| In his book Eat that Frog, Brain Tracy, a well-known American trainer, speaker and author said “Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.” When you want to reduce weight you need to make sure the goals you have are the best ones. A furnace always burns better with high quality fuel. You can go for cheaper fuel but in the end the results will be less superior.
If you have been trying to lose weight you can probably say very quickly what weight you are trying to get to. This is one goal you can have. Goals are important so you know what your destination is. If you know where you are starting from and where you are going to then you can get there. Otherwise it is like using a GPS where you are, but have not programmed where you want to be. You just end up going in many different directions.
But, having a goal for the bathroom scales isn’t the only or the main weight reduction you should have. In my experience, the most successful dieters have a range of different goals.
Once you are committed to losing some weight, no matter how much you want to lose, take note of your body-measurements. Measure your bust, waist, hips, thighs, upper arms or wherever you want to lose that fat. This will again enable you to know your starting point. Keep a note of these figures and then identify what size you want these measurements to be. As you lose the fat belly, or the thighs get smaller, you can identify the changes.
These measurements are probably the most important ones you can have. As you re-check your measurements every couple of weeks you will get feedback from your body on how well you are doing. It will also tell you what is working for you and what needs to change. Being able to see improvements in your body shape, it adds an extra boost to your motivation. (more…)