Would you rather try a lifestyle change or change your lifestyle? It’s a small play on words with a huge difference in reality. A difference that harms or benefits your life.

For myself, I’ve always done a lifestyle change. Each New Year, I step on the scale and learn I’ve gained ten to fifteen pounds. Yikes!! That spurs the resolution to diet to lose those gained pounds.

Well, I recently learned that dieting is only a lifestyle change—I would diet for a certain period until I met a certain goal and then I would just go back to my old ways of eating. Yes, it might take a few weeks, but sooner or later my meals got bigger and I turned back to fast food because it seemed to give me more time in my day since I wasn’t cooking. But it also made me feel sluggish and depressed. An endless, harmful cycle that I couldn’t escape from.

Please take a moment and look at all the people smacking themselves.

I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better now being part of such camaraderie.

Most nutritionists say changing your lifestyle is healthier and more efficient than dieting. So, I learned dieting is only a temporary lifestyle change while changing my lifestyle—incorporating habits/goals—would be something I could keep up for a prolonged period. For me, this would be until my clock runs out—hopefully, that’s at least another fifty years or so.

Do you ever think there’s something truly wrong with the U.S.? According to the World Health Organization, 72 percent of people in the U.S. are overweight or obese—that means that we are one of the fattest countries in the world. Most everything we eat is processed in some way and there’s a fast food joint or two or three on every corner. Why is it more expensive to buy a green pepper at my local supermarket than it is for me to buy two cheeseburgers at McDonald’s?

And let’s not get me started on all the diet trends—Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, SlimFast, Atkins (oops now there’s Eco-Atkins), Keto, and on and on. Now, I’m not saying these things are bad, many are touted as the best diets by U.S. News, but are they sustainable? Can you truly stay on one of these plans for life?

Many say that you must CHANGE your lifestyle for something to last forever. So, my lovelies, I have decided to incorporate four changes to my life, my Me Goals.

Me Goals

It’s time to be a little selfish, thus ME Goals. Women, I believe, are so much about putting others needs before our own. Now, I’m not saying to stop that, I’m just saying put in time for yourself too. Schedule it in if you must.

It’s good to write down your “Me Goals.” I feel like once something is committed to paper it’s imprinted on the brain. It contains accountability. Another good thing to do is involve a friend, someone who does it with you or someone who at least knows your goal and reminds you of it, often, holding you accountable. When you have a friend checking in on you, boy is that a motivator, because if you’re like me, I sooo do not want to let my friend down.

As I’ve mentioned, I turned 50 this year and took a good look at myself and where I’m at and I just didn’t like the image reflected. My clothes are tight, and I don’t feel healthy. And, yes, those who know me know I hate to shop (perhaps because I don’t want to buy larger sizes—time will tell).

So, my top Me Goal is to STOP dieting—no more trying out some new plan, dropping weight only to be unhappy because my body is starved for something “bad” tasting. And no more low-fat, 2%, 1%, lite—you name it, ain’t happening—I’m sticking to full fat everything. (Ugh, okay I shall still have skim milk because I really can’t stand the taste of whole milk—it curdles in my mouth, but I have reduced my intake since I tend to only have it with my oatmeal—and yeah yeah I’ll switch it up with almond or coconut milk. I am certainly all for variety.)

My Dog Bella

Next Me Goal is to exercise more. I tell myself I’m doing this for my dog, Bella—even she has gained 6 pounds these last six months (my Vet is NOT happy with me). So I get up most mornings (max is five, at least two mornings I have some early do to get to) and take Bella to the park and we do a 35-minute loop—she truly loves this because not only does she socialize and greet other dogs, she gets some love from friendly strangers who just have to stop to stroke her soft fur when she sidles up next to them. (Yes, my Bella is a cutie!)

And because of her four legs, she walks FAST, which makes me walk fast to keep up—I am so grateful for the occasional stop-and-sniff action she engages in.

Next Me Goal is to eat healthy. This is helped by home delivery meals, which I talk about in another blog. I love the ease of the food delivered right to my door and the perfect portion size as well as the sustainability of it. (This Monday I was actually worried. I kept going outside to check to make sure I didn’t miss it, and just when I was about to go online to track it, here comes FedEx into the driveway around 4:13pm. Hooray! You have no idea the thrill I get opening that box each week and taking out my goodies. I even made a video!)

Now incorporating these three goals into my life I feel the weight will take care of itself.

What’s different this go-round? You! I’m no longer just doing this for me, I’m doing this for you! Strange concept, huh? But if I show you that I can succeed, hopefully then you can succeed, and we can succeed together.

You are now part of my lifestyle.

My Last Goal

My last goal is a truly selfish goal and I say everyone should, at minimum, have one selfish Me Goal. It should make you happy. It should be something you love.

So, my last Me Goal is to travel more and learn Italian. I love everything Italian—food, culture, people, language. It’s so fascinating to see a country that spends so much money and effort in keeping the past alive. And it’s the only place where I can go for a week, or three, eat all day every day—pasta, bread, cheese, pizza, gelato and more—and come home and see that I’ve lost weight!

BE SELFISH. If you’re happy then that spills on to everyone around you creating a happy atmosphere.

So, dear friends, you are my accountability. Follow me on social media and put a comment in below with one of your Me Goals. Let’s do this together!