Robynne Jeftha - Healthy Lifestyles Australia Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist achieves Female 3rd place overall at the Brisbane 2014 Twilight Half Marathon! All of the team are proud of you Robynne! Your ability to train and still give 100% to patients day in day out demonstrates your commitment to your health and the health of each and every one of your clients.

To help motivate Healthy Lifestyles Australia clients, Robynne has gone out of her way to develop the article below on goals, health and lifestyle. 

NUTRITION & EXERCISE – GOALS

Robynne Jeftha - BSci (Nutrition) (Hons) APD, AN, BAppSci (Ex & Sp Sci), AEP, ESSAM

Whether it is losing weight, exercising more, improving your diabetes or running your first 5 k, it helps to set clear, written goals to make sure you get there. 

As a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist, it makes sense that two of the most important things to me are good nutrition and enjoyable exercise – but I find that it always helps to have a goal to keep me motivated. Running has always been a way that I have enjoyed staying fit  – but it can be hard to get out of bed that extra hour earlier in the morning without a real reason to do it – so I decided midway through last year to run my first half marathon (my goal: to run the whole way without stopping!) and since completing that I have been setting new goals to keep providing myself with new challenges.

“The first step to getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are” J.P. Morgan.

There are different variations on the SMART goals acronym which is popular in everything from management circles to exercise programming – but I am going to share with you the one that works for me and many of my clients.

Specific: Who, what, where, when, why? These are the questions you want to address here to make sure that your goal is clear and something that is important to you.

Measurable: How much, how many, how will you know when you have reached your goal? Seeing change helps us to stay on track, and deciding beforehand on what your level of improvement will be is important.

Action-Oriented: Make your goal positive and specific rather than negative or vague, so that it is something that moves you towards success. Highlighting the positives – for example focusing on foods you should eat rather than foods you shouldn’t, or ‘I will feel more energetic after I exercise’ rather than ‘I’m too tired to exercise’ will increase the likelihood that you stick to your goals.

Realistic: Is the journey sustainable and something you are capable of? If you have never run 5 km before, then aiming to run a full 42.2 km marathon will be daunting. Instead, set smaller reasonable goals for the short-term and work up towards your long-term goal from there.

Time-Based: Set a target date for each goal, and use this as a motivating factor. Again, be realistic with the time frame to achieve your goal.

Once you have your goal in mind, put it to paper and draw up a daily, weekly and monthly plan to make it happen.

Putting It Together

The idea of changing your entire diet and exercise regime can be overwhelming, so focus on one small thing at a time that you can do to achieve your larger goal. The best way to achieve success is to combine your SMART goals with planning and dedication.

One way is to use a specific goal diary so that you can see your bigger goal (e.g. To lose 10 kg by December by eating more nutritious foods and making time to exercise 5 days a week) and then break it down into smaller steps (e.g. By the end of April I will have lost 1.5 kg by walking the dog 3 times a week).

Plan out the time frame to achieve each of your smaller goals in order to reach your longer term goal – but also take the time to sit down at the beginning of each week in front of your calendar and block out the exact times you will exercise (or prepare healthy meals if this is what will help you get , and treat these exactly as you would any other appointment.

Writing our goals down gives us a stronger connection with them, and as you tick off the smaller goals it provides you with the encouragement to keep going.

Lastly – be flexible, and once you reach your goal don’t stop there! Reward yourself (e.g. with a new hairdo), and then start planning your next goal. My goal going into my last race at the Twilight Running Festival was to achieve a time of under 1 hr 30 mins – I missed this by 25 seconds, but I’m still happy with that, it just means that I will need to extend my deadline by a few months before moving on to the next goal on my list. 

Robynne Jeftha - 3rd Place Female 2014 Twilight Half Marathon Brisbane.