If you're reading this you've hopefully made the decision to make real change in your life.

Whether it's with diet, exercise or something else, goals are important not just for weight loss but for success in all other areas of life.



These can be anything from staying within a certain calorie limit for the day to losing 200 lbs, to getting that promotion at work.



So what are your goals when it comes to changing your lifestyle and losing that weight?



To be safe your goals should be as realistic as possible.



Take into account the safe progression of weight loss, your realistic eating and exercise habits and plan for any deviations that may arise as well.



You may find that, realistically, a substantial weight loss regimen (and hopefully a lifestyle change) could take up to a couple years to implement.



If you're looking to lose weight fast, that may sound pretty ominous and scary, but to be honest with you, there's no way to lose weight healthfully and to keep it off that is going to be fast.



That's something that everyone who's lost a substantial amount of weight has come to grips with and that they'll probably never tell you.



If you're in it for the long haul and you've made that decision, goals can help.



Along with helping you to plan out your lifestyle change and weight loss, goals provide a much needed motivation in the process of a big weight loss.



You may have a goal in mind for a certain date (realistically planned of course) and every small step toward that goal can have positive effects on self esteem and provide extra fuel for your willpower and good choices.



Additionally, every time you exceed one of your goals, the feeling of accomplishment and pride is more than worth the mental discomfort you felt in changing your habits and working toward that goal.



That's why it's important to set frequent and, as I've said, realistically achievable goals.



Examples of achievable goals are things like staying within your calorie limit for an entire week to losing 2 or 3 lbs.



Just keep setting small goals for yourself to overcome one at a time.



Once you start racking up achievement points and conquering all these tiny goals you'll feel incredibly empowered and be able to conquer larger and larger goals.



If you set one large goal at the beginning of your weight loss regimen for a certain goal weight, and you start hitting all your little goals out of the park, before you know it, you'll have reached your ultimate goal weight and will literally feel like a million bucks.



So how can you make a goal?



Think about where you want to be in 3 days



Then think about where you want to be in a week.



Then a month.



Then a year.



Then think about where you want to be in five years.



What's a reasonable expectation for yourself to achieve in each of these time periods?



It can be anything but it has to be something that you can do realistically with a bit of a challenge.



At the end of each period of time, update your expectations for yourself.



As you start knocking your goals out, you'll find they become easier and easier.



Eventually, you'll be a hundred pounds lighter and a much happier person.



In summary, goals, like habits and planning, are essential parts of a successful weight loss program into a new lifestyle.



The best way to feel great about losing weight is to knock out a constant succession of little goals until, before you know it, you're at your optimal goal weight and you feel great.