Laurie is participating in the Elf4Health Holiday Challenge.  This is a four week challenge involving daily tasks, challenge winners, some awesome prizes, and weekly newsletters.  Today’s challenge is to share your expertise along with a blog swap.  Laurie’s swap partner is Ashley Davidson and below is her blog post. 

Ashley’s Blog Post (chubbyashley.blogspot.com)

The hardest thing to do in life is to make a long term goal and stick to it no matter how difficult the journey is along with way. We become experts along our own personal goals, figuring out what works, what does not work, and then changing it to meet our needs.

Losing weight is something that most Americans think about; attempt and then either succeed/fail depending on how they set themselves up. Many chose goals that are unattainable and unrealistic which then sets their sights too high and they crash and burn hard.

I started my goal of becoming healthy almost 18 months ago to the day. My long term goal was to become healthy and be at a size 10 but the problem was it was too broad of a goal. I needed to find a point in which I could say this is my goal for now but when I get there, I have the ability to change it or move it to continue to challenge myself. So many times in life we set out with a goal such as writing an essay and when we finishing writing it and hand it in, it never crosses our minds again, instantly erased.

Goals should not have a simple end, and when I took a step back and looked, I realized that my goal was short changing myself. Being in a size 10 from a size 20 is a great large goal, but how does one achieve that? I had to ponder it and realized that no big goal can be accomplished without mini goals along the way. So I sat and wrote down some mini goals to help me get there.

Start exercising
Log what you eat
Log why you eat
Starting weight

Once I began those mini goals, then the more rewarding goals came into play; 10 lbs lost, 25 lbs lost, 50 lbs lost, 75 lbs lost. Each time I hit one of those goals, I gave myself a reward for it. Everyone should give themselves a reward when they hit their goal. Think of it like playing soccer, you are running down the field with the ball and have missed getting the ball into the goal twice before and you are unsure of what is going to happen but you kick it anyway. All of a sudden everyone on your team and everyone in the stands is cheering and clapping because you did it. You got a goal! That is how amazing you should feel when you hit one of those mini goals you set your mind on. Be proud of the person who are evolving in to and run with it.

I have been fortunate to have hit all those mini goals, including the 75 lbs lost. It is one of the best feelings in the world knowing that my overall goal is not completely out of reach. My other tracker besides weight is how my clothes fit. My goal of being a size 10, that is pretty much right around the corner. Currently I am in a size 12 and my pants have never felt better.

The one thing I have realized though is that as I get closer to hitting my bigger goal that does not mean I am done once I hit it. I have a lifetime of goals to set to keep myself on the straight path and keeping my goal of being healthy something that is realistic and I can continue to sustain in my life.

As you begin thinking about goals that you want to set out for yourself, I encourage you to think about something that is realistic and attainable along with mini goals to get you through. Most importantly, believe in yourself, believe that you can do this, that you can change and meet your goal. You are worth it.

(chubbyashley.blogspot.com)