Many individuals set goals for weight loss each year, but very few are able to achieve them or maintain their results on account of not being SMART.
SMART is an acronym that stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
In this article, we’ll show you how to set goals using the SMART approach thereby helping you realize greater success during your transformation challenge as well as any other venture in life!
Let’s get started.
How to Set & Track SMART Goals
#1 Download the 1UP Fitness App
There are hundreds (if not thousands) of options these days for tracking your goals, but we’re partial to our very own app, which is available on both Apple and Google Play for free.
Tracking and documenting your progress is essential to success, but many apps on the market either require some type of recurring monthly fee and/or aren’t the most user friendly.
The 1UP FItness App was specifically designed to create a hub for all of your diet, training, and supplementation needs allowing you to easily and effortlessly track your progress.
#2 Make Time for Goal Tracking
As with everything in life that’s important, you need to make time for goal tracking each day. It doesn’t require vast amounts of time, especially when you get the hang of it, but it does require daily consistency.
You make time for your workouts, meetings, meal prep, etc. and if you’re serious about getting results, then you’ll certainly make time for goal tracking each day as well.
#3 Be Flexible
Setting a goal is a great first step and while it’s important to be focused on achieving it, the path or steps you take to reach it require flexibility.
You may start off using one approach, diet, workout program, etc. but if you find over the course of your journey that it’s not working or causing you more stress and headaches than actual results, then be ready and willing to tweak things if necessary.
Also, keep in mind that you can always check in with our private Facebook group for motivation and support from team 1UP and other participants in the transformation challenge.
#4 Set SMARTER Goals
As you gain experience setting (and achieving) goals using the SMART system, you’ll get valuable insight that you can use to continue setting your next round of goals, ultimately making them SMARTER.
Also, make sure to take time to reflect on previous goals you’ve achieved. How did you feel after accomplishing the goal? What systems and practices that you instituted worked as well as which ones didn’t?
As you do this more and more, you’ll develop your own ideal system for not only setting your goals but achieving them as well!
5 SMART Goals for Weight Loss
Now that you understand what the SMART system is and how to utilize it, here are some example goals for weight loss using the SMART technique for goal-setting that you can add to your week to accelerate your results!
#1 Log Your Daily Food & Drink Intake
Weight loss ultimately boils down to managing calories in vs calories out. The only way to know with reasonable certainty that you are eating fewer calories than your body requires to maintain its current weight is to keep a log of your daily food and drink intake.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by using the 1UP Fitness App.
Additionally, after each meal make a note of how you felt after the meal -- did you enjoy it, did it leave you feeling fulfilled and satisfied? Overstuffed? Still hungry? etc.
By doing this, you’ll know how to structure subsequent meals to help you hit your daily calorie and macronutrient targets while maintaining satiety and good, clean energy levels.
#2 Add 1 Cup of Vegetables to 2 Meals Per Day
Many times individuals make a goal to “eat better”, but they don’t have a concrete plan for doing so.
The above goal is very specific -- you will add 1 cup of vegetables to 2 meals each day of the week. You can track your daily veggie intake using the 1UP Fitness app, and if you’re someone who tends to forget to eat your veggies, the 1UP App also lets you set reminders to help you remember!
This helps you increase your daily vegetable intake, which not only increases your intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, but also helps keep you feeling fuller for longer due to the high fiber and water content of vegetables.
Once you get used to adding a serving of veggies to two meals each day, you can expand on this by increasing to two servings of veggies at each meal and/or experimenting with new plant foods.
#3 Drink 8 Cups of Water Every Day
Hydration is an essential part of optimal performance and recovery, nevermind the fact that your body requires water for just about every other biological process that’s carried out on a daily basis.
Staying hydrated can also help keep hunger at bay as the body often mistakes hunger for thirst, and it helps support energy levels.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that you’re staying hydrated during the day is to fill up a water bottle or 1UP Shaker and sip on it throughout the day. You can also set a reminder on the App if you tend to have difficulty remembering to drink enough fluids throughout the day.
Moreover, if you want to mix things up and not drink just plain water all the time, add a scoop of BCAA/EAA or 1UP Organic Greens & Reds.
#4 Meal Prep on Weekends for Weekday Lunches
Many individuals end up defaulting to takeout or fast food for lunch (and/or dinner) during the work week on account of not having something prepared and ready to eat for lunch.
This almost always results in individuals consuming too many calories for the simple reason that restaurant foods are much higher in calories (particularly carbohydrates and fat) and much lower in protein than meals cooked in the home.
Planning and prepping your meals on the weekend (or whatever other specific day and time you stipulate) ensures that you always have a healthy, delicious meal. You’ll also be saving money in the process as preparing your own meals is almost always cheaper (not to mention healthier) than foods prepared outside of the home.
Meal prepping on the weekend also helps stop you from wasting mental energy or stressing about what to eat each day. This frees up resources for more important things, like work!
And, if you ever need help figuring out what foods fit into your nutrition plan and/or looking for meal suggestions, make sure to log onto the 1UP Fitness App which provides recommendations based on your goals.
#5 Increase Daily Step Count by 1,000 Steps
Physical activity plays a crucial role in weight loss.
Remember, losing weight is ultimately about balancing energy expenditure vs energy intake.
While we think “physical activity” is solely relegated to exercise, the truth is that for most people the calories burned during structured exercise is a small fraction of total daily energy expenditure.
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) accounts for a much greater portion of your daily energy expenditure, and increasing your daily NEAT is a great way to burn more calories each day without necessarily having to spend more time in the gym.
Activities that fall under NEAT include things like walking the dog, doing laundry, cleaning the house, walking from the back of the parking lot, etc.
An easy way to get an extra 1,000 steps each day is to take a short 10-minute walk after you finish your breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
In addition to increasing your activity, you’ll also be supporting insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation, which aids metabolic health and stable energy levels throughout the day.
Most smartwatches as well as fitness apps will track your steps for you. It may also be helpful to set a reminder on your 1UP App to get up and stretch your legs if you have a sedentary job.
