144. The Summer Decisions Future You Wishes You'd Make

Summer is full of decisions.

Pool parties. Vacations. Restaurants. Camp drop-offs. Road trips. Late nights.

Most of us make those decisions based on how we feel in the moment—but what if there was a simpler way?

In this episode, Dr. Stacy introduces the concept of Present You versus Future You and shares how one small question can completely change the way you approach food, vacations, social events, and emotional moments.

You'll learn:

• Why summer makes decision-making feel harder
• The difference between Present You and Future You
• Why Future You isn't perfect—she's simply prepared
• How to stop making tomorrow harder than it needs to be
• One practical question to ask before your next decision

If you've ever finished a vacation wondering why you abandoned all your healthy habits—or found yourself saying, "I'll start again Monday," this episode is for you.

Want help putting these ideas into practice?

Inside Lifestyle Support Monthly, we help women build realistic systems that make healthy decisions easier—even during busy seasons like summer. Join at: www.sugarfreemd.com/LSM.

Free 2-Pound Plan Call!
Want to jump start your weight loss? Schedule a free call where Dr. Stacy Heimburger will work with you to create a personalized plan to lose 2 pounds in one week, factoring in your unique circumstances, challenges, and aspirations. Schedule now! www.sugarfreemd.com/2pound

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. This is Episode 144. Can you believe it? Oh my gosh.

All right, so today I want to talk about the summer decisions that Future You wishes you would make. We're going to be talking about Present Us and Future Us. So we're going to be doing a little back and forth. It'll be kind of like one of those books that does flashbacks. Maybe you love those, maybe you hate them—I don't know.

But I want you to think about this: How many times has Future You had to clean up a mess created by Present You? Not because you're irresponsible. Not because you're lazy. Not because you're broken. But because, in the moment, Present You was tired, or emotional, or stressed, or overwhelmed, or distracted, or simply wanted relief. And then Future You inherited the consequences.

Summer gives us hundreds of these moments. I think one of the easiest examples is alcohol. Present You thinks it's really fun to keep drinking. Future You wakes up with the hangover. Or maybe Present You is exhausted and stressed and flies off the handle and yells at someone, and then Future You has to clean up that mess and apologize.

Those are the big examples, but summer has hundreds of little ones. Vacations. Camp drop-offs. Road trips. Restaurants. Late nights. Alcohol. Emotional days. Beach weekends. Summer is basically one giant decision-making season because there isn't much routine. We're just making decisions in the moment all day long. Present You is making all of these decisions, and Future You inherits the consequences.

So maybe Future You would appreciate a few better decisions from Present You. Let's talk about that.

Summer exposes our in-the-moment decision-making patterns a little more clearly. That's why I wanted to do this episode now, because we're right in the middle of summer. Our structure changes. Our schedules change. Our routines change. The sun stays out longer. People come into town. We're traveling. Emotions might run a little higher. Everything becomes more social. Honestly, besides the holidays, I think summer is probably our most social season.

Everything becomes a little less predictable. And when predictability disappears, our default decision-making patterns become really obvious. When we don't have our nice, structured routines, suddenly we realize maybe In-the-Moment Me doesn't make the best dinner decisions. Then we tell ourselves, "I have a motivation problem." But maybe it isn't motivation. Maybe it's a decision-making problem. Not because you're making terrible decisions. You're just making decisions from the wrong time frame. You're making decisions only in the moment. And In-the-Moment You probably shouldn't be making every food decision.

Most decisions come from one of two places: Present Me or Future Me.

Present Me asks questions like, "What sounds good right now? What feels easy? What do I want right now? What would make this feeling go away?" If I'm uncomfortable, if I'm stressed, if I'm tired, Present Me wants immediate relief. Present Me isn't bad. Present Me is just very human. Present Me is motivated by things that are easy, fun, comfortable, and rewarding right now. That's all.

The problem comes when Present Me gets one hundred percent of the vote. Because Present Me honestly doesn't care very much about my long-term goals. Present Me doesn't care that I've been building consistency. Present Me doesn't care that I have a race coming up and need to train. Present Me doesn't care about any of that. Present Me wants to eat. Sleep. Rest. Feel better. That's it.

Future Me asks completely different questions. Future Me asks, "What will I be glad I did? What will make tomorrow easier? What supports the life I'm trying to build? What helps me trust myself?"

Now here's something important. Future Me isn't perfect. Sometimes Future Me is actually a little boring. But Future Me is prepared. And that's a really important distinction. Future Me isn't perfect. Future Me is prepared. Present Me is driven by immediate gratification. Future Me is thinking ahead.

One exercise that I use all the time is imagining myself one year from now, three years from now, or five years from now. Not perfect. Maybe not even weighing anything different. Not magically disciplined. Just someone who trusts herself. Someone who follows through more often. Someone who feels strong, capable, and confident. Someone whose healthy habits feel normal. They don't feel hard anymore.

When I'm facing a difficult decision, I like to imagine talking to her. I ask, "What do you think I should do?" I do this with clients all the time.

For example, vacation. In my mind, Future Me travels all the time. She's a woman of the world. She has more time than I do, more money than I do, and she travels constantly. Her habits are locked in. She doesn't spend vacations worrying about her weight because she's built habits that just work.

So when I have a vacation coming up, I ask her, "How do you handle vacations? You do this all the time. You don't gain weight. You still move your body. You still enjoy yourself. What does that actually look like?"

Then I borrow her wisdom. I ask how she would handle the vacation that's coming up for me, and I get ideas from her.

She never tells me, "Be perfect. Never eat dessert. Work harder." Instead, she says things like, "Think ahead. Create a few boundaries. Don't create unnecessary suffering. Enjoy the moment without abandoning yourself. Be flexible, not feral."

