Goals and Weight Loss Motivation is all about setting weight loss goals and having the motivations in place to help you achieve them.
Many people trying to lose weight only set outcome goals, or goals they want to accomplish at the end.
However, focusing only on outcome goals can derail your motivation. They can often feel too distant and leave you feeling overwhelmed.
An interesting paper was written by PubMed Titled: “Goal setting as a health behavior change strategy in overweight and obese adults: a systematic literature review examining intervention components.”
A systematic literature review was conducted. Studies were evaluated using the S.T.A.R.T. (Specificity, Timing, Acquisition, Rewards and feedback, and Tools) criteria which were developed for the purposes of this paper in order to elucidate which intervention features elicit optimal health behavior outcomes.
What does This Mean?
This means that instead of setting one big outcome goal, you should set process goals. Either set process goals or what actions you’re going to take to reach your desired outcome. An example of a process goal is exercising four times a week.
A study in 126 overweight women participating in a weight loss program found those who were process focused were more likely to lose weight and less likely to deviate from their diets, compared to those who focused on weight loss outcomes alone
Incentive and Accountability
There are many ways to achieve your goal(s) and most likely you have been setting goals and achieving some success and some not so successful your whole life, so you have an idea of which ways worked best for you. More importantly, you have an idea of what method did not work regardless of how bad you wanted it to.
As a professional in the health and wellness industry I would suggest that if you really want to achieve success in reaching your goal(s) and you have struggles to achieve them in the past than do something different this time. I personally suggest hiring a personal trainer or coach because helping people stay motivated to reaching their goals is what they do best. A trainer or coach will take your goal and your incentive and help you stay accountable to yourself giving you a much greater chance at success.
According to research, there are two factors that help people continue to stay motivated to reach their goals; incentive and accountability.
Incentive
Your Incentive is all you, whatever made you desire this particular goal is what you need to hold on to until you achieve it.
Accountability
The accountability part is harder because it requires that you bring someone else into the process. It may not be easy, especially if you are less than comfortable with telling someone about this goal. However, research done by the American Society of Training and Development has shown that those who have others help them stay accountable increase their chances of success by 65%. Even better, those who commit to accountability appointment with a person you have committed to help you then you increase your chance of susses by 95%!
Secrets of Accountability
What are the secrets of accountability and how does this help? Being held accountable by someone will increase your odds of success in achieving your goal. Take a look at the study below done by the American Society of Training and Development.
The probability of completing a goal if:
- You have an idea or a goal: 10%
- You consciously decide you will do it: 25%
- You decide when you will do it: 40%
- You plan how you will do it: 50%
- You commit to someone you will do it: 65%
- You have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to: 95%
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” — Thomas S. Monson
Goals take time, hard work, perseverance and commitment to achieve. And results often do not come as quickly as you hope. You can easily lose the motivation in the process and give up. But everything changes when you leverage an accountability system. To “be accountable,” all you need is a clear goal and a willingness to let others help you achieve it.
Personal Trainers Are Worth It!
Often times they are the over positive annoying types that you don’t want to run into until you’ve had ample amounts of coffee. However, they are excellent coaches to have in your corner when you want or need help in achieving a goal, they will plan, record, guide and pep talk you all along the way helping you as you achieve your goals. They will also add helpful information along the way to prevent injuries that can immediately stop progress and be huge set backs.
When I am coaching my clients I will often say that I am less concerned with todays workout and more concerned with next years. What I mean is that improper form, range of motion, tempo, going to failure and choices in exercises often lead to injuries that cause people to stop working out all together. A coach or trainer is very valuable for the long term success even if you only keep them short term, they will get you started out correctly.
Ask yourself how much is this weight loss worth to you? Then look at the cost of a personal trainer and see how worth it, it is to you. It really comes down to the simple issue of how bad you want to reach your goal. Having someone there to support you, help you and help you hold yourself accountable is worth every penny and then some.