{"id":181679,"date":"2021-02-09T11:46:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T11:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=181679"},"modified":"2021-02-09T11:46:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T11:46:27","slug":"how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/09\/how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Stick to Your Diet \u2013 Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Changing how you eat is hard. You better have a very good reason for doing it. Your goal must be interesting enough to motivate you but not too crazy so you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re failing all the time. Let\u2019s take a look at how to set diet goals right.<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nBe smart about goals<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All diet goals should have a few things in common. A popular acronym SMART summarizes five important aspects of a well-defined goal. Let\u2019s take the \u201cI want to get in shape\u201d goal and see how it can be improved using the SMART approach.<\/p>\n

\"Sandwich\"<\/a>
Try setting your goals using the SMART approach. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2022 Specific:<\/strong> Put some numbers in and define details. Are you after a specific bodyweight? Or do you want to improve your time on a certain route?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Measurable:<\/strong> Decide how you\u2019re going to track progress. Will you be weighing yourself every week? Will you track watts or do timed practice rides?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Attainable:<\/strong> Make sure you have enough time, willpower, and motivation to reach your goal.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Realistic:<\/strong> Your goal has to be big enough that it excites you but not so big that there\u2019s no chance for you to reach it.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Time-bound:<\/strong> Set a date for when you want to reach your goal. This will make planning much easier and tracking progress more useful. You can even define milestones if it\u2019s a huge goal.<\/p>\n

Taking all of this into account, the SMART<\/a> way to define the same goal would be, \u201cI want to be 5 kg lighter in 2 months so that I\u2019m in race shape for my favourite race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having the right technique to define your diet goal will help you stick with your diet. Let\u2019s take a look at a few other tips<\/a> that will help you select the right diet goal.<\/p>\n

\"Food\"<\/a>
What exactly is your goal? \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Find your true reason why<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Diet goals are often about losing weight, changing body composition or not eating a certain type of food.<\/a> Those are all worthy goals but if you take a look at the big picture they might not be motivating enough. We know from research that short-term diet changes almost never translate into lasting results. Understanding why you\u2019re trying to lose weight, perform better in a given race or be healthier will help your motivation to stick to your new way of eating. Check out our previous article<\/a> about deep motivation to learn more.<\/p>\n

Short-term goals<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ambitious, exciting goals are important but you might get lost along the way if it takes too long to reach them. Always consider defining a set of short-term goals or milestones that will get you to the big one. An example of a short-term goal might be to cook 5 meals at home<\/a> this week or go a full week without any alcohol.<\/a> You can also track your weight every week but keep in mind that weight loss is rarely linear. Expect bigger weight loss in the first few weeks.<\/p>\n

Even the best long-term goal with perfectly defined supporting short-term goals sometimes isn\u2019t enough to keep you on track<\/a> with your diet. Life always finds a way to interfere. That\u2019s why we will look at how to deal with setbacks next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changing how you eat is hard. You better have a very good reason for doing it. Your goal must be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":181683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[332],"tags":[4904,4882,4905,2291,907],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-181679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-training","tag-goals","tag-how-to-stick-to-your-diet","tag-smart","tag-smart-acronym","tag-weight-loss","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nDiet Goals: How to Stick to Your Diet - We Love Cycling Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your diet goals must be interesting enough to motivate you but not too crazy so you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re failing all the time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/09\/how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Stick to Your Diet \u2013 Goals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your diet goals must be interesting enough to motivate you but not too crazy so you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re failing all the time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/09\/how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-09T11:46:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/02\/Cyclist-profimedia-0363771578-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jiri Kaloc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/09\/how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/09\/how-to-stick-to-your-diet-goals\/\",\"name\":\"Diet Goals: How to Stick to Your Diet - 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