Diet Rituals: Setting "The Goal"

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"I figured you guys might be able to give me some pointers. I need to shape up. Fast."

"Are you just looking to lose weight, or do you want increased strength and flexibility as well?"

"I want to look good naked."

- American Beauty

Setting a goal is one of the first things you're supposed to do when planning a diet and exercise routine. State exactly where you want to be in a certain time frame, and strive towards that goal.

I've never been a huge fan of the whole Goal Orientation aspect. I'm like the Republicans and Iraq; I think it is unreasonable to announce my expectations by setting checkpoints for fat withdrawals. There's already an implied goal embedded in dedicating one's self to a diet: Lose Weight, Get Healthy. To me, anything else seems like needless micromanaging.

Of course, its also supposed to be a realistic goal. One hundred pounds in two months isn't too achievable, unless you've jumped on that Dehydration & Vivisection diet fad that's been sweeping the nation this week. But what's to say what a realistic goal really is until you're already halfway there? Its easy to say that the drive to Florida is only going to take six hours, but that was before the construction traffic on route 78, and you're going to end up pulling over for ice cream at some point just to shut the kids up. Life of intervenes in a most annoying and counterproductive manner.

The best laid plans of mice and men often involve cheese, but communication is always the fly in the ointment... sorry, don't know where I was going with that. The point is, short term goals can get discouraging if you fail to meet them, and discouragement is the

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biggest enemy of the Dieter, right above ice cream and ill-fitting jogging suits. Why risk the heartache by scheduling monthly, or God forbid, weekly, weight loss goals?

Then again, the long term goals can be pretty discouraging themselves. Its hard to feel good about the progress you are making when you can't measure it. One hundred pounds in a year or two might be a great ultimate goal, but if that's the chunk you're looking to eradicate, the fifteen or twenty you start out with isn't going to be that sizable of a dent to the mind's eye.

So, what's the compromise? Somewhere between weighing yourself every night and wanting to look good naked, there has to be a reasonable level of expectation. This is what I've striven to achieve within my own diet plan. I think I might have come up with something.

I do plan on weighing myself to measure my success, just as soon as I find the appropriate scale (more on that fiasco later). You need to know where the journey begins, after all. But I will not be weighing myself regularly. Instead, I am going to be taking a slightly more feminine approach and measure my rate of success through belt notches and pants sizes. The belt I am wearing right now, for example, has one notch visible beyond the buckle. My goal? More than One. When I get to two, the goal will be More than Two. An achievable and visible goal, put with flexible parameters.

As far as a more permanent long-term goal, I intend to walk into a normal store like Sears or Target before New Year, and purchase a pair of pants off of the rack that actually fit. For, as anyone battling with weight knows, one of the most noticeable signs of being overweight is being forced to shop at "Big & Tall" or "Plus Size" stores for clothing. I will definitely be talking about the mythical realm of shopping "Off the Peg" at a later date.

So, there you have it. My personal Weight Loss Goals: More belt notches, and fewer pants sizes.

Looking good naked wouldn't hurt, either.

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