Reaching Your Goals

While it is very important to make your healthful living goal, it involves a lot of work to achieve it. So here are some tips for you to help reach important goals:

• Make Goals Realistic - Even if you spend all day exercising and watching what you eat, it is impossible to lose twenty pounds in one week. It is healthy and normal to lose 1-2 pounds a week. It is realistic to lose twenty pounds in three months. If you reach it earlier, fabulous!

• Make Mini-Goals - If you have a huge goal, it can be helpful to break down the final goal into smaller ones that you can reach on a regular basis. You may decide to have weekly healthy goals that you can continue to maintain... eat two more vegetables each day, exercise five times a week, take a multi-vitamin daily, have no fast food... attack each problem one week at a time and reward yourself accordingly.

• Reward Yourself - When you reach a goal, celebrate! Pat yourself on the back... give yourself a high five! Do NOT reward yourself with an unhealthy treat. It can be helpful to make a list of rewards for yourself, both small and large. We often do not take time for ourselves in our incredibly busy lives, so you could reward yourself with an activity you do not usually have time for... an uninterrupted hour on the phone with someone you love, time to work on your neglected hobby. If time is not a good reward for you, then you can always pamper yourself... get a pedicure, buy a new pair of shoes, rent a movie. It can be helpful to make a list of rewards, so you can pick and choose as you achieve your goals.