I would like to tell you a little secret of my success in losing weight so fast. First, you must make a decision. The decision is that you are going to do this. You are going to follow the training plan and you are going to change the food that you put in your mouth. You’re going to hit play on your DVD player no matter what time of day and what you have left to do during the day. To get this burning desire, you need to find out why you want to do this.

This can be different for many people. For me it was my self-esteem, my son and my job. For you it might be that beach vacation you’re taking, a wedding, an army training or a marathon, or because your health is deteriorating. Next, you must decide what your fitness goal will be. Are you going to lose 5 pounds, 15 pounds, or 50 pounds? or more? How many inches would you like to lose from your waist? What size do you want to fit? How fast do you want your mile run to be?

Then WRITE IT OUT! Write your goals on a piece of paper and place it next to your bed. Read it before you go to sleep and when you get up in the morning. This will remind you of your goals and has been shown to increase motivation. Then choose your exercise program based on your physical ability. Beachbody has several different exercise programs to choose from. Do you want fun music and cardio? Try Turbofire. Do you want a total body transformation? P90X test. Do you have arthritis or a knee problem? Try Power 90. Whatever the choice, remember to read the manuals and follow the nutrition plans. Also ask your coach, they are very knowledgeable about a plan that will work for you.

It has also been shown that if you join a training group for support and motivation, you are much more likely to finish the program and reach your goals than someone who follows it. This is why challenge groups are so effective and why my team, Team Hustle, was created. It is to help others eat healthy and achieve their weight loss goals.

So start tonight with your goals. Write them down and add them as you go about your day. Just make sure they are big enough to motivate you to act!

A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans

By: W. Bruce Cameron

Publisher: Forge Books

Publication date: December 2016

ISBN: 978-0765388117

Dog lovers have always known that dogs are intelligent, loving, and deeply devoted to “their humans.” Author W. Bruce Cameron has taken this knowledge and added a unique twist that builds on it: a novel that imagines a dog, who lives several dog lives, and remembers each life and the lessons learned in that life.

The purpose of a dog begins with a puppy describing his life. It soon becomes clear that the cub, along with his three brothers and his mother, are wild. Finally, the cub, along with his mother and brother, are captured by a rescue dog. They are placed in a backyard with many other dogs and while the puppy, soon to be named Toby, adjusts well, his mother cannot handle human interaction and manages to escape. Toby grows up, makes friends, and finally reunites with his sister. But problems arise when authorities close the rescue site for having too many dogs. Toby soon finds himself in a bad situation …

When Toby’s life comes to an end, he is reincarnated as a beautiful Golden Retriever. Now the puppy is part of a healthy litter, kept with a breeder. When he sees that other puppies, from other litters, are adopted and disappear into the great beyond outside the yard, he wants to leave. He remembers seeing his mother from his first life open the door handle, and works to copy it. It works and he runs away from the breeder and wanders until picked up by a kind man who takes him for a ride in his car. Unfortunately, the man stops at a bar and leaves the puppy in his hot car. Once again the puppy is rescued, this time by a woman who smashes the car window just in time before heatstroke kills the dog. You bring the puppy home to your young son, and this is where most of the story is: between “Bailey” the dog and “Boy.”

After “Boy”, Bailey returns a few more times, once as a K-9 search and rescue German Shepherd and again as a Black Lab. His final reincarnation as a laboratory puts a complete twist on him with a very satisfying conclusion to the story.

Told from a dog’s point of view, A Dog’s Purpose is a delightful story that immediately appealed to me and kept me reading until I turned the last page. The author has the true gift of capturing a dog’s thoughts and it really felt like the dog was sharing his life with me. Toby / Bailey / Ellie / Buddy was a loving dog who knew that his purpose was to do what his human wanted / needed him to do, be it saving a child from drowning or taking a car ride to make a child happy. Like all dogs, this dog learned words: “kennel”, “bed”, “sleep”, etc. and basic concepts like “Merry Christmas” which for him meant people who came to the house. He would sit at the feet of his owner and listen to a word from the humans who spoke, for example, his name, and he would get excited, not knowing what the rest of the conversation was about. The author included a minimal amount of dialogue from humans to give readers a clue as to what was going on, but even without that help, it wasn’t difficult to follow. Much of what the dog did was pick up on the emotions of the people around him, feeling joy, fear, pain, and reacting accordingly. The writing style definitely worked quite well, and I’m looking forward to diving into the sequel, A Dog’s Journey.

Quill Says: There’s a reason Hollywood came to call and made a movie based on this book! If you love dogs, do yourself a favor and read The Purpose of a Dog.