Setting your weight loss goals

The goal

Your new body begins with setting a goal. Do you know how much weight you need to lose to put you into your healthy weight range?

Get a calculator and work out your BMI (Body Mass Index) by dividing your weight by your height squared (kg/m2). Alternatively, just use the ninemsn Health BMI calculator. A BMI of 20 to 24.9 is considered a healthy weight. Anything over 25 is considered overweight. If you’re over, work out how much you need to lose. This is your goal weight.

Short-term focus

You know how much weight needs to come off right down to the last kilo — but focusing on a long-term goal can be daunting, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. Research shows that when goals are big, and distant, people often get frustrated and give up. Sounds familiar? Break your long-term goal down into short-term ones. Work out ten percent of what you need to lose — for example, if your long-term goal is losing twenty kilos, your short-term goal would be losing two kilos. Most people see two kilos as possible and something that can be achieved in a short time frame. When you have lost the first ten percent, go for the next ten and so on. If you start to experience self-doubt just remind yourself you have already lost ten percent, all you need to do is repeat what works. Keep going until you get to your goal.“Can do” mindset

The key to getting the body you want is a positive attitude. Your belief in your ability to lose weight and tone up affects how hard you try and that in turn affects your success. If you have tried to get your weight under control in the past and failed your confidence could be in tatters. You now need to focus on developing your “can do” attitude.

Start by writing down why you have relapsed in the past and come up with as many ideas as you can on how to resolve problems that cause you to lapse, overeat and give up. It could be high-risk situations like parties, or socialising with friends that cause you to overeat and drink too much. If so, you need a plan to help you cope. You could try something like, “I’m going to avoid parties until I lose ten kilos and feel more confident in my ability to resist tempting foods and too much alcohol. Until then I’m going to do my socialising at the gym and sometimes go out with friends afterwards. Make sure your new weight loss behaviour, like the gym, is linked with something you love, or that makes you feel good, like socialising.

Practice makes perfect

Practice your new weight loss behaviours until they become automatic and if you slip up, it’s not because you lack willpower or self-control, it’s because you need more practice in dealing with tricky, high-risk situations. When you focus on perfecting your weight loss behaviours and techniques you put yourself in control — there is something you can do — you can practice developing skills and plans to deal with any situation that causes you to overeat or under exercise.

You will need to build confidence so start with changing behaviours that you believe you can get right and, as your confidence grows, move onto the more challenging behaviours. For example, you may start with eating smaller portions, eating low-fat foods, eating in one place and getting into the habit of walking the dog five times a week — before you attempt to change more entrenched behaviours.

Article created by Jennifer Garth.

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