We’ve all been there. The year starts off with a list of ambitious health goals that you’re determined to achieve, but as the months go by, your motivation dwindles and you find yourself slipping back into old habits.
Many of us don’t know that motivation alone isn’t enough to achieve long-term health goals. It dips and wanes, which makes it difficult to sustain the healthy habits we strive for – particularly when we want quick results (1).
This year, instead of setting short-term health goals that are easy to abandon, try focusing on long-term health goals. These are goals that will benefit you now and in the future.
Here are 4 long-term health goals to strive for this year (and everything you need to know to achieve them):
Long-term health goals are commitments aimed at improving or maintaining your well-being over an extended period of time.
Unlike short-term goals, which may focus on achieving quick results within weeks or months, long-term health goals often take years to fully realize. They emphasize sustainability, gradual progress, and lasting impact on physical, emotional, and mental health.
This’s not to say that short-term goals aren’t important. They can help you stay motivated and build healthy habits, but they should be seen as stepping stones toward long-term health goals.
Some characteristics of long-term health goals include:
1. They Have Extended Timeframes
A central feature of long-term goals is their expansive timeline. These goals usually span years, sometimes even a lifetime. For example, lowering your risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease or maintaining an optimal weight as you age are objectives that cannot be achieved overnight, but through regular, consistent effort over time.
2. They Involve Sustainability and Lifestyle Changes
Long-term goals aren’t temporary fixes. Instead, they require integrating healthy habits into your everyday life. For example, adopting balanced nutrition and regular physical activity becomes your new “normal” rather than a short-term challenge.
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3. They’re Focused on Overall Well-Being
These goals aim to improve not just one aspect of health, but your overall well-being. This may include better physical fitness, improved mental wellness, or enhancing your social connections, all of which contribute to a longer, healthier life.
4. They Require Incremental Progress
Long-term health goals often involve breaking down larger goals into smaller, actionable steps (2). For example, if your goal is to increase your cardiovascular fitness, you may start with walking for 15 minutes a day and gradually progress to running 5 kilometers.
Read more: 5 Exercises to Do Every Day at Home Without Weights
There are many long-term health goals you can strive for, depending on your needs and priorities. Here are a few examples:
Weight management is often a common long-term goal, particularly for those who are looking to lose weight or prevent weight gain. This involves adopting healthy eating habits and engaging in regular physical activity (3).
Keep in mind that the goal isn’t just about reaching a specific number on the scale, but maintaining a healthy weight over time. This requires sustainable lifestyle changes rather than crash dieting or extreme exercise routines.
Mental health is just as important as physical health (4) when it comes to long-term goals. This might include seeking therapy for managing stress and anxiety, practicing self-care and mindfulness techniques, or improving sleep habits.
The goal is to cultivate a positive mindset and improve overall mental well-being, which can have lasting effects on your quality of life.
Long-term goals related to social connections can involve strengthening current relationships or building new ones. This may include attending social events, joining a club or group, or working on communication and conflict resolution skills.
Healthy relationships can significantly impact your mental and emotional health (5), which makes this an important long-term goal to strive for.
If you’ve set SMART goals around your health and been successful at achieving them, you will notice these meaningful changes at the end of the year:
Here’s a closer look at the outcome of setting long-term health goals:
1. You’ll Feel Stronger and More Energetic
By focusing on physical fitness, you can experience noticeable improvements in your body’s strength, endurance, and energy levels within a year:
If you start strength training or doing bodyweight exercises just two to three times a week, you’ll feel stronger by the end of your first few months. Imagine being able to lift heavier groceries, climb stairs more easily, or improve your posture. By the end of a year of regular strength training, you’ll likely notice more muscle tone, better joint stability, and a significant increase in physical confidence (6).
One of the first changes people notice when they commit to regular moderate exercise (such as brisk walking, cycling, or dancing) is an improvement in energy levels (7). Exercise helps your body burn fuel more efficiently, which means that by the end of the year, you’ll wake up feeling more refreshed and experience fewer mid-afternoon slumps.
Cardiovascular improvements come surprisingly quickly. After just a couple of months of consistent exercise, you may notice it’s easier to climb hills or keep up with active kids. Stay consistent, and by the end of a year, you might be jogging a 5K, taking on weekend hikes, or enjoying longer sessions of your favorite activities without feeling winded (8).
2. When You Eat Better, Your Body Will Feel Better
A year of improving your diet can fundamentally change how your body feels and functions – and it’s not about restriction, but balance.
By transitioning toward eating more whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and fiber-rich whole grains, you may notice within a few months that your gut health improves significantly (9). Many people report fewer bloated, sluggish days and more “light and energized” ones. If you’re curious about the customable meal plan, check out our earlier article.
If weight management is a goal, a year of small, steady improvements can have a profound impact (10). Realistically, losing around 1-2 pounds per week could result in shedding 25-50 pounds by year’s end, leaving you feeling lighter, more confident, and at reduced risk for chronic illnesses such as diabetes or hypertension (11).
