When Your Best Doesn't Feel Like Enough, Setting SMART Goals May be the Key to Your Success

Do you feel like you are eating all of the right things, exercising, following all of the “rules” but are STILL not seeing any or not enough progress in your weight, blood sugar levels, or other health goals? You may be feeling frustrated and think that maybe it’s just in your genes, that it’s out of your control, and that there’s nothing left to do. I’m here to ask you to please not give up on yourself, you do have control, you have the key to your success.

As experts in health and nutrition,

our Registered Dietitian Nutritionists at

Hungry for Health are here to help guide you

set AND achieve your nutrition and lifestyle goals!

Setting SMART Goals for success. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. This concept can be applied to any situation, and here are some ways to apply it to your nutrition and lifestyle goals:

Is your goal SPECIFIC? Instead of saying that you will “drink less soda and drink more water,” your goal might be to “drink 4 instead of 8 cans of soda, and drink 4 glasses of water every day.” Or, maybe instead of saying that you will “exercise more,” your goal might be to “walk in 10-minute increments three times per day for five out of seven days each week.” That’s 30 minutes a day, 150 minutes per week!

It’s about progress, not perfection!

Is your goal MEASURABLE? It is important to have a system in place to measure your progress in order to hold yourself accountable and stay on track. At Hungry for Health we provide our clients with a powerful web-based tool, Healthie, designed to help you track and measure your progress and stay on track (details below). If you are not signed up for Healthie yet, keeping a written log in a dedicated notebook or even in the notes section of your phone is a good option too!

Is your goal ACHIEVABLE? Looking at your time and lifestyle, is your goal realistic? If you really, really, really don’t like water, how about unsweetened iced or hot tea, or even water flavored with lemon or fruit? Or maybe the weather is not conducive to walking outside and walking for long periods of time may be challenging for you right now. Maybe a better option would be to walk 10 minutes one time and do weight-bearing chair exercises twice per day in 10-minute increments for 5 days out of 7 days per week. You’ll still get in your 30 minutes per day and 150 minutes per week!

Where there is a will, there is a way!