How to Set Reasonable Health Goals

Resolving to Become Healthier

Goals for becoming healthier are better achieved if they are reasonably set, with expectations being attainable rather than a near-impossibility to reach. Gradual improvements in diet, exercise and stress-reduction are those that are more easily attained and that are more successfully held onto and improved upon. Methods for pacing one’s self to accomplish health resolutions at a successful pace will be addressed in the subheadings that follow.

Common Health Resolutions

Goals for better health are often referred to as “resolutions” and many people set them within days or weeks before the change of a new year. The following are goals that people making resolutions commonly desire improvement-in, for overall better health.

• weight loss
• a healthier, low-fat diet
• exercising to tone the body and improve stamina
• a plan for dealing-with and reducing stress

Many people have found through trial and error, that setting reasonable goals rather than ones that are very difficult to achieve, helps one to remain inspired to achieve them, rather than becoming discouraged before reasonable gains are made.

Improved Diet and Weight Loss

When improving one’s diet for weight loss, the goal should also include the improvement of health. This would mean to not only eat less but to eat healthier foods as well. Starvation diets, for example, are not healthy and can result in a person binge-eating once they see weight loss resulting and they are tempted to compromise their diet. Gradual weight loss has been shown in studies to be healthier and weight that is more easily kept-off, rather than regained.

Cutting out fattening foods by what is sometimes called the “cold turkey” method, in which they are stopped suddenly and completely may also be less successful for some dieters than a more gradual cutting-out of fatty foods. If a person resolves to completely remove white and sweet breads from their diet, for example, they might better achieve this by eating 50% less white bread at first and then cutting it back another 25% over a few weeks time and weaning off the last 25% within a few more weeks.

Unhealthy foods should also be replaced with healthy ones, to include vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains.

Reasonable Exercise Routines

Exercise is quite possibly the single healthiest pursuit one can undertake. Studies have shown that it not only improves muscular tone in the body and cardiovascular health but it can also improve one’s emotions and help to reduce stress levels.

Whether one begins an aerobics or calisthenics exercise regimen, they should do so at a pace their bodies can tolerate well. Extending beyond one’s tolerance level can result in bodily injury and unnecessary fatigue. By beginning a low-impact and safe level of exercise, one can gradually build the level as they are able to safely adjust to it.

Walking is a safe way to begin a cardiovascular, aerobics exercise routine, building speed and distance at a gradual pace. Low repetition calisthenics, using no weights, then slowly graduating to light weights and heavier weights can be a safe method for a body toning routine.

Reducing Stress

No one is immune to the effects of stress in everyday life but it can be reduced and maintained at a healthier level through stress-reduction practices. This area of improvement for better health takes time and effort to achieve but can contribute both to improved physical and emotional well-being.

As mentioned in the previous subheading, exercise is a great natural stress-reducer. Other methods for reducing and gaining control over stress include enjoyable pastimes and hobbies such as art pursuits and leisure activities. The following are hobbies and leisure activities that can be enjoyed while reducing stress levels.

• writing
• painting
• sculpting
• hiking
• camping
• games
• music
• reading

Taking time out to simply rest quietly or to meditate can also contribute to stress reduction. These activities can have a cumulative effect toward conquering stressors that exert negative effects on mental and physical health.

In conclusion, it is wise when making resolutions for better health, to include all three areas of improvement as addressed in the previous subheadings. Each of these can contribute to the success of the others for a well-balanced improvement in overall health.