Write Down Your Goals/Reasons – Step 2
Writing down your goals is an extremely important step in your journey to a more healthy you. For me goals are challenges. Challenges are what motivate me to keep going every morning when the alarm goes off at 3:15am. Document them on a sheet of paper or in your journal. Then make copies of them and put them on your desk, on your PC desktop, in your vehicle or wherever they can be seen on a daily basis. They should be placed in multiple places so you can refer to them frequently. Why does this have to be done? Because you need to remind yourself almost everyday why you are working so hard to lose weight and get fit. You will be tempted at work to join in on the overeating parties or when you are driving home and pass up your favorite fast food place. Therefore, IF the goals are on your desk, you may get a quick reminder of what you are trying to accomplish and you just might be able to say no to your co-workers. (NOTE: After a while, they will really understand that you are 100% committed to this new lifestyle and they will respect your strength to say no.)
Starting a “weight loss plan” is EASY, but having this continue for the rest of your life is the HARD part. Most people stop after 2-3 months. One of the reasons they stop is because it gets hard and they lose focus on the real reasons why they are trying to improve their life. IF they can see those reasons frequently, then most of the time it will make it harder for them to give up. Believe me, once you lose the weight you WANT to lose, it doesn’t get easy to keep it off. You have to work just as hard if not harder to make sure the weight stays off. That is why if you keep adding goals to your list, you will get new challenges to keep you going for the rest of your life.
How many goals? It can be one or two or it can be twenty. It is all up to you. Make sure they are all specific and attainable. For example, if you want to lose 20 lbs, put down a realistic timeframe. I doubt meeting this goal in 2 weeks is doable for most, but something like in 2 months is probably more realistic. Keep in mind, when you put dates behind your goals, they can always be adjusted.
Feel free to add or edit your goals as time goes by. For example on your first day you write your goals you might never of visualized you running in a 5K. Well, 3 months later, maybe this is something that you started thinking about. IF so, write it down as a goal and when you want to run one and before you know it you will be getting your first 5K shirt.
Also, there is nothing wrong with writing down mini goals. What are mini goals? Well, they are small goals with shorter timeframes to help keep you on track to meet a MAJOR goal. For example, I have an overall MAJOR goal of weighing 185 lbs. Well, when I wrote down some of my goals last year, I put down some mini goals to help keep me on pace to meet my 185 weight goal by the end of this year. I keep referring to those mini ones to help me meet my major goal.
It is also great to write down some “reasons” why you improving your life. Examples of “reasons” can be: I want to lose weight so I spend more time with my kids and wife, I want to live longer than my Mom who was overweight and died at a young age, etc. There is no way of writing a date after reasons. These are just great examples of what I call a benefit goals of losing weight and great reminders of the REAL reasons why you are on this journey.
Good luck on your journey to a new you!
Lose Weight Forever 
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