But my point is that no matter if you consider. There to be two more months of summer, or two and a half more months. I just promise you that you can lose weight this summer, that you can have a slimmer summer. It is so, so possible, so possible. 

And today I want to give you my top five tips on being able to do that, and I’ve created a guide for you. It’s called the Slimer Summer Guide. You can look in the description and get that and start using that right away. 

So lemme give you a sneak peek into what is in there and my five top tips on having a slimmer summer, being able to lose five, 10, even 15 pounds this summer. And here’s what I want. I want you to be that woman who’s like, you know what, I did lose 15 pounds. That was me. I took what Denise said. I applied it. I tried it. I was willing to do new things. I was willing to practice something new, and I lost 15 pounds. Wouldn’t that be incredible? 

I want you guys to start thinking, maybe this could work for me. I can learn, especially to try something new. I don’t have to get it perfectly. I just have to be willing. I can turn this summer around. I’m allowed to try something new. Because it’s not that you guys have been doing anything wrong. You’ve only been doing what your brain is used to doing. Brains are great at doing what they’re used to doing. 

Look what you did on 4th of July. Chances are you spent 4th of July doing exactly what you’ve done every other 4th of July. Not because it works or because it’s good for you, but it’s because it’s what’s familiar to your brain. And I’ll talk a little bit later on, on how you can retrain your brain. If you don’t like what you saw yourself do on 4th of July, that’s totally possible.  All you have to do is be willing to try something new.

Okay, so let’s dive into my top five tips. The first one is just getting very clear on what your favorite foods are this time of year, so often we can fall into just eating food that’s available or eating because we’re bored. Somebody offered us food or we just happen to be at a little league game and they have chips and hot dogs, but we really don’t really like hot dogs.

So my first tip is to get clear on what are your summer favorites. The things that tend to only be available this time of year. Okay. We kinda do the same thing during Christmas time as well, getting clear on what your favorites are and giving yourself full permission to eat your favorite foods. 

And in this Slimer Summer Guide, I address how to do that without fear of overeating it or feeling guilty. And the truth is that the way to not over eat your favorite foods. It’s to give yourself full permission to eat them. So your brain isn’t thinking, I never get this. This is only once a year, which sounds really scary to your brain, and if your brain is scared, it will of course, overeat the food, believing that I never get it.

So by giving yourself full permission to enjoy your favorite foods because you’re clear on what they are. Your brain will calm down and will grow and trust and eventually learn that you can enjoy them and not be overstuffed. You can enjoy them and not feel guilty, and I’ll help you through that in the Slimer Summer Guide even more.

The second hack is to really know when your favorites will be available to decide when it’s worth it to splurge. There’s a calendaring exercise in the Slimer summer guide where I have you write down your social engagements and then circle the ones where your favorites will be available. And once you know what your favorites are, then you know likely when they’ll be available and when. 

Some of your social engagements might not necessarily have your favorites. For example, you might be at a church picnic and you’re like, I’m just gonna go there. And it likely will probably have some overcooked hamburgers or maybe some really rubbery hot dogs. And so I really might not use that as my main meal that day. Maybe I won’t eat that much there. Maybe they might have ribs, but they’ll be like really dry.

So you get to decide when you do this calendaring exercise very intentionally where you will decide when splurging is worth it. Again, I like to use the example of going to a little league game and at the concession stand they have chips and they have those nachos that they always have and they have hot dogs.

Now, hot dogs really aren’t my favorite, so it’s not like I would be excited about going to a little league game and having the hot dogs there. If I had a hot dog there, I might think, oh, well that really wasn’t worth it. 

Now my mother-in-law, on the other hand, loves hot dogs, and it really doesn’t even matter what kind of hot dogs or where you are. It could probably be from a gas station. She loves hot dogs, so she would really plan on definitely having a hot dog at the little league game. Neither one is bad or good, it’s just what is good for you. And what are your favorites? When are your favorites available?

My number three hack or tip is to just expect to have someone ask you questions about food. We call them food pushers, but they’re literally people asking you a question or saying a statement. They might say, would you like some of this? Would you like more? Can I get you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They might say, I made this for you. This is my specialty, have this. 

So they’re either asking you a question that ends in a question mark, or they’re saying a statement that ends in a period. It is words and your brain makes those words mean a lot of things. If you say no, they’ll have their feelings hurt. You feel obligated. You’re being rude.

You’re not polite. So there’s a lot of things, and we don’t have to dive into all the brain hacks, but what will really help you is you feeling very prepared with statements. How do you handle that? How do you handle it with grace?

And in the Slimer Summer Guide, I offer you 50 different responses to people asking you questions about food or saying sentences that end in a period with food. Now there is this other set of responses that are just for you to use  for the more weighty statement of, I made this just for you. I made this just for you.

And what we want to do is remove that feeling of obligation. What I want to do is to help you be prepared to have something that you can practice, whether it’s, oh, thank you, that means so much to me. Thank you for thinking of me. I am so honored that you did that. Thank you. So that you can show your appreciation in a way that isn’t consuming the food.

Now, if you want to eat the food, that’s fine, totally fine, but if you don’t, I don’t want you to eat it out of obligation. I want you to eat it because it’s your choice that is what you want to eat. And so I want you to be prepared. And in the slimmer summer guide, there are 50 responses to, I made this just for you.

