Posted on February 26, 2018 by Kate Halsall

Top Tips On Goal Setting

We write a lot about goals. As personal trainers, we help our clients to realise and hit their goals; it’s integral to our role. As a client, you find the ownership, determination, will power, enthusiasm and perseverance to achieve those goals. This week, through our Do It In 12 programme, I experienced a different perspective on goals. It made me realise that sometimes we over (or under) estimate what realistic and achievable goals are and what we need to do to make them happen! So here are my 4 top tips on goal setting and sticking to new goals.

You don’t have to give up everything!

I came into Do It In 12 knowing that my weakness is carbs and portion control. To help with my journey I decided that I’d give up bread, and as it’s lent I could tie it in with that. Those who know me will know how much I LOVE bread. If I could only have one food for the rest of my life it would be sourdough bread. And that’s when it starts to sink in – it’s totally unrealistic to think I would be able to give it up completely. However, as I’m following a carb cycling routine it means I can still have it occasionally and HAVE to portion control it. Win Win! Sometimes simply reducing the amounts is key!

Prioritise YOU

I’ll admit that I haven’t managed to get all my workouts in this week. Whilst I put time in my schedule to do them, I got stuck into coursework, organising events, clients & classes, admin, food prep and so on. Essentially, life got in the way. Sometimes I think we need to have a word with ourselves. The world is not going to end if you take an hour out of your day for “you time”. In fact, it doesn’t even need to be a full hour; we’ve posted many workout blogs for people who have time constraints. But be realistic, if it means that getting to your end goal will take a little longer because you can only do 2 workouts a week and not 4, then make those two your priority.

Plan ALL your meals

We talk a lot about meal planning, food preparation and checking menus before you eat out. So why is it then that when I came to plan my week’s food, I’ve only planned my evening meals Monday – Friday?!? Weekends are where I know I need structure, and I know that some of our clients do too.

Don’t beat yourself up!

Things go wrong, you get tired, you have bad days – you’re human. One bad day will not instantly undo the hard work you have done. I cannot begin to tell you how annoyed and disappointed I am that I haven’t done my extra workouts this week, how that will affect my progress going forward, and how that looks to anyone following my Do It In 12 journey. But then, my food has been bang on this week (and they do say it’s 80% food 20% exercise) and there’s always the weekend to come and next week. I can’t let that annoyance totally railroad me; there’s still time to make up for it!