Learn my seven simple (but key!) steps to setting weight loss goals successfully in a healthy, sustainable and empowering way. These steps have helped me lose over 35 lbs and keep it off for YEARS – and you can too!

How I used to set goals….

In the past I either didn’t set weight loss (or any) goals because I didn’t think I would achieve them, and didn’t want to feel bad about it. I knew I would beat myself up or make it mean something negative about me and I just didn’t want to deal with that. OR, I would set them and forgot about them. Neither was great because it meant I wasn’t accomplishing what I wanted to and holding myself back.

But with a solid process, and the right intentions and mindset – goals are a powerful way to make progress on your journey to becoming the healthiest and best version of yourself (whether you reach them or not!)

Setting a Goal and Following Through

I was in middle school when I first set my weight loss goal – but it was coming from a negative and destructive place, and I was desperate to reach it. My motivation was shallow – and it led to down a path of disastrous behaviors including overeating, emotional and binge eating to name a few. While I technically “lost weight” along the way – I felt horrible, lacked confidence and had a very negative relationship with food and myself. My habits were inconsistent and my results temporary.

One thing I did well – I started and never gave up. Eventually I found my true motivation, my path and a process that works – and used the 7 simple steps below to get where I wanted to go. It’s been eight years since I reached my “goal weight” and I’ve maintained close to it ever since.

Any time I’ve set and accomplished a goal in some way I’ve followed this same process, so wanted to share in case it’s helpful for anyone else!

So, Why should we set (weight loss/health) or other goals?

The Power of Goals

I now think of it as why would we NOT set goals! Below are a few reasons you why may want to consider it, even if you tried and “failed” before, you think it’s pointless or unhelpful (I promise you, it isn’t!)

Growth: Most of us want more out of our business, health, life – and setting (and working towards) weight loss or other goals is how we get there. It creates a deliberate focus for our brain. Setting goals pushes us past our current thinking and being – It’s how we create our future intentionally.
Skill Building + Positive Byproducts: On the path to our goal we automatically build skills we didn’t have before to reach it. These along with other results we’ll be simultaneously creating can be amazing, positive byproducts of reaching a goal, even though they weren’t intended results. Example – if you have a weight loss goal and you cut your sugar consumption by 50%, you will also see significant health benefits, improvement in skin, mood, energy, etc.
Clarity = Consistency. It’s really hard to get “there” if we don’t know where that is, and hard to stay motivated when we can’t visualize where we’re going.
Purpose and Direction: It helps us have a clear focus for our time, making it easier to create and plan around our priorities.
Helps us to actually measure and track progress
Goal setting helps to create behavioral changes and new habits – those usually come about when we are intentionally working towards growing or evolving in some way.
Studies show we are 43% more likely to accomplish our goals if they are specific and written down. There was a a goal setting study done with three groups of Harvard students – and the students with clear goals and a clear plan – made 10x more than the students who had neither!

Weight Loss Goal Setting Benefits

When following a healthy, sustainable weight loss plan (like mine!) there are so many other benefits other than just hitting a number on the scale. Better health, reaching your goal weight, FEELING BETTER every day, building lean muscle mass, improving eating habits, improve chronic health conditions and symptoms, improving blood sugar, creating an overall lifestyle that you can maintain forever.

Steps to Weight Loss Goal Setting Success

Setting weight loss goals black background

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 1: Get Clear on your WHAT

The first step to setting weight loss goals successfully is defining exactly WHAT you’re setting out to accomplish. Make it so clear that you can visualize accomplishing it. If we don’t know EXACTLY where we’re going – it’s really hard to get there! I encourage breaking this out into two parts:

Step 1 Part 1: Define your long term health vision

We want to start off by determining some long-term goals – an overall vision for your health, weight and life. Consider:

What would you like your life to look like in accomplishing this goal?
Who is the person you want to become?
What is your overall vision/mission when it comes to your health?

My example: I want to become the healthiest and best version of myself. I want to FEEL my best with each choice I make.

Then you can ask yourself every day with each choice – does this align with my vision?

This is beneficial because it helps you focus on something bigger than the short term, smaller goal (like a number of the scale) and make daily choices in favor of the long term lifestyle you want to create.

It also helps you maintain motivation when the results you’re seeking aren’t happening overnight (which they likely won’t – regardless of which weight loss program you’re on) and helps you keep going once you’ve reached your short term weight-loss goals.

In addition, whenever we’re trying to incorporate new habits, actions or behaviors (how we’ll actually get results) the most sustainable way to do it is to focus on an identity change – where we change our thoughts and feelings in addition to our actions, essentially becoming a new version of ourselves that actually does the things needed to accomplish the goal.

Getting super clear on both your overall vision and short term goal helps you to visualize it and imagine yourself achieving it – which helps your brain believe it’s possible, which is key to minimizing the resistance that sometimes comes along the way.

