{Day 3} Setting Goals

 {Day 3}

 New here? Make sure to check out day 1  and my introduction to my 

31 day of Health and Exercise series for the month of October

Thank you for reading and coming along with journey with me

I hope to inspire and motivate you through this series 

Today I am going to talk about goal setting 

Goals are so important in health and fitness and

I believe what keep us going and motivated to stay healthy

and to make it a lifestyle not just a fad

Goals are also very important just for life in general 

so this is a good over all post on goals as a whole and specifically for your health

A goal is something that you work toward and hope to achieve

In order to achieve your goals you have to put in some sort of effort

Goals are directions for your life or for your health and fitness journey

Setting goals can help you stay focused  

There are two types of goals: Short term and long term

Short term goals are goals that can be achieved quickly such as in days or weeks

Long term goals are goals that may take months or years to achieve 

Long term goals consists of a series of smaller short term goals

It is important to have a long term goal in terms of your health and fitness

Your long term goal could be to loose 20 lbs, to lose your baby weight, 

to be able to run a marathon, or just to be healthier.

To be able to achieve these long term goals you should also 

set a series of short terms goals. 

If you want to lose all your baby weight you have to set smaller goals

such as working out 3-5 times a week, work out 20 min a day, 

drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables through out the day

and so on. 

you get the point right?

So long term and short term goals are important and build off each other

Suggestions for setting goals 

**to help you remember these 6 suggestions think of the 6 S's

Goals should be:

-Safe

-Satisfying

-Sensible 

-Similar

-Specific

-Support

Now lets break each of those down for you a little bit

Safe

Is the goal safe?

Ask if this goal can harm you in any way

If your goal is to lose weight, how are you going to do this

There are a lot of ways to lose weight the safe ways 

would be to eat right and exercise

Satisfying

You should feel good about yourself when you reach your goal

Your goal should challenge you and give you a sense of 

accomplishment once it is reached 

Sensible

It is important that your goals, especially short term, be sensible or realistic

Make sure the goal is something you CAN achieve

Don't set yourself up for failure 

But you also want a challenge find that medium

Know what you are capable of and push yourself to your abilities

Similar

 Your goals should be similar to goals you have set in the past

New goals should not contradict your earlier goals 

For example, if you have a goal to finish an Iron man competition, that is a great goal.

If you complete this goal, your next goal should not be something

like to be on the television show the Biggest Loser. 

These are not similar 

Specific

Good goals are specific

and the steps to achieve those goals are clear

If your goal is to be fit that is not very specific 

you should create goals such as I want to exercise this many day a week

or I want to be able to run this far without stopping 

 Supported 

It is important to have a support team to help you reach your goal

Surround yourself with people who will help you with your goal

and support you in your decisions 

Action Plan

 The next step is to create an action plan 

This is the part that you actually write down your goals

and the plan you are going to follow to achieve these goals

Reward Yourself

 And the last step is when you reach your goal reward yourself

It is important to give yourself a reward 

this also gives you something to help motivate you to get to the end

some great rewards could be: A massage after a race, a pedicure,

a new outfit after losing your baby weight

your reward doesn't have to cost money

it can be to give yourself some free time to watch your favorite movie

or read a great book 

anything you can think of that will help to motivate you 

Now that you know how important goals are in our lives

and in health and fitness 

I now challenge you to go and write down at least one health related 

goal that you want to achieve within the month of October

Ready, Set, Go....Set some goals :)

 Come back tomorrow for another Health and Exercise Tip 

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To win a FREE entry into the Running Scared 5&10k 

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