Okay. So the fourth thing about having a slimmer summer is recognizing that your brain is very used to certain patterns. There are certain patterns that you do.  At cookouts, typically things like grazing at the snack table, eating just because you see other people eating, saying yes when somebody offers you food.

Drinking alcohol when maybe you are drinking more than you wanted, but somebody offered it to you using food when you’re feeling nervous or because you’re feeling overloaded. Maybe you’re an introvert like me. Eating because you’re distracted with conversation or eating because you’re bored. 

Maybe just eat dessert out of habit or eat dessert because you feel like you’re gonna be left out. Maybe you’re snacking while you’re cooking or preparing food. Maybe you’re the host or you’re helping the host set things out. Maybe you find yourself skipping meals so that you can save up for the party and then you overeat and feel horrible about yourself.

Maybe the only thing fun about the party is the food. You’re letting food be the only fun you have. Maybe you go back for seconds without even checking in on yourself. Maybe you eat food because you’re afraid. To waste it. You gotta clean your plate. Maybe you feel pressure to try every single dish.

Maybe you’re eating more because you’re not feeling the discomfort of your clothes. Maybe you intentionally wear stretchy clothes. Isn’t that funny?  Maybe you eat off your kids’ plates or your husband’s plates, or your friend’s plates to save food. 

So there’s all of these automatic habits in your brain. They are just patterns that your brain is very used to, and you can experiment with new patterns. You can try new things. You can intentionally do new things. That’s how simple it can be. Now, it might not be easy, but it won’t be complicated, and it is a hundred percent possible.

What if I said you could get to your healthy weight by brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand? You’d be like, I am all over that. I can totally do that. Yeah, you’re totally capable of doing that, but it will take intention. You’re however old you are and you’ve brushed your teeth with the same hand your whole life.

It will take effort. It will take focus. It will take practicing it over and over and over and over to create new pathways and new patterns in your brain. Know it’s not hard. It’s very simple, but practicing it will feel uncomfortable. 

And so in this Slimer Summer guide, I help you look at different solutions to whatever your automatic pattern is, and then we can practice a new pattern, experiment with a new pattern, play around with a new pattern. Not all of them, we’re not gonna solve for everything, but maybe one of them at your next cookout or social event.

But by being able to address, oh, this is where I kind of trip up. This is what leads me to overeat and to solve for it. Identify 15 different things that you could have a problem with that are leading you to overeat and just some different solutions that you can start experimenting with.

Now, my fifth tip for you is learning how to not give up. You guys learning how to not give up. If I told you getting to your healthy weight meant brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, you would be so on board with that. Your brain would be like, we can totally do that. It’s so simple. I’ll just put a sticky note on my mirror. It’ll be fine. I’m just gonna keep reminding myself. 

And then when you went to go brush your teeth, if you used your dominant hand, the one that you’re used to. You’d say, oh, oh shoot. That’s right. I wanna switch hands. And it would be an oops. What you wouldn’t do is say, oh, see, I told you, we’ll never figure this out. I’m such a failure. I’ll never remember that mean girl wouldn’t come out in such full force. It would be an oops. Remember, we wanna do something else. It would be a gentle nudge.

And that’s what happens when our motivation is low. When our motivation is low, we feel like, oh, we’re so weak. See, I can’t keep it going. We feel like that is a problem, but I want you to know that motivation fluctuates. It is totally normal. There’s gonna be days that you guys encounter where everything clicks, where you feel peaceful, motivated, and totally aligned with your goal with the Lord, with this method. 

And then guess what? There’s gonna be days when you feel so tired and doubtful and like you’ve taken two steps back. That’s not a failure, that’s just being human. 

See, this is what I want to protect you from because this is where your real growth happens. So when you see those old thoughts creep in, you feel tempted to give up, to numb out, and to disconnect from your goals to say, oh, forget it. Nevermind, I can’t do this, but that’s exactly what I want to help you with.

So that you can encounter those lower motivation times, accept them, and hold yourself through them with a plan. And usually it’s just in the way that we talk to ourselves. In this glimmer summer guide, I give you 100 different ways that you can talk to yourself to help hold you through that low motivation, to remind you that this is totally normal, that nothing has gone wrong, that you can still take care of yourself, you can still stick to your goals.

And you’re gonna find, which one or two, or three or four are the ones that really align with you, that really speak to your heart, that really pumps you up. And those three or four, we’re gonna post somewhere that you can read them every day. Things like, Jesus, I’m tired, please carry me. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being willing.

Hope is a choice, and I can make that again today. I made a mistake I can solve for this. I’m loved. Even right now, you see friends because no matter what season we’re in, whether it’s summer. The holidays. Were a random Tuesday. Our goal is to not give up on ourselves ’cause the Lord never does. 

So I hope you see how very possible it is for you to lose five, 10, or 15 pounds this summer by addressing the real obstacles that are coming up this time of year. I want you to have an entire toolkit with done for you solutions. It’s right there in that slimmer summer toolkit. You guys click the description and get yours today. 

I hope this has been helpful. Have a blessed day.