Step 1 Part 2: Define your short term healthy weight loss goal

The second step to setting weight loss goals is to identify some short-term goals that help you fulfill your overall vision that you defined in Step 1. We want to make specific goals similar to “SMART goals” which stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Consider:

What is the exact goal you want to accomplish? Ex. lose 10 lbs.
By when do you want to accomplish it? Ex. 12/31/24
How will you measure or know it’s accomplished? Ex. I will weigh myself every Friday – when the number on the scale reflects my goal body weight

Creating Realistic Weight Loss Goals

We want the goal to be realistic but challenging, and want to make sure we are setting ourselves up for success on our weight loss journey from the very beginning. For example – if your current weight is 200 lbs. – setting a goal of losing 50 lbs. in one month may not be the best way to go, especially if a long term healthy lifestyle is your goal (which I highly recommend). Spend some time researching or working with a coach. nutritionist or other health professional to identify what an attainable goal is for you based on where you are.

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 2: Get Clear on your WHY

The next step in goal setting is to define your your reason for wanting to accomplish the health or weight loss goal – your WHY. Ask yourself the following questions:

What impact will it have on your life?
Why do you REALLY want this?
Why is this important to me?

Identifying our real reason or wanting to lose weight is crucial to success – because accomplishing anything requires consistent action even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and when we lack motivation.

Our why IS our intrinsic motivation – it’s the fuel that drives us to do the work and take the actions towards our goals.

If we’ve identified a why that really resonates with us – one that sparks an action driving emotion when we think/say it – we can make a practice of thinking and saying it anytime we’re struggling to take action. We can identify potential obstacles and challenges ahead of time and have it ready to talk back to our brain, and we can create motivation (or drive/commitment) when there is none.

How to define your why (your Intrinsic Motivation):

The 5 minute motivation exercise

Set a timer for 5 minutes, put your phone away and get out a pen and paper. Write down as many reasons as you can for wanting to accomplish your goal. Look for the thoughts/reasons that really spark an action inspiring emotion.

The 5 Whys

Write down your first reason for wanting to accomplish your goal. Continue to ask yourself why five times to really drill down to the deepest level. Again, as mentioned above, the idea is to find the thought that you can really resonate and feel – one that will help push you past the obstacles and challenges that could otherwise keep you stuck.

Once you’ve identified your real intrinsic motivation, make a habit of thinking and feeling it every single day. Practice thinking it going into challenging situations, before they even happen.

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 3: Commit & Decide

To be successful at anything we have to fully commit – to our goals, the process, ourselves, and make a full decision that we’re going for it no matter what.

A couple years ago some of my family decided to go plant based. I kind of wanted to do it, to try it – but wasn’t 100% in. So I bought the foods, stuck to it for a little while, and then decided I really wasn’t that interested. I was done within a couple of weeks. Fast forward a few years later and I read Fiber Fueled. The book was fascinating to me, and really compelled me to decide to try it again. I set a clear goal, I had a clear why (all the benefits I read in the book – primarily improved gut health), and I made a full commitment. This time, I did it for over a year.

The difference – the commitment and decision! When I think back to anything I’ve set out to accomplish and actually did in life (like eliminating artificial sweeteners as a former splenda addict, removing caffeine, going 6 weeks with no wine and cocktails) I always made an official decision to both the goal and the process. Anytime I didn’t – there really wasn’t one – it was a vague interest.

The power of decisions ahead of time when it comes to setting goals

When we make the decision ahead of time, we’re using our prefrontal cortex – the part of brain responsible for planning and logic, versus using primal brain that is very impulsive. When we do this – it’s a whole lot easier to actually follow through with our plan (as long as we have one!)

We can use the official decision we’ve made and our commitment to keep us on track when we consider veering off or giving up on our goals. We’ve already decided we’re not going to do that – so it’s really a non negotiable to keep going. One thought that actually helps keep me consistent, is “I decided to do this.”

What to do:

Understand to accomplish something great, reach a weight goal or maintain a healthy lifestyle (especially if it’s a big change) – we need to be fully invested.
Fully decide you’re 100% committed to the process or plan- no trying or hoping, but doing and believing. We have to own our results or lack of. We know when we’re sort of committed, and then we get sort of results.

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 4: Visualize & Believe

Step 4 Part 1: Visualize Your Future Self

Once you’ve decided exactly WHAT you want and WHY, and fully commit and decide, spend some time visualizing yourself having already accomplished the goal, and taking the steps along the way.

This is helpful because it starts to train your brain that you are someone who takes the actions needed to be taken to accomplish the goal, and helps to align your thinking and feeling with the future you (the version of you who’s already accomplished this).

Our thinking creates our feelings, which drives our actions and produces our results – so the sooner we can align our thinking with those actions, the quicker and more effortless reaching the goal will be.

Step 4 Part 2: Believe it’s Possible

The second part is making sure you believe accomplishing this goal is possible for you, and that you WILL achieve it. Sometimes in the beginning this doesn’t feel believable, so we have to work on “bridge thoughts” or things we do believe while making a continuous practice of working towards that belief that you are someone who can, will and has accomplished your goal.

The idea is to completely shift our identity, and become the person we want to be along the way versus just changing the actions. When our thoughts and feelings change too, thats where the sustainable growth comes in.