Adjusting your eating habits to include fewer processed sugars and more balanced meals (with healthy fats, proteins, and carbs) can stop those highs and crashes many people feel after meals. After months of steady, nourishing foods, energy spikes and slumps will feel like a thing of the past.
While healthy eating habits aren’t about deprivation, they often lead to a decreased desire for ultra-processed, sugary foods. If you stick with it for a year, you may find that those once-desirable treats no longer hold the same appeal, and you won’t miss them one bit (12).
3. You’ll Experience Improvement in Mental and Emotional Well-Being
Taking care of your mental and emotional health can have a significant impact on your overall well-being. Here are some potential changes you may experience within a year:
Regular mindfulness exercises or meditative practices – even just 10-15 minutes a day – can profoundly decrease stress and anxiety within the first few months (13). By the end of the year, you may find it easier to manage challenges, feel more grounded, and experience fewer reactive moments.
Exercise, better nutrition, and consistent sleep all contribute to enhanced cognitive function (14, 15, 16). Many people report feeling less “foggy” and more cognitively sharp within 3-6 months of these changes. Imagine how much clearer and more productive you’ll feel by the end of a year.
Physical health directly impacts mental health, and by sticking to a healthier lifestyle – such as consistent exercise, healthy diet, or practicing gratitude – you could feel more positive, content, and optimistic. Research on the “runner’s high” has confirmed that regular physical activity is a contributing factor to emotional well-being, thanks to the endorphins it releases (17).
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4. Your Life Quality Will Improve
Sometimes it’s the little day-to-day perks that make the biggest difference, and a year of healthier living can deliver plenty of them.
Within a few months of improving sleep hygiene – such as going to bed at regular times and cutting down on pre-bed screen time – you may find that you wake up more refreshed and need fewer restless nights. By year’s end, improved energy and mood will feel like second nature (18).
If you set out to quit smoking or drink less, a year can make all the difference. Withdrawals and cravings can lessen significantly within weeks or months, and by the end of the year, you’ll likely feel in far better control of your habits, with more energy and fewer health complications.
Adding something as simple as walking 30 minutes a day can accumulate into so much more over a year (19). You may find yourself swapping sedentary time for more hobbies, outdoor adventures, or social activities you didn’t feel up to before.
Motivation isn’t about staying fired up every single day – it’s about creating systems that keep you moving in the right direction, even during low-energy moments. Here’s how to build momentum that lasts:
Start with SMART Goals
SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – are a proven framework for setting objectives that inspire action and keep you motivated (2).
By setting clear, manageable targets, you create smaller wins to keep your motivation alive.
Break the Goal into Bite-Sized Milestones
A huge part of staying motivated comes down to how you structure your goals. Focusing only on big, long-term goals (e.g. “lose 50 pounds” or “run a marathon in a year”) can feel overwhelming and demotivating. Instead, break them into smaller, actionable chunks that show progress and help you develop habits (20).
For example:
Small wins create a dopamine boost – your brain’s reward signal for success – which reinforces the habit (21). The more wins you accumulate, the more motivated you stay.
Plan for Setbacks
Motivation often drops when you hit obstacles, whether it’s a busy schedule, an injury, or missing a target. Instead of viewing setbacks as failures, treat them as opportunities to learn and adapt.
Here’s how:
Knowing that setbacks are a normal part of progress helps you bounce back faster and maintain your long-term vision.
Keep It Fun and Flexible
Rigid routines often lead to burnout, but building variety into your health goals can keep things fresh and enjoyable.
Creating a positive, enjoyable process ensures you’ll want to stick with it in the long term.
To write long-term health goals, start by identifying what you want to achieve in the next year or beyond. Use the SMART framework – make them specific (e.g. “lose 20 pounds”), measurable (track weight weekly), achievable (realistic for you), relevant (aligned with your values), and time-bound (set a deadline). Focus on gradual progress and create smaller milestones to track along the way. A health fitness short-term goal is an objective you can achieve in a few weeks or months that contributes to your overall fitness. Examples include completing a 30-minute workout three times per week, increasing your running distance by 1 mile in a month, or mastering a new exercise such as push-ups or planks. Short-term goals for diet aim to improve your eating habits in a manageable timeframe. Examples include drinking eight glasses of water daily, cooking at home three times a week, adding one serving of vegetables to every meal, or reducing soda consumption by half over the next month. A good long-term health goal focuses on sustainable changes that benefit your overall well-being. Examples include maintaining a healthy weight, improving cardiovascular health by running a marathon over the next year, lowering cholesterol through diet and exercise, or consistently getting eight hours of sleep per night to improve energy and mood.Frequently Asked Questions
How do I write my long-term goals?
What is a health fitness short-term goal?
What are short-term goals for diet?
What is a good long-term health goal?
Long-term health goals are about cultivating a lifestyle that supports your well-being for the years ahead. By focusing on sustainability, overall health, and slow yet steady progress, these goals ensure lifelong benefits. They require patience, but the rewards, from enhanced physical vitality to emotional stability, make them an investment in yourself that you’ll never regret.
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