HEALTH AND FITNESS GOAL SETTING CHECKLIST

written by: Nem​
One of the most important factors in reaching your health and fitness goals is successful goal setting and having a clear plan in place.

Follow our 10 step checklist to ensure proper goal setting and incorporate these strategies to increase your chances of success:

1. Find your "Why". Write it down and remind yourself constantly of this. Put it in your phone, sticky note on your fridge or somewhere clearly visible. Think about why are you embarking on this health and fitness journey and how will it make you feel? Why is this important to you? Read more about finding your Why in our blog post.
2. Set ‘SMARTER” goals. Once you figure out your "Why" be clear and precise about exactly what you are trying to achieve. Write it down and remind yourself constantly. Having your goals laid clearly, will give you focus and motivation knowing exactly what you need to do and achieve. Thinking about achieving those goals will also make you motivated and excited. Read more about setting SMARTER goals. 
3. Break long-term goals into short-term. Sometimes working towards a long-term goal can seem daunting and it might seem impossible so we can easily lose motivation and drive to work towards those goals. Try setting small short-term goals that build up to that long-term goal. Accomplishing these short-term goals will give you pleasure and satisfaction to keep going. We talk about this in our setting SMARTER goals blog post. 
4. Set behavior goals. Once you know exactly what you want to achieve, you need to figure out exactly the things you need to do to achieve those goals. You need to figure out exercise, nutrition and other habits that contribute to your goals like sleep, daily movement, stress management, hydration.You need to set behaviour goals in addition to outcome goals. Read more about setting behaviour goals in our blog post. 
5. Avoid all-or-nothing mentality. Just because you skipped a workout or had an unplanned, unhealthy meal, it doesn't mean the whole day is a write-off now. Similar logic can be applied if you had a bad day or bad week. Life happens. Get back on track as soon as possible and do the best you can at that moment. Any kind of progress is still progress. No matter how small.
6. Be committed to your goals and don't rely on motivation. Motivation comes and goes, so in order to stay consistent, we need to be committed to our goals and do healthy habits even when we don't want to. Read more about the difference between motivation and commitment.
7. Willpower and environment - increase your chances for success. Design your environment so that it helps you achieve your goals and not make it more difficult. Add things and spend time with people that lift you up and help you achieve your goals. Spend less time with people that bring you down. Remove things that make your health and fitness journey more difficult and less enjoyable. Remove distractions and make it easier to yourself to stick with healthy habits. Read more the influence of environment and how it affects out willpower.
8. Find enjoyment and fun in exercise. Enjoy the process. Don't wait until your reach your goals to be satisfied/happy. Try to find your intrinsic motivation.
9. Set rewards for yourself for achieving goals and celebrate progress. No matter how small. (extrinsic motivation). Read more about two main types of motivation and how it affects our goal setting and progress.
10. Keep the journal of the benefits you experienced so far. Have you noticed an increase in energy and how you feel? Does walking up and down the stairs feel easier? Can you fit your favorite dress again? Did your blood sugar go down? Are you sleeping better? Less stress? Write it all down so you can remind yourself later of how far you've come. ​

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Our methods are based on science and our extensive experience working with people just like you. Whether or not you have any chronic diseases or joint/muscle complaints, we'll get to the right of the problem to help you move better, lose weight, tone, build muscle or enhance performance. 

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Other blog posts you might be interested in:
- Difference between a personal trainer and kinesiologist 
- Difference between kinesiologist and physiotherapist
- Who are kinesiologists in Toronto and Ontario