2022 and you: Making a health goal plan for lasting lifestyle change

With the new year often comes a focus on health. Many of us have made new year’s resolutions to get healthy and lose weight, but without a road map, these resolutions often fall by the wayside. This year make your resolution stick by developing a plan that will help you achieve your health and weight-loss goals.

Step 1: Know your starting point

There are many factors involved in one’s overall health and well-being. Age, family health history, weight and fitness level all affect your health goals and the length of time it will take to achieve them. A good starting point when setting a health or weight-loss goal is an assessment of your current health and the habits and behaviors that are standing in your way.

Ask yourself thought provoking questions and write down your answers. What are a few behaviors that come to mind? For some it may be skipping meals all day only to come home overly hungry and eating a large meal before bed. Others may have challenges with late-night eating. Allow yourself to have an open mind and limit judging yourself or feeling guilty.

Your primary care provider can also help you with this assessment and identify any risks to be aware of as you embark on your health and weight-loss journey.

Step 2: Set goals

After you have a good grasp of your current health, you should define your goals based on the areas you’d like to focus on. This could be weight loss, eating better/clean eating, exercise and fitness, life balance, or a combination. Before setting lofty health goals, it’s important to do a little research and learn what’s realistic for you and the steps you need to take to get there. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound.

Step 3: Create a road map for change

Now that you have identified your goals and the behaviors keeping you from achieving them, pick one or two behaviors to focus on that will make the greatest impact.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What is causing this behavior?
• How is it making me feel?
• What benefit, if any, am I getting from this behavior?

Once you understand what is causing the behavior it will be easier to make a change. Also, consider what you could replace the behavior with if needed. For example, say you skip meals during the day. What behavior is causing you to skip meals? Is it due to lack of planning ahead, waking up too late or not having food options available? Steps to change this behavior may include making a grocery list and scheduling time to grocery shop, having prepackaged grab-and-go options available, or scheduling meal and snack times on your calendar during the day.

Step 4: Measure your progress

Remember to measure your progress toward each goal and adjust as needed. Along with numerical measurements such as weight, BMI or body fat percentage, you can also create a ranking scale based on how you feel. For instance, rank from one to five how energized you feel each morning or how happy you feel each day. You can also cross-correlate these with your numerical data to see any patterns. Remember to celebrate successes and milestones. Weight loss and improved health is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, so be sure to cheer yourself on as you go.

The bottom line when setting a health goal is to know your starting point and make a realistic timeline. Remember to measure your progress along the way, and don’t get discouraged if you have setbacks. It takes time and consistency to achieve anything. If you can find a support system of friends, family and/or coworkers to help motivate you, that’s even better. The team of providers and dietitians at the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness is here to support you in making lasting lifestyle changes to not only achieve but maintain your health and weight-loss goals.

Learn more about the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness.