Goals, Goals and More Goals
By Charles Stuart Platkin For Active.com
The holidays are behind us, and now we face the inevitable--diet season. Yes, it’s a vicious cycle. We eat as if there were no tomorrow; then, when the holidays are over, we awaken from our food coma and realize we need to lose a few (pounds, that is).

We rush to the bookstore in search of an answer, or listen to the latest diet guru, who offers us some miracle-of-the-moment, hoping, just hoping, it will make us fit. However, if you’re like most of us, you’ll end up falling prey to the neon doughnut and fast-food signs, as well as the many unhealthy food ads on TV. If you’ve been there, done that, how about doing something different this year: Set some goals.

Goal setting is critical to accomplishing any task. Is it possible to reach a goal without having a plan? Maybe. But if you want to significantly tip the odds in your favor, setting goals helps. In fact, a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reported that good goal setting increases your chances of reaching your diet objective by 84 percent.

Keep in mind, goals need to be specific (i.e., how much weight do you want to lose), motivating (interesting enough for you want to achieve them), achievable (realistic) and rewarding (worth having when you reach them). Strategies need to be tactical (i.e., you have a real plan), easy to evaluate, and revisable (if they are not working).

Visit http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/1326/156/ for more goal-setting tips.

DANIELLE'S COMMENTS: So what, you've already fallen off the wagon. Today is another day and there are still 347 days left in 2008. Start over. Remember, it's not a DIET, it's human survival. You're changing your unhealthy eating and lack of exercise habit, so that you can prolong the life of your body!!