Each day, we have dozens of opportunities to make seemingly meaningless choices related to our health and wellness. Do you take the stairs or the elevator? Park as close to the doors at work or the grocery store, or opt for the 50-100 yard walk? Hold the cheese or mayo on that sandwich, or eat it the way you've always enjoyed it?

A few years ago, I was introduced to the "Slight Edge" philosophy, which broadly covers those decisions we make every day that don't seem to mean much individually, but have a dramatic effect over the course of time. Regardless of which end of the fitness spectrum you're on, you didn't get there overnight. Rather, it was a series of small decisions that compounded over time to bring you to your current fitness level.

It's great if you can have a broad vision of how your next few days or week are going to play out from an eating or exercise perspective, but if you're like most of us, life's not that predictable. By implementing the "Slight Edge" mentality, you can stay in the moment and still make small, positive choices that will make a tremendous difference long-term.

Going back to the questions above, by choosing to walk the extra 50 yards from/to the car, using the stairs, and skipping out on the cheese and mayo, you've deleted about 400 calories from that hypothetical day. Do that for a week and you're looking at almost 1 pound of weight loss. See what I'm getting at here?!

Trying to lose 10, 20, or 50 pounds is a seemingly huge goal, and this is not to minimize the challenges associated with the feat. But, the small choices you make along the way will not only contribute to accomplishing your goals, but as importantly, they are the critical steps we all need to take to change our habits for long-term health and wellness.