One of the all-time popular New Year Resolutions is to Lose Weight. While it is indeed a fine and lofty goal, unfortunately, it is statistically unlikely to be attained.

Gazing into the crystal void of a brand new year, riding a high of motivation, many of us head off to the gym, jump on the scales, count the calories and say to ourselves, “this time it is going to work”.

A few weeks later and the tide of normal life-pressures come flooding back to drown our commitments. We have to work late… We have to get the kids to after-school activities… One evening, perhaps to de-stress from a busy day, we wander into a pub, order a hamburger — ah, to heck with, add some fries with that — and from that point our resolve is dashed. The diet and fitness regime is ‘parked’ for a future time — next year for sure — and bad old habits gravitate back to us like unwanted friends. Pretty soon we are back to where we started from: overfed, overstressed and under-exercised. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. This was me, year after year after year.

Last year, however, was different. Very different. I did lose a ton of weight and I did get a lot fitter. I stuck with my plan for the entire year and succeeded with instilling healthy eating and exercise patterns into my everyday routine. In a nutshell, I nailed diet and exercise—completely!

What did I do differently, you may ask? I moved the damn goal posts.

The problem for me during all of those failed years was that, according to the Goal Commitment Scale (PDF), my resolution was too weak. Losing weight was rated, “I think this is a good goal to shoot for”, while to succeed it should have been rated, “I am strongly committed to pursuing this goal”. Quite frankly, the goal of Losing Weight was never going to become a strong goal for me—it was just not energising enough, not exciting enough, to get me out of bed in the morning.

My goal posts shifted, dramatically, when I signed up for my first marathon. It seemed a near-impossible goal at the time. I had just over a year in which to progress from struggling to run for a taxi to surviving an entire 42 kilometres through the streets and boroughs of New York. However, and this is key, I had commited some serious skin in the game: I had paid my entry fee and travel deposit; I had promissed to raise a lot of money for charity; I had pledged my first tattoo upon completion; I had started a blog; and I had announced my goal to all my friends and business associates.

I was not just strongly committed, I was manacled, to this goal — I had far too much face to lose. There was simply no way I was going to fail.

First marathon complete! 20 kg lighter & much fitter

I did achieve my goal. And it felt amazing! It made for one of the most successful and enjoyable years of my life—weight loss was simply a byproduct. I overcame obesity and metabolic syndrome in the process of striving for an audaciously larger goal.

Paradoxically, it seems that the most difficult goals produce the highest levels of effort and performance.