Health and Fitness Goals: Don't Just Make Them, Keep Them

We all have them, we all fail them. Why are fitness goals so hard to achieve? As children we have unrealistic views of health and fitness. Our physical health and fitness seem so natural that the thought of losing it seems foreign and unlikely. By the time we realize our lack of physical fitness and other healthy habits, it seems an insurmountable task to regain it. On the flip side, for those cursed by circumstances that made them unhealthy even as children, the thoughts of physical fitness seem to be an unattainable dream instead of a happy memory they want back. So what are we to do? Fitness goals seem easy to set and very difficult to attain. I challenge that health fitness goals are hard to set and of medium difficulty to attain.

Set Realistic Goals

Goal setting is where this process starts. One may think it easy to set health and fitness goals. The truth is it is easy to set unrealistic health and fitness goals. It is okay to dream big but for the short term it is important to think small and be realistic. For me as an out-of-shape woman, it is unrealistic for me to have the fitness goal of doing a pull-up. Start by listing all your health and fitness goals. These are long term goals. Then take one goal, and only one, and find the smallest habit that will help you achieve that goal. Habits are better than goals because they persist through time. One problem is we sometimes make goals that are general, like "walk more". This isn't specific without a baseline and a sense of scale. How much do you walk now? How much do you want to walk? Be as specific as you can to create your realistic goal.

Make a Realistic Habit Plan

A realistic plan should flow from your realistic goal. Break down the goal into what will be done each day, when it will be done, and how you are going to measure it. If I have a goal to make a habit of jogging to the mailbox every day, I should make sure that I have jogging shoes ready and by the door, I am able to jog in all local weather, and I have a motivation to do so. Perhaps I could tell my house mates that I will be checking the mail and to leave any mail for me in the mail box. You also need some way to measure. It can be a mark on a calendar, a record book, or a tally (or sticker) chart, whatever records will help you track your habit and evaluate your consistency.

Use Psychology to Support Your Habit

Classical conditioning is a psychology term used to describe how Pavlov got his dogs to salivate. He would ring a bell before providing food. Soon ringing the bell would cause the dogs to salivate even if there was no food. How does this apply to your habit? Have shoes and clothes specifically for your fitness habit and only for fitness. Change out of them after you are done. Soon, those shoes and clothes will make you feel like working out.

Operant conditioning is using a system of reinforcement and punishment to change behavior. This will only work if it is only tied to your fitness goal. For instance, let's say the reward for habitually jogging to the mailbox for 10 days in a row is to go to a new movie that is coming out. If you plan to give yourself the reward anyway, it isn't much of an incentive and will not help you with your habit.

Assess Your Goal Progress

When you have a goal, you need to provide assessment. There is a common phrase that whatever you measure you will see positive change in over time. If you have a calendar by the door and get to put a blue dot every time you successfully practice your habit then your brain will want you to have that blue dot and if there is no blue dot on a particular day you will feel subtly uncomfortable. Remember even if some days don't have blue dots the goal should be to get as many blue dots as possible. Don't give up on your habit if you miss a day. Try to make the rest of the days that week.

Do not add any additional health or fitness goals until you have succeeded for at least 2 weeks straight on your current goal. 3 weeks to a month would be even more realistic. It takes at least 2 weeks to build a good habit. I believe for busy adults this can be quite a bit longer. While this process may seem small, the tortoise beats the hare in almost every fitness goal I've seen.