Neglecting your New Year’s resolution? Make SMART goals

Motivation to stand by a New Year's resolution may be slowly waning, but experts have advice on how to stay accountable and to turn those goals into healthy lifestyle habits.

Goals need to be SMART, explained Cyndi Walljasper, professor of psychology at Iowa Wesleyan University. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely.

'Success breeds more success,” Walljasper said. 'If you set the goal too high and you don't meet it, you feel like a failure and start to say, ‘It's too hard, I'm not going to do that.'”

Walljasper suggests setting small, specific goals, writing them down and checking them off the list. The goals may seem 'ridiculously easy,” but seeing it on paper and marking it off will increase the likelihood of meeting an even bigger goal, she said.

Goals need to be measurable so it's clear when they have been achieved. Making a resolution to be healthier is really vague, Walljasper said. But setting a certain number of pounds to lose or how many times a week to exercise or how many pages of a book to read a day is specific and measurable.

Making goals achievable is what people struggle with the most, Walljasper said. She advises when setting a goal, cut it in half, then cut it in half again.

'Baby steps,” Walljasper said. 'If I want to suddenly walk every day for an hour, but I haven't been walking at all, it's not achievable. It's hard to be realistic sometimes, but I'd rather have a small goal I can achieve than a large goal I can't.”

Goals also need to be relevant. As an professor, Walljasper sometimes sets goals for her students, but they have to decide it matters to them for it to be relevant.

Goals need to be your own, not one someone sets for you, Walljasper said.

Finally, goals need to be set with a time frame in mind.

'By what day will you have accomplished this?” Walljasper asked.

If the goal is to exercise twice a weeks, where, what days of the week and what time of day will you do so, and what obstacles may arise.

Above all, think about resolutions as a journey, Walljasper said.

'It's not just about getting to an end point, it's about making the changes you want to make, and that takes time and practice,” Walljasper said. 'Be patient with yourself. New Year's resolutions can be a time to re-energize and come up with a new goal, but if you don't use some of these SMART strategies, it's unlikely to be successful.”

Accountability partners are another strategy for accomplishing a resolution, said Teri Hartzler, branch manager at the YMCA in Washington.

This year, Hartzler launched a 'Commit to be Fit Challenge” group on Facebook. The first challenge in January is 60 minutes of exercise six days a week. There are about 60 people in the group who post daily about what they did for exercise.

People do not have to be members of the Y to be a part if the Facebook group.

'It's been incredibly motivating for people,” Hartzler said. 'Everyone chimes in, everyone is positive and gives great feedback and congratulates each other on completing the challenge.”

The 'Commit to be Fit Challenge” in February will be eating healthier, Hartzler said.

Hartzler said the Y sees an influx of members between January and March every year, and there are a lot of opportunities for new members to find their niche. One mistake she sees new members make is doing the same workout all the time.

'Keep it fresh,” Hartzler said. While the first month of a resolution is about establishing a routine, change is always good, she said.

Group fitness classes are a great place to start, Hartzler said. There's accountability and an instructor to tell students what to do.

'A lot of people get caught up in ‘I don't know what to do or where to start.' (Fitness classes) gives them direction,” Hartzler said.

Resolutions to eat healthier bring a challenge of their own.

It's possible to have a routine of meals for a month, but that gets boring, said Elise Klopfenstein, dietitian at Henry County Health Center.

Adding roasted vegetables or sauteing peppers and onions for more variety and flavor to a salad or as a side is an easy, more satisfying change, Klopfenstein suggested.

Don't fall for fad diets, Klopfenstein said. Healthy eating should be sustainable changes for life. Crucial nutrients are missed when food groups are restricted or eliminated entirely, Klopfenstein said, adding that food should not be made an enemy.

Keeping a food journal is telling of what food groups may be missing from a diet, Klopfenstein said.

If you can look at that and see you've only eaten vegetables three times in a week, you can add more to your diet.

'Be open to adjusting your plan or change your plan with new goals,” Klopfenstein said. 'Don't be afraid to mix it up.”