Have limiting beliefs, excuses or doubts? Don’t ignore these! Write all of these down. You will work these into your plan in step 5.

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 5: Make your weight loss (or goal specific) plan

Surprisingly this can be the easiest part – most of us know there are 101 healthy eating meal plans and workout plans online – the challenging part is getting ourselves to actually follow them, consistently.

How to Make/find a Weight Loss plan

When you visualize yourself in the place of already having accomplished this – what does this person:

Think?
Believe?
Feel?
Do?
What results do they create?
What does their life look like day to day?
What do you need to learn or overcome? (listen for limiting beliefs – turn these into strategies and schedule)
What does this person no longer do, think, feel, say?

Testing and committing to a plan and building the momentum and consistency is more important than finding the “perfect” one right away. Testing, tweaking and repeating is part of the process!

Make sure your plan is clear – know what you’re doing, when and where. This will make it MUCH easier to follow through with.

Example weight loss plan

Or download my sample eating plan here.

Daily morning reflection and journaling on goals, motivation and visualization (we don’t want to set it and forget it!)
Eating clean, whole, unprocessed foods 80% of the time
Eating when hungry, stopping before full and/or identifying your body’s fuel calories for your goal using MyFitnessPal or another tracker.
3 days resistance training (M/W/F), 2 days cardio (T/TH), 5,000+ steps every day
Having at least 2/3 macronutrients at each meal and snack (protein, complex carb and healthy)
Drink min. half body weight in water/day

Plan for the obstacles and challenges

Something that’s often missed or skipped when setting weight loss goals and creating a plan – is anticipating the challenges and obstacles before they happen!

Since many of us have been down this road before, we often know what has kept us from reaching our goal in the past. This is where you can use that and the limiting beliefs, doubts, excuses that came up earlier on to strategize. List out all the problems, reasons that will come up that will keep you from sticking to your plan and reaching your goal, and then come up with a strategy for each!

Example:

Challenge: Not enough time to cook during the week
Strategy: Prep on Sundays, Make a list of 10 under 30 minutes meals, Find takeout options that fit your plan

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 6: Plan, schedule and follow through

Take everything from step 5 (your plan) and the strategies to overcome the obstacles and challenges and put it into your calendar of choice.

Break everything down as small as needed and put each individual action into your calendar. Make sure to include travel time, prep time, etc. as needed. If there is anything you need to buy, learn or do beforehand – make sure that’s on your list as well. Ex. – learn how to cook healthy, download a meal plan, find a workout plan, etc.

Weight Less Goal Setting Step 7: Expect and prepare for the challenges

Challenges = changes!

When it feels hard and impossible or like its not working – that doesn’t mean you should stop, it means you should continue. This is NORMAL and to be expected. I think one of the biggest things I wish I knew when I struggled with my weight, consistency, etc. was that working towards a goal is supposed to feel challenging, and uncomfortable because that’s where the growth happens.

What to do

Remind yourself this is normal and part of this process – our brain is wired for consistency, efficiency, to seek pleasure, avoid pain and conserve energy. It’s having a temper tantrum because anything new (working towards a goal, etc) is interpreted as danger. We need to remind our brain that everything’s fine, and we’re just becoming the healthiest and best version of ourselves
Get good at allowing urges and temptations and following through even though you have them. Instead of resisting the food or thing off your plan, we want to focus on allowing the “idea” to be there but choosing a different option.
Remember our feelings are caused by our thoughts not a thing – that’s where the daily journaling practice comes in. When we can identify the thoughts creating the feelings, we can question and change them.
Make sure you have a clear commitment, decision and plan as mentioned above in steps 1-3. This will make it much easier to follow through
When you’re presented with every single reason/excuse/obstacle in the world not to – stick to it anyways. Remind yourself of your WHY from above.
Make a regular practice of not only visualizing your future self, but also following through in the challenging times and practicing the strategies to overcome obstacles beforehand. (ex. My WHY is to feel my best, to not be bloated, for my clothes to fit well every day – when Im faced with decisions, I imagine that and it helps me make better choices 95% of the time).

Ongoing Goals Practice

Have a daily journaling practice where you write down your goals, motivation and visualizations of reaching the goal
If needed, put reminders in phone, post it notes on your desk/fridge etc. to remind you of your goal, plan, motivation and strategies
Have “thought habits” ready in challenging times to talk back to your brain and rehearse doing it (ex. when you wake up if you’re always thinking “I can do it later” have a thought ready to go that counteracts that and ignites motivation and commitment like “I committed to doing this now and I know I’ll feel better after I do!)
Continue adding to strategy plan from step 5
Test, tweak, repeat – keep what works, lose what doesn’t.
Celebrate ALL your wins! Anytime we can generate positive, motivating, inspiring energy around our goals the better. Positive and productive thinking = positive and productive results!

Watch my goal setting video series here.

Need help figuring out what to do or how to do it consistently? That’s where I come in as a health coach! Book a weight loss goals setting session here.

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