For many, January 1st marks an imperative date for new beginnings and possibilities for the coming year. At the top of that resolution list are often health and fitness aspirations, like shedding those last ten pounds or finally running in the city marathon. However, one of the biggest mistakes we are all guilty of making is setting unattainable goals in a short amount of time (think January 1st to Valentines Day). “Setting goals is a great idea, but make sure they are realistic and feasible,” says Tryone Holmes a writer for Active. “For example, a goal to lose 12 lbs by Easter is both reasonable and achievable.” If your clients are starting to think of those inevitable new years resolutions, here are the tips you need to create realistic nutritional goals for your clients in the new year.
5 Tips for Creating Realistic Fitness & Nutritional Goals in the New Year!
1. Assess, Assess, Assess!
First things first, assess your clients’ physical state and nutritional habits – in order for you to set realistic and feasible goals, you will want to determine how capable your client is of achieving them. For example, losing 10-12 Ibs by Easter may be realistic, but twenty to thirty pounds likely will not – and can even create unhealthy habits. Once you have properly assessed your clients’ health and physical-state, establish clear goals and objectives to ensure that your client is prepared for success.
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2. Achieving Nutritional Goals with a Clean Diet
As a nutritionist, you aren’t just responsible for speaking to the benefits of a healthy, well-balanced diet; it’s important to stay knowledgable of new discoveries and diet fads. While your clients may find a crash diet appealing for short-term results, they can potentially derail long-term goals – which is why it’s so important to be able to identify short-term diets that may be harmful, and guide your client through a realistic, healthy diet plan.
Setting a nutrition plan for your clients can come as a challenge, especially when your client is in charge of holding themselves accountable. One of the best ways to keep your client on track and aware of what they are are putting on their plates each day, is to encourage tracking each and every meal for at least a week. This will give you the information you need to tweak their diet so they can enjoy the foods they love most, and will help to inform your client of their daily intake.
When it comes time to develop your clients healthy diet plan, don’t forget to remind them that they don’t have to sacrifice the foods they love to achieve those goals; all they need are healthy alternatives! Check out these healthy meal plan ideas that even your pickiest clients can enjoy!
3. Getting Fit & Staying in Shape
Eating clean and working out go hand and hand – after all, you can never fully achieve those weight-loss goals without a challenging fitness regimen. Once you have successfully determined a healthy meal plan for your client, encourage them to work out 3-6 days a week, depending on their goals, current weight and physical ability. A new year brings new opportunities so remind your client that they don’t have to dedicate all their time to a gym, there are plenty of fun classes out there – everything from Barre Sculpt, Spin and Pilates can work to tone every inch.
4. Reference Goals Daily, Weekly and Monthly
One of the best ways to ensure that your client stays on track is to reference their goals daily, weekly and monthly. If your client is determined to lose ten pounds by Easter, they will be more likely to pass on those tempting office treats if they have their goals in front of them every morning. For a quick and effective way to track goals, encourage your client to use an online tool, such as Evernote – the basic version is free and an efficient way to organize daily tasks (like the gym)! As well as those short and long-term goals.
5. A Missed Opportunity Doesn’t Have to Derail Goals
While a missed opportunity can be discouraging, your client doesn’t have to lose motivation – If your client turns a cheat day into a week or doesn’t achieve the level of fitness necessary to run in the local marathon, they may start to become discouraged. This is your opportunity to remind them that while they may have had a couple of setbacks, this isn’t a time to completely give up – and they still have another chance to try again, even if it’s not right away.
In the event your client misses the marathon or has a nutritional setback, tweak the goals accordingly and encourage them to rely on themselves more than you in order to stay on track for the upcoming marathon (after all, they will likely hold themselves much more accountable once that opportunity passed them by the first time). Staying on track and creating goals for your client doesn’t have to be a challenge, all your clients need are clear objectives and a feasible plan in order achieve their goals in the new year.
