If you are like me, which I hope you aren’t, you’re having a little trouble getting your pants buttoned in the morning after an amazing Thanksgiving feast.  I’m also thinking ahead to the Christmas Parties and of course Christmas Day and how all that yummy food is going to affect my physique.  In contrast, as my belly gets bigger, my finances will become smaller with the purchasing of presents and various other charitable giving. 

With all the past and ensuing gluttony staring me in the face, I’m trying to look past it all and prepare myself to tackle my usual New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and focus on prosperity in 2018.  Daunting. 

Luckily, CSU Extension has some resources to help me get focused and plan using their Colorado’s Small Steps to Health and Wealth Program.  It explores strategies to improve both health and finances.  It encourages participants to set a health goal and/or a wealth goal and take action to achieve goals by identifying small progress steps.  Included in the program are 13 behavior change strategies that can be applied.

We all generally fear making drastic changes to our lives.  Often just the thought of it can cause us to “freeze” and do nothing or create an adverse response by stressing out about the change creating more overindulgence.  That is why most sustainable positive habits generally start small, develop slowly over time, and take time to change.  I am a victim of such efforts to drastically change overnight only to find failure a week later.  So I am highly encouraged by the strategies in the Small Steps to Health and Wealth Program.

If you would like to learn more, you can do one of several things: (Some links in the pdf work and some don’t.  You’ll have to play around with them.)

1. Download the fact sheet at http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/pubs/consumer/09158.pdf
2. Check our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kiowa4h/ where I will post the link.
3. Come by the Extension Office and receive a copy from me or Karen.

As usual, if there is anything else we can do for you, we are here to help!  We hope you have a great rest of the year with family and friends and hopefully I’ll be seeing you in the gym this January!

Jeramy