THE Six TARGETS 

The imagery of an archery target guided me as I created this program. What I often see in my clients (and in myself) is a self-defeating perfectionism, a belief that we must hit the bull’s-eye every time we eat a meal, go to the gym, or step on the scale. When we fall short of our expectations, we often give up for the day or for good, frustrated and feeling hopeless. But in weight loss, consistency beats perfection every time.

Target 100 is a holistic program based on the premise that absolutism doesn’t work in weight loss. Instead, it shows you how to make small, meaningful adjustments that will lead to permanent behavior change and successful, long-term weight loss. Target 100 is the product of everything I have learned over the course of my career and draws on the latest research in fields like nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, sleep, and habit science. I wanted the program to be simple but effective, flexible enough to fit into any lifestyle.

After a lot of experimentation and trial and error, I settled on six doable, easy-to-remember guidelines that, combined, produce dramatic results. Each addresses a different piece of the weight-loss puzzle, and each sets a “target” of 100.

For each of these guidelines, 100 is the goal—the yellow bull’s-eye in the center of the target—but just as in archery, it isn’t all or nothing. If you can’t add 100 minutes of sleep per week, you will still make progress by adding eighty minutes, sixty minutes, or even forty minutes.

We want to believe the weight-loss equation is as simple as calories in and calories out, but ignoring the other variables doesn’t make them disappear:

  • Lack of hydration is driving us to overeat and sapping our energy.
  • Endless low-level stressors are flooding us with hormones that drive our decisions and alter the way we process fat.
  • Exercise has become tangled with food, something we view as a punishment or a get-out-of-jail-free card, weighed down with shame and unrealistic expectations.
  • Our increasingly sedentary lives are stifling our metabolisms and changing the way our bodies function.
  • Lack of sleep exhausts our reserves and increases levels of the hormones that tell us to eat, while cutting production of those that tell us when to stop.

As you take action on each of these targets, you will begin to see that they all support one another; that each makes the others easier. Here are just a few examples:

  • Targeting 100 minutes of exercise will reduce stress, help you sleep better at night, build confidence, and combat negative thoughts. Those effects will in turn make it easier to make better food choices.
  • The reduction of carbs will reduce inflammation and sugar crashes, making it easier to get and stay moving, while the increase in protein helps you maintain and build lean muscle.
  • Drinking 100 ounces of water each day supports the activity of exercise and helps the body recover, while being active in the first place triggers you to drink the water your body needs.

This simple plan works so well because each of the six targets has wide-ranging impact. Read about each of them by clicking on the icons below:

WORDS OF LIZDOM

ACHIEVING SUCCESSFUL, LASTING WEIGHT LOSS IS LIKE BUILDING A HOUSE, OR KEEPING A CIRCUS TENT ALOFT, OR PLAYING A GAME OF JENGA—GO AHEAD, PICK YOUR METAPHOR! THE FORMULA FOR HABIT CHANGE IS YOUR FOUNDATION, AND STRESS, SLEEP, HYDRATION, NUTRITION, EXERCISE, AND MOVEMENT ARE ALL VITAL STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS, BRACED BY AND SUPPORTING EACH OTHER. OVERLOOK OR WEAKEN ANY ONE OF THEM AND THE WHOLE THING COULD TOPPLE OVER.