So much of the way I approach vacations now comes from asking Future Me how she would handle them.

I think the first time I really did this exercise, it was around a holiday party. I was thinking, How does Future Me handle holiday parties? Future Me—the one whose weight is stable, who trusts herself to make good decisions, who doesn't fly off the handle—how does she handle holiday parties? How does she handle alcohol? I wonder what she does.

She probably has one drink. Maybe two. Probably that's it. Okay, let me try that.

Then we experiment and see if that works.

The other thing Future Me does really well—and this is wisdom we need to borrow into the present—is that she expects obstacles.

Future Me does not expect life to cooperate.

She expects obstacles.

So when I ask her what to do on vacation, that's why she's never going to tell me, "Just don't ever have dessert." She already understands that there will be ice cream, alcohol, travel, poor sleep, emotional days, and disruptions. She knows life is going to be life, and there are going to be obstacles.

So instead she'll probably say something like, "Maybe pick one or two nights to have dessert. That would probably work."

She's not going to tell me never to have dessert because she already knows that's not realistic. She understands there are obstacles. She knows perfection is a myth, and planning for perfection is really just planning for disappointment.

She's not shocked by distractions.

She's not surprised by obstacles.

She simply plans for them.

I think a lot of us lose momentum because we're surprised by things that happen every single summer.

We're surprised there are cookouts.

We're surprised there are vacations.

We're surprised people invite us to the pool.

We're surprised there are fireworks.

Future Me isn't surprised.

If I'm thinking, "We're going to go watch fireworks. We're going to spend the day at the pool," Present Me is saying, "I'm going to be so good. I'm not going to have anything."

Future Me looks at that and says, "That's cute...but that's probably not realistic."

Future Me says, "When we go to the pool, here's what we do. We drink water first while we're deciding if we even want an alcoholic beverage. If we're going to drink, maybe it's one or two. Maybe dessert only happens if it's really something special. If it's worth it."

That's it.

Easy.

Future Me asks questions like, "What would help me enjoy this meal and still feel good afterward?"

Not perfection.

Just intention.

Future Me is simply saying, "Think about it. Think about how you want to feel tomorrow. Be intentional."

Future Me usually wants protein first because she doesn't like being hungry either.

Present Me, especially on vacation, says, "It's vacation. YOLO. Nothing counts. Have all the fun."

Future Me says, "We can absolutely have fun without completely abandoning ourselves."

That's a completely different mindset.

One approach is very disengaged. Nothing counts. Very mindless.

Future Me is never mindless.

She's mindful. She's intentional. She understands vacation is going to end. Life is going to resume. She still wants her clothes to fit. She wants memories. Not recovery work. Girls' night is the same thing. Present Me says, "I deserve it. I've worked hard. Work was stressful."

Future Me says, "You absolutely deserve a wonderful night with your friends. But you also deserve to sleep well. You deserve to wake up feeling amazing tomorrow. You don't get that many days off. Let's not spend one of them hungover."

Future Me wants the connection...without the consequences. Camp drop-off is another good example because emotions count too. Dropping your kids off at camp is emotional. You're watching them grow up. You're missing them before you've even driven away.  Present Me might want to soothe that feeling with food.

Future Me says, "If you need a little comfort, that's okay. Let's be compassionate. But let's not turn one emotional afternoon into a week of feeling miserable."

Future Me wants support. Not self-sabotage.

I think what can be really helpful is thinking about these situations ahead of time. Planning makes this so much easier. If we're planning a vacation, a camp drop-off, a pool party, a Friday night at the neighborhood pool, or whatever it happens to be, ask yourself, if Future Me could tell me what to do, if she had a vote, what would she suggest?

That's it.

Not, "What rules would she make?" Not, "What's the perfect choice?" Just, "If she had a vote, what would she say?" If she looked at me and said, "I can help make this easier," what would that advice sound like?

Sometimes the answer will surprise you.

Just remember that Future Me doesn't really get surprised. She plans. She's intentional. She anticipates obstacles. So one of the nicest things we can do for her is stop making so many in-the-moment decisions without considering her and then leaving her to do all of the recovery work and clean up our messes.

We're not trying to be perfect. That is never the goal. That's not real life. But we are trying to make life a little easier for Tomorrow Me. Not even one year from now. Tomorrow is still Future Me, right? Future Me tomorrow shouldn't have to pay the price for bad decisions that I made today.

So that's really the goal. Our goal is to make every day just a little bit easier. Tomorrow becomes easier when Future Me gets a little bit of a say in the decisions I'm making today.

We're not trying to be flawless. We're not trying to be perfect. But when you're making decisions this week—especially around food—just pause for a second and ask yourself, "What will I be glad I did?" What will Future Me tomorrow be grateful that I chose today?

And if you're facing something a little bigger, something that feels harder to navigate, then go talk to that version of yourself one year from now. Ask her for some wise advice. Ask, "How do you handle holiday parties? How do you handle beach days? How do you handle Friday nights at the pool? What would you suggest?"

Then try those ideas on.

Think of them like trying on clothes. The first idea might not fit perfectly, and that's okay. No perfection. Maybe you need a second idea. Maybe you try another approach. Maybe there's a third one that fits even better. You keep trying them on until you find the one that works for you in that season of life.

The more we practice doing that, the more effortlessly we can navigate all of the things that happen every summer. Summer may always be a little less predictable, but these situations aren't new. We're going to go to the pool. We're going to go to the beach. There are going to be cookouts. These things happen every single year.

The sooner we learn how to navigate them without making Future Me pay the price, the better off we're going to be.

All right, we're doing this work much more deeply inside the membership, and I'd love to have you join us over there. I'll make sure the link is in the show notes.

Talk to you guys next week.

Bye.