New Year’s Resolutions – Activity

Ah yes … it’s that time of year again, when we all vow to make changes in our activity level. 

“I am going to start going to the gym every day.”

“I am going to get up earlier every day and go on the treadmill before going to work.”

Every January, fitness centres are jam packed with people and a month or two later, the gyms are deserted.  When it comes to both activity and eating healthier, we tend to go with the all or nothing mind-set and one setback can often send everything off the rails.  Sound familiar?  So many of us fall into a trap of making general wants and wishes:

“I want to lose weight.”

“I wish to be more active.”

“I want to eat better.”  

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, making those plans and goals as specific as possible will help with following through.  Create SMART goals to give yourself a better chance of success and sustainability. 

SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Read our blog post about making SMART goals here.

A SMART goal looks like this:

“I am going to walk on my lunch hour for 15 minutes three days per week.”

A goal such as this is manageable and will provide both health and postural benefits. 

Remember that it is wintertime and prepare for the weather. Dress in layers and wear proper footwear for walking outdoors in the winter. If the weather is really bad, walk indoors or climb the stairs.

Another goal is to register for an exercise class one or two days a week, then plan ahead by scheduling your day and meals around this class.  Signing up for a registered class for a pre-determined number of weeks is often a good way to stay motivated.  Little things like knowing there is an end date and having paid for the class upfront can sometimes be what keeps you going.  Workout buddies can also be good motivators for accountability; plan on meeting a friend at the mall and doing a 20-minute walk, at a brisk pace, before you do your shopping.  If you can’t get to a class or the mall, do your own exercise routine at home. 

The goal is to be healthier by being more active, which is the result of sustaining lifestyle changes that started with setting small and specific goals.   

Corinne Cutler is an Exercise Specialist at the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network. 

Making SMART goals

Developing goals is key to success. SMART goals clarify exactly what is expected and tells how to measure success.

How do we make SMART goals? What are SMART goals?

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Specific

We have a much greater chance of accomplishing a goal if it is specific rather than general. A specific goal should answer the five W’s and the H:

Who is involved?
What do I want to accomplish?
When do I want to accomplish this goal by? Are there other timeframes involved?
Where - Identify a location.
Why do I want to accomplish this goal?
How do I accomplish this goal?

For example:

A general goal would be, “I want to be healthier.”
A specific goal would be, “I will go for a walk each evening after supper for 15 minutes, 3 times per week.”

Measurable 

Can your goal be measured? When your progress can be measured, it is easier to stay on track and be successful with your goals. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Keep track of your progress on your calendar. Schedule the event in your calendar and plan your day around the event. Keep track of your progress on your calendar so you can clearly see if you are on track.

For example:

“I will walk around the neighbourhood 3 times per week.”

Attainable

You must have the means, knowledge and ability to actually achieve your goals. Identify the goals that are important to you and begin to figure out how you are going to meet these goals. Attainable goals motivate you to move forward to accomplish them. If you set unrealistic, impossible goals, you won’t even try or if you do try to and fail, you will be less motivated to set goals in the future.

Realistic 

To be realistic, a goal must be something within your ability to accomplish. Do you have the means, skill, ability and desire to accomplish this goal?  A goal should push your abilities but not break them. Is it realistic to set a goal of “I will cut out all sugar, dairy and carbs from my diet”? Not more the vast majority of us. A realistic goal would be, “I will eat fruit for my afternoon snack instead of sweets.”

Timely 

A goal should be set with a time frame or end date. Without a timeframe, it is easy to get off track. If you don’t see the end date coming, you are less likely to work harder towards completing the goal.  If you want to quit smoking, set a day to have met this goal. Saying “I want to quit smoking” does not give you a deadline to work towards and it is easy to push that goal aside. If you say, “I want to quit smoking before my high school reunion on June 10, 2013” you have not only a target item but a target date set.

Remember that it is okay to reevaluate your goals and set new timelines rather than give up the goal completely! You can also break your goals down into smaller goals and work towards a bigger accomplishment. For example, if your goal is to engage in physical activity everyday but you have been living a sedentary, this is not a very realistic goal. That’s not to say you can’t get there eventually, but a more realistic goal would be to go to the gym 1-2 days a week for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, reevaluate  Did you go to the gym 1-2 days each week? Yes? Great! Now your next goal could be to go to the gym 3-4 days a week for an additional 6 weeks.

Some additional thoughts:

• You may have a goal in mind of “losing 1-2 pounds a week”.  This is not an action based goal but rather an outcome.
• Weight loss is actually an outcome or end result that comes from other behaviours.
• Goals need to be focused on an action, something that we can do and observe.
• Weight loss is a result of several factors that we don’t directly control.  If we focus on a number on the scale we can be disappointed when it doesn't happen even though we are still doing everything we intended to, this can result in feelings of disappointment, frustration, and even anger making it difficult to stick with your plan
• Consider creating a goal around behaviors that ultimately may contribute to weight management such as physical activity (I will add an extra 500 steps daily, on my pedometer) or healthy nutrition (I will work toward eating breakfast every day).
• Weight loss then becomes an long-term result of following through on goals, in addition to the many other benefits that come with a healthy lifestyle however is not the original focus of the goal
• Remember to review and re-evaluate as needed (consider monthly goal reviews) – if something is not work try to find out why and make a change.

New Year's Resolutions - be specific!

When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, try to keep in mind that making those plans and goals as specific as possible will help with following through.  So many of us come up with general wants and wishes such as:

I want to lose weight

I wish to be more active

I want to eat better

It is a common mistake to make the resolutions too big and too much to change at one time:

I am going to go to the gym every day

I am going to start eating healthier

These goals are too broad and too much to change all at once.  Gyms and fitness centres are jam packed with people in January and then look like a deserted wasteland by March.  When it comes to eating healthier, we tend to go with the all or nothing mindset so one setback can often send everything off the rails.   Sound familiar? 

Instead of setting such lofty general goals that are setting us up for failure, think about making your goals specific. This will give you a better chance of success and sustainability. A good example is:

I will go for a walk on my lunch hour for 15 minutes three days per week. 

In the winter months, dress properly for walking outdoors. Walk in the stairwells or hallways if the weather does not permit, that is better than nothing! When meeting a friend at the mall, plan to walk for 15 minutes at a brisk pace before you do your shopping.  There are multiple ways to get those 15 minutes in, even in our harsh Canadian winters.

Another specific goal is to join an exercise class one or two days a week. Signing up for a registered class for a pre-determined number of weeks is often a good way to stay motivated.  Knowing there is an end date and having paid for the class upfront can is often enough motivation to keep you going.  Schedule your day around this class and plan ahead.

Almost all of us want to be healthier, be more active and lose weight but those are all end results of what may come from making lifestyle changes with setting more specific goals and sticking with those changes.  

Corinne Cutler is the Exercise Specialist at the LBD PCN.