Guest Spot on Health and Fitness Goals by LeeAnne Hebert

Do you feel like you just have too much weight to lose? Does it feel like an impossible task? Do you  feel like it will just take too long? That there is not enough time before summer so why bother?? Does the thought of all the work and effort needed make you feel defeated before you even begin?  If so, perhaps it’s time to change how you are looking at things… Are you game??

Do you remember the movie What about Bob? Bill Murray played Bob, who had such phobias the only way he could do anything was by taking baby steps. This is the same approach you can take with your health and fitness…

"Bob, you can do this, take Baby Steps"

Basically we need to break your fitness goals into more manageable pieces, ones that feel more achievable, and take them one small step at a time -Baby Steps- this is where setting realistic goals and planning come in. Again, a major step to setting weight loss goals is to follow the standard of goal setting. The goal needs to be specific, realistic and most of all attainable.  If you want to lose 50lbs before summer, I’m sorry - but chances are at this point you are not going to be able to lose it all … However, you can easily lose 10 to 20lbs at 1-2 lbs a week. So instead of throwing your hands up and saying why bother, let’s put a plan in place to reach that mini goal… but first I want you to take an honest look at your nutrition and exercise because they do go hand in hand. Unfortunately, you can’t out train a bad diet, and anything worth having is going to take some work. Part of that work is to stand in your reality… Once you do that you will be able to make changes and move forward.

• Step one: Create a menu for the week. I want you to plan your meals for each day – breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks.
• Step two: Use that plan to write your shopping list for the week so that you have everything you need on hand (click here for more tips)
• Step three: Figure out how to move…  If you have to start with walking 3x’s a week, then that is where you start – but try to walk fast enough to get your heart rate up:)
• Step 4: Plan your workouts and be specific… I will walk each M-W-F at lunch for 45 minutes.

Now that you know what days you are working out and what your meals will be each day, I want you to write out very specific daily plans and put them in your pantry, on your refrigerator, in your day-timer – wherever you will see them. Here is an example:

• Monday:
  • Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, and 1 piece of toast
  • AM snack: Yogurt with fruit
  • Lunch: Ham and cheese on a wheat roll up with an apple
  • 12:30 – 1:15 45 minute power walk
  • PM snack: 1 oz or almonds with a box of raisins
  • Dinner: 4 oz of Chicken, 1/3 cup of brown rice and 1 cup of green beans

Do this for each day of the week… The key is to only focus on one day at a time – don’t worry about how long it’s going to take, just consistently follow your plan each day and before you know it you WILL reach your goal… Below is one of my favorite quotes and it is so true because if I didn’t “start”, I would still be at 147 lbs and unhappy with myself and my body…

Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that time to the best possible use. ~Earl Nightingale