks can go. What obstacles can you for see happening? Maybe its lack of sleep because you’re a single mother working full time or lack of nutrition because you work long hours.
Make a list of at least 5 obstacles that may occur and how you can handle them so they don’t slow you down. This is a commitment to yourself.