I don’t have daughters, but my sister Paige blessed us with the most adorable nieces!!! Auntie Terra’s girls: Maryn (6) and Myla (1) Mitchell. Don’t you find it ironic that I have “M&Ms” as nieces??? Believe me, they are just as sweet too!! Haha!

Last week, we started discussing our goals for this summer. The goal setting part of weight loss and weight maintenance plays a HUGE role in our success. I love planning because it helps me to feel organized and in control and goal setting is basically long or short-range planning. Setting goals along the way and knowing what it is that we want helps us to stay on track and make decisions that are in line with the big picture of our life. Life can be crazy busy and most of us are responsible for a lot more than just ourselves, so it’s easy to put our needs last without even realizing it. Sometimes we don’t even know what it is we need or want because we haven’t really had the time to think about it. Goal setting allows us to take a “time out” from the everyday hustle and bustle to ask ourselves some key questions about what is really important to us. It’s “Me Time” that is much-needed. From there, we can formulate an action plan that’s in line with our true priorities. Without this time to re-evaluate, we end up spending our days being reactive and doing all the little things that need to be done and we miss the boat when it comes to the big picture things that matter, like our health. We have about 3 months or 12 weeks of official summer, so what would you like to have happen during these next 12 weeks? When you are setting your goals, it’s VERY important that you make them (1.) REALISTIC (2.) ATTAINABLE and (3.) A GOOD FIT WITH YOUR LIFE.

For some of us, summer is the easiest time of year to manage our weight. I am one of those people! I love SUMMER! The fresh fruits and veggies are abundant and taste great, lots of fun social events to keep us from getting bored, longer days allow us to move around outside more, early sunrises with the birds chirping help us to wake up feeling good and we get to wear sun dresses! Who doesn’t like throwing on a cute sun dress and not needing to wear a coat?? If you are like me and feel your best during the summer, I encourage you to KICK IT IN AND GO FOR YOUR GOALS! For you, this is the time to make things happen. Summer will fly by, it always does, and you want to accomplish all you can when your feeling terrific!

For others, the summer can be the most challenging time of year because of all the social events, vacations and lack of routine. We are all different and it’s important that we take this factor into consideration when thinking about the goals we want to attain in the next few months. If summer is difficult for you, appreciate that fact and don’t set goals that are going to be impossible for you to achieve and will make you miserable in the process and of trying! “This too shall pass”! If summer is really hard for you, then your goal might be to MAINTAIN the weight you have lost so far and jump-start the weight loss again in the fall when the kids are back in school.

What YOU want to have happen is PERSONAL to you and only you can make it happen, so let’s give it some earnest thought and set ourselves up to succeed in whatever it is we choose to do! Let’s make this an incredible summer to become stronger and more in control of our health! Not only is our future bright, our TODAY is BIG WITH BLESSINGS, so let’s get out the shades, bask in the good and enjoy every second!! There is NOTHING that you cannot accomplish and I am here to help you however I can!