How SMART is Your Weight Loss Plan?

When you begin your weight loss journey, it’s a good idea to have a detailed plan in place. It’s all very well knowing your goal but you need to know how you are going to get there. Winging it won’t bring you the success that you want.

The New You Plan total food replacement is a great place for you to start. In addition, you should be introducing new habits into your life and reviewing your plan to see if it’s working and if it needs reviewing.

But how can you really know your plan is working? Especially when the numbers on the scales aren’t moving?

That’s where a SMART plan comes in.

SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-based

So how can you make your weight loss plan SMART?

Put aside your final goal and set yourself some smaller, much more manageable goals that will eventually lead to your final outcome. In doing this, you will feel motivated and get to celebrate your wins much more often!

Here are some examples of mini SMART goals that you could set yourself:

• (S)  I Will take a walk for ½ a mile every day. 
• (M) I will time the walk to see how long it takes me each time.
• (A)  I will use the time I have before work for my walk.
• (R) This will be a new habit to increase my fitness and burn calories.
• (T) I will do this for 4 weeks. The time difference between day 1 and day 28 will show how my fitness levels have increased.

• (S) I will drink 4 litres of water a day.
• (M) I will use a 500ml bottle and fill it up 8 times.
• (A) I will set a reminder on my phone every ½ hour to remind myself to drink.
• (R) I have always drunk lots of tea and coffee so swapping to water should be easy.
• (T) I will do this for 4 weeks and assess if it has become a natural habit.

• (S) I will take a full-length body photo every Friday
• (M) This will be to see how my face and body change during my weight loss journey.
• (A) I will set a reminder on my phone for every Friday morning before work.
• (R) My partner is free Friday mornings to help me take the photo.
• (T) I will do this once a week for 12 weeks, then look at the final photo beside my ‘before.’

Obviously, there are lots of goals that you could set, it’s whatever suits your life, but don’t set more than one goal at a time and overwhelm yourself. Remember they need to be achievable to keep you motivated. 

Once you’ve reached your first mini SMART goal, celebrate it in a way that you will enjoy which doesn’t interfere negatively with your weight loss plan. Then start off a new mini SMART goal, and just keep going.

SMART goals can be used in all parts of your life and getting into the routine of setting them will come in handy when you come to your refeed after your 12 weeks on TFR. You can set new mini-goals to help you with your healthy food choices and also increase your fitness levels. This will ensure that you maintain your new slimmer body with ease and confidence.

If you need further support with your weight loss journey, we have lots of useful information in our Blog section on our website. You can also find handy tools on the New You Plan site, you can email us, or you can join our supportive community of Slimmer’s on our dedicated Secret Slimmer’s Facebook page.