certain types of cancers (such as breast cancer). Avoiding these diseases can be a strong motivator for people to want to lose weight. Living a healthy lifestyle leads to living a longer and higher quality of life.
Boosting your energy level: This reason may seem counterintuitive, but intermittent fasting leads to an energy boost. Extra body fat requires energy to maintain, so lose the fat and you redirect all that energy to living life.
Feeling better about oneself: Society denigrates the overweight with a barrage of messages that thin is in and fat is ugly. This very real social shaming can take a toll on peoples’ self-esteem. Embarrassment about one’s looks can diminish self-confidence, which can lead to anxiety and depression. Feeling better about oneself and looking good is a compelling incentive to shed those pounds.
Decreasing joint problems: One of the common side effects of excess body weight is joint pain, especially in the knees. Too much body weight stresses the joints and can lead to wear and tear, potentially resulting in arthritis. Joint pain can be extraordinarily painful, which creates a viscous circle, increasing weight gain by curtailing the ability to exercise.
Setting your weekly SMART goals
When choosing to follow a new lifestyle, you’ll need to change behaviors. Behavior change requires determination and practice, but most of all, you need to know how to set goals that work for you that are achievable. Lasting behavior change relies on goal setting. Ideally, you want to set one small goal every week. To give you the best chance of success, your goals should:
Represent concrete actions and not wishful thinking
Incorporate your own personal preferences and activities that you enjoy, which will increase the likelihood of attaining your goals
Be written in the form of SMART goals
These sections examine in greater detail what SMART goals are and how you can form your own goals.
Understanding what SMART goals are
A SMART goal is created with the following in mind:
Specific: Say exactly what you want to achieve such as “I’ll confine my eating window to a specified eight-hour window, every day for the next seven days,” instead of “I want to follow the 16:8 intermittent fasting plan.”
Measurable: You need to be able to verify that you attained your goal. For example, “I’ll mark off on my intermittent fasting schedule that I ate during my set fasting window every day,” instead of “I’ll choose what time I want to eat, each day as it comes.”
Actionable: Meaning your goal is action oriented. “I’ll eat between the hours of 12 p.m. and 8 p.m., every day and only drink calorie-free beverages during my fasting hours.” Eating and drinking are action verbs.
Realistic: Your goal should be something you believe you can achieve, not something too difficult. If you know with 100 percent certainty that you can easily avoid eating or drinking calorie-containing foods from the time you wake up until 1 p.m. and continue fasting from 8 p.m. until noon the next day, then this goal is realistic for you.
Time-bound: Setting a deadline for your goal is important, so you have an end in sight. One week is a doable time frame for most people. If you plan to follow the 16:8 intermittent fast, map out a one-week schedule in advance — it’s motivating because it gives you a set, doable, time frame.
Forming your own SMART goals
Use your answers to the questions in the previous section to formulate your SMART goal. For example, “This week, I’ll walk 20 minutes on my treadmill, every day at 3 p.m. for the next 7 days, at a 20-minute per mile pace.” This is a SMART goal instead of “I want to start an exercise program.” Look at how this goal is broken down:
Specific: Walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes is specific.
Measurable: You measure 20 minutes on the treadmill.
Actionable: Walking is an action.
Realistic: This plan of action is doable if you’ve previously walked for exercise.
Time-bound: Walking for 20 minutes for the next 7 days is time-related.
After you’ve finished your first weekly SMART goal, you’re not done. Ask yourself the following:
Did I achieve my goal this week?
If yes, then take the time to create a new one.
If no, then analyze where the problem was and then create a new, more achievable goal.
Here is an example of a realistic three-month goal:
Weight: I’ll lose 10 pounds in the next three months. I’ll measure my weight on the scale to track my progress.
Health: Losing this weight will help lower my blood sugar (I am pre-diabetic) to reduce my risk for diabetes. I’ll test my fasting blood sugar to track this health marker.
Fitness: Losing fat and becoming a fitter person will help me to move more comfortably when I go hiking with my kids. I’ll test this by completing the one-mile hike that I currently cannot finish.
Taking action after you reach your goals
If you don’t reach your weekly goal, no big deal, just formulate a new weekly SMART goal. Ensure that this week’s SMART goal is going to be more achievable. If you did achieve your goal, reward yourself — no need for anything expensive — a simple pleasure such as buying a new book, getting a massage, or soaking in a hot bath, whatever makes you happy.
After you achieve your long-term goals, have a big celebration! You can pencil into your calendar something that’s really important for you to reward yourself with and cross off those days and weeks as you get closer and closer to that day.
Calculating
