Jelly Belly Be Gone

If you’re unhappy with your appearance, it can lead to a lot of serious issues with self esteem. After all, it can create a very unhealthy sense of self worth if you don’t like what you see every time you look in the mirror. But the answer is not all about changing your appearance. If you’re unhappy because you think you have fat arms or a fat belly, you shouldn’t lose the weight solely for your appearance. Diets and exercise programs are much more successful when the goal is overall health.

After all, people who lose a great deal of weight simply to look like some model on a magazine cover or actress on the big screen are more likely to never be happy with their appearance. This is because they set unrealistic and unhealthy goals. Striving to look like the recently skeletal Mischa Barton can, in some people, even lead to eating disorders. Rather than having an unhealthy obsession with weight loss, make healthy living a part of your everyday life. You’ll get better results and feel happier.

One of the biggest problems with weight loss and exercise is that we want maximum results with minimum effort. Quick fixes often result in less than optimal results, making it important to be smart about our purpose.

To start, make sure that you are specific when creating a goal. Often, people are too vague about what they are trying to accomplish. For example, “I want to lose weight” is a great goal, but specify how much as in a number of pounds, inches or clothing sizes. If you are exercising solely for better health, set a goal based on completing a certain task, such as a marathon or 7 minute mile.

Second, set a goal that is measurable. Similar to being specific, goals that can be measured make it possible to track progress. A good rule of thumb for fitness goals is that measurable goals are manageable goals. When we don’t have any means of following our advancement, we aren’t able to tell if we are moving forward, backward or stagnating.

Set goals that are attainable. If you have 2 weeks before a trip to the beach and want to lose 30 lbs., you are not setting a goal that is attainable. On the other hand, you are setting an achievable goal if you want to lose that same amount of weight for a wedding that is a year away. If you set the bar too high for yourself, you’ll either resort to unhealthy means of achieving your goal or will be disappointed when you miss the mark.

Finally, give yourself a time frame to meet your goal. By giving yourself a deadline and following the steps above, you know exactly what you have to do and how much time that you have to do it. If your goal is substantial, set smaller milestones in between to track progress and maintain timeliness.

Good luck and get planning!