Have you made your New Year’s resolution for 2024 yet?
It’s not uncommon for people make health-based goals, esepically around the New Year. However, people often forget to set deadlines for their resolution or do not have a plan for how they are going to achieve their health goals. As a result, their goals last for a month or two before they toss them aside due to lack of progress.
But you do not need to be a part of this fruitless cycle. Creating SMART goals can ensure you have everything you need to achieve your health goal, and can increase your chances of success.
What are SMART Goals?
It’s easy to get ahead of yourself when you’re setting goals. It’s easy to pick a very simple goal such as running 5 kilometres, and leaving it at that.
But, unfortunately, these simples goals can work against you and can often lead to procrastination, burnout and negative feelings, like failure. This is where SMART goals come in.
SMART goals are a method of setting clear and achievable goals for yourself. SMART goals can be used in both personal and professional development. The acronym “SMART” stands for:
Specific
Consider exactly what you want t achieve, and describe it in detail.
Narrowing down your goals, and even including steps you need to take to achieve them can keep you focused and on track to your overall goal. Instead of setting a vague goal like “I’m going to eat healthier”, try adding more details such as “I’m going to eat healthier by filling half of my plate with fruits and vegetables”.
Measurable
Decide how you will measure your progress towards your goal.
Measuring your progress towards your goal is essential to keeping yourself motivated and on-track to achieving your goal. It is easy to lose focus and motivation when there is no way to measure your progress towards your goals. How do you know what you’ve have achieved anything from all your hard work? Are you still at square one? When combined with check-in points, a measurable goal can also keep you accountable.
Attainable
Your goal should be challenging but not impossible for you to achieve.
When outlining your goal, you should consider whether or not you have access to the tools, or information, required to accomplish your goal. Someone who has never cooked before might struggle with setting a goal of “eating home every night” because they lack the skills or knowledge.
Relevant
Your goal is for you.
Making sure your goal is practical and relevant to you can help keep you motivated throughout the journey and on track towards your final target. If your goal is to run a marathon, then taking up cross stitching may not be a relevant activity to you.
Time-Bound
What’s the deadline for your goal?
Giving yourself a deadline will make it harder for you to procrastinate and encourages you to get started towards you goal. It’s important to keep in mind that nutrition and health-based goals cannot be achieved overnight. Health goals can often take some time to accomplish, so don’t set yourself a short deadline, but don’t let it drag out either.
Creating SMART goals can help you identify changes you need to make, and become more effective in achieving your goals. They can help you identify,
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- The tools and knowledge you need to achieve your goals
- Some of the challenges you might face in reaching your goals
- How long it will take you to achieve your goal
Make a SMART Resolution
Upgrading your nutrition resolution along can be intimidating. Working with a Registered Dietitian can help you build your SMART resolutions!
Book a FREE discovery call to get started!
Examples of SMART Nutrition Goals
Instead of: I want to lose some weight in 2023.
Try: I will lose 10 pounds by the end of February (2023) by exercising 3 times a week for 45 minutes and increasing my fruit and vegetable intake.
Instead of: I want to eat a more healthy diet in 2023.
Try: I will eat more healthily by including fruits and vegetables at least 2 meals a day by the end of January (2023).
How a Registered Dietitian Can Help
You don’t need to go at it alone. There are many benefits of working with a registered dietitian on your journey to improving your nutrition and health.
Establishing Your Goal
A registered dietitian can provide you with insight into realistic and attainable goals. We can also support you in developing reasonable deadlines for your goals. We can help you narrow down your nutrition goals from “get healthier” to “include more anti-inflammatory food into my diet”, and provide you with suggestions of foods to include.
Registered dietitians can also support you in developing reasonable deadlines for your resolutions. We know you might want to lose 5 lbs in a week or get your eating habits perfected in 10 days, however, this is often not a realistic timeframe. While some nutrition goals are easy to reach, such as eating more fruits and veggies, many others require more time to achieve. Our wealth of knowledge and experience allows us to help you establish a timeframe that works for both you and your goals.
Identifying Areas Identifying To Work On
Whether it’s as simple as including more nutritious food into your diet or complex as managing a chronic condition, a Registered Dietitian can identify the areas of nutrition that require tweaking. Instead of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, we can help you narrow it down based on your specific goals. Say goodbye to unnecessarily restricting foods and hello to enjoying your healthy diet.
Providing Tools and Knowledge
Dietitians can help you cut through all the myths and get straight into what works and doesn’t. There’s so much misinformation floating around the internet that it’s hard to distinguish what’s real and what’s not. We can help you sift through the information and provide you with the relevant knowledge and individualized tools to reach your goals.
You can also check out some of the apps we use here.
Access to Accountability & Answers
Working with a registered dietitian can provide you with the accountability you need to reach your health goals as well as, encourages you to continue working towards your goals. Even when you don’t feel like it. We offer a variety of packages, as well as individual appointments, allowing for weekly, bi-weekly or monthly check-ins to keep your on tract and answer all of your questions.
Make a SMART Resolution for 2024
Work with a Registered Dietitian to build and achieve your SMART health goals this year!
Book a FREE discovery call to get started.
References
Oppong, T. (2017, March 20). Psychological Secrets to Hack Your Way to Better Life Habits. Observer. https://observer.com/2017/03/psychological-secrets-hack-better-life-habits-psychology-productivity/
With a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science, Rachel has over 20 years experience helping people address their health through nutrition. She attended the University of Alberta and UBC. She started with chemistry and then focused on Human Nutrition and Food Science. Her career rounded out with guidance counselling post-grad course work at University of British Columbia. She has a teen aged son and 2 cats and loves the beauty of the Oceanside Area of Qualicum, Parksville and Naniamo - yes! the home of the famous Naniamo Bar!
