How’s 2021 been so far? My first video was exciting and all though it’s a lot of work, it is fun to do and a whole different form of art that I get to learn.
Let’s take a moment and build on my blog post a few weeks ago about A Healthy Mindset for 2021. I had mentioned about why remembering the reasons you’ve set a goal and writing those reasons down is important. Progression has many different faces and might not look like the way you thought it would. And that we need to be realistic in the goals we set for ourselves. No one, including our bodies, thrives in an environment of unrealistic expectations.
So what does setting goals actually looks like?
Goals Are What You Can Control
So many people set goals that are actually outcomes of goals. So what’s the difference?
- Goals: what we can control
- Outcomes: results of those goals
I know I’ve talked about this a lot before, but it’s something we find ourselves in the bad habit of doing a lot. We are fed pictures, articles, advertisements that show an outcome of something we want.
The number one goal at the beginning of the year is weight management, right? So a lot of times I hear “I want to lose weight” or “I want to gain muscle”. That’s great, but those aren’t actually goals.
Goals are things we have control over on a daily or weekly basis. The goal of losing, gaining, getting fit, etc. is an outcome of daily and weekly goals like, drinking more water, being consistent with an exercise program, eating more vegetables, etc. Goals are what support an outcome.
Example
Let’s say you want to lower and maintain a healthy blood cholesterol level. You can’t control when, or how low your cholesterol will be by a certain day on the calendar. What you CAN do is change things in your daily and weekly routine that will support having a lower and more maintained blood cholesterol level on a consistent basis, and this is how you will be able to accomplish that outcome.
So your goals might be having fresh fruit or vegetables with every meal. Eating more whole foods and less processed foods. Having an exercise routine that you can stick with, even just 20 minutes for a few days a week.
By breaking down how you get to that outcome, then you can start to be realistic with yourself and see what it is that you can consistently do. For goals to show in a desired outcome, you need to consistently adhere to those goals. Ask yourself if you can see yourself doing this every week for years? If it seems overwhelming, then find a lesser version that is comfortable to start. Then every few weeks or months, add to it. That way changing your usual normal to a healthier version, will then be your new normal and it not be exhausting, or something that you unrealistically can’t keep up with.
Recipe Tomorrow
I’ll be posting on my YouTube Channel tomorrow some of the information I shared here, but also a new chickpea salad recipe!
My initial goal this year is to get back to eating less processed, but also getting back to being better about my food allergies and that includes staying away from soy. At Whole Foods I love their processed soy-based “Chicken” Sonoma Salad. It’s so good! But not for my body. So I decided to make an “Amanda-friendly” version instead and share it with you all! The recipe will be posted on the blog tomorrow, and then the video will be uploaded on YouTube!
Keep finding your “beet”! I’ll talk to you all soon.
A Different Beet Nutrition 