Make 2025 Your Year of Successful Weight Loss with a SMART Goal!

Getting closer to the beginning of a new year, you may find yourself thinking about what you’d like to accomplish in 2025. If weight loss is at the top of your priority list, you’ve got a lot of company. A 2023 Forbes Health/One Poll survey found that about 34 percent of Americans make a resolution to lose weight every year, but research shows that most abandon these goals by the middle of February.

But this year, you’re determined—you will succeed. To make the path to your goal easier, you need to make a SMART goal, a well-known acronym that can be applied to weight loss. Here’s some more information about what SMART stands for and how it might look as you try to get rid of excess weight with a qualified medical team.

Specific

Anyone can strive to “lose weight,” but without deciding some of the details, this goal is extremely vague and less likely to be accomplished. How much do you want to shed exactly? Picking a specific amount can help you see the progress you’re looking for and help you know just how far your journey can take you. Your medical support team can help you identify an approximate range of weight you can consider losing.

Measurable

For example, if you would like to lose 50 pounds overall, you should write that number down and keep in your mind but consider breaking it down into even smaller increments. This step can make a Herculean task seem less intimidating. As you ad your medical team monitor your weight throughout the process, you can see yourself taking little steps closer to your goal, which can help you establish a sense of accomplishment and confidence essential to long-term success.

Attainable

Setting an unattainable goal not only sets yourself up for failure to lose weight but can push you further away from where you want to go. You can’t, for instance, aim to land on the moon when you only have a bicycle. You have to set a goal that is achievable and possible. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to experience disappointment and perhaps regression.

Realistic

Just as your goals should be attainable, they should also be realistic. Although it is technically possible for you to be under 100 pounds even if you are above 6 feet tall, it isn’t realistic or even healthy at that point! Try to take an objective look at your diet and exercise and try to make goals that will push you to do your best without making you tetter over your limit. For instance, if you don’t think you’ll be able to go completely cold turkey with sugar, you could begin by limiting your consumption to certain days of the week and control the portions.

Instead of setting a goal to run a marathon by summer (especially if you don’t currently run at all), you could start smaller, more realistic goal with a 5K, then work toward a 10K, and eventually build up to a half or even a whole marathon over time. Putting victories in your grasp can help you build confidence in yourself and help you set your sights higher.

Time-Bound

Although maintaining a healthy weight should be a continuous, lifelong goal, having no deadline will not motivate you to make a real change and will allow you to procrastinate or make excuses. If you pick an exact day, you are committed to reaching that result quickly. Again, try to be realistic with your timeline—losing 50 pounds in a month isn’t feasible or healthy—but selecting an end point can help you stay on track every day.

Losing weight and keeping it off for good can feel overwhelming, but if you use the SMART approach, you can realize your goal! You can do this—make 2025 your year for progress and change for the better!

About the Practice

Although Richardson Pain & Wellness has a wide range of services, including pain management, anti-aging treatment, and hormone therapy, we also specialize in medical weight loss. Our team can provide supplements, support, and dietary instructions that can lead to successful and significant weight loss. If you are interested in scheduling a consultation to learn more about our life-changing services, contact us online or call our office at 972-907-1125.