I think "the weight loss itself should be reward enough," is a false assumption. We generally think that way about a lot of long-term or delayed rewards, but the truth is that people who succeed at tasks with long-range or delayed payoffs, are more likely to give themselves short-term rewards (it may only be the warm glow of victory when losing weight, saving money, studying, or working towards other behaviors that have a delayed "pay-off").
In some way, the behavior has to be "worth the sacrifice." Keeping the goal in mind, is one way to remind us that the effort will eventually pay off, but it's not the only way. Sometimes little rewards and incentives make the difference when maybe some of us might suspect that the long term reward is unacheivable or might not be all we hope for - that's when short term rewards come in handy.
As someone who has always struggled with my weight, with more failure than success most of my life, I "know" that there are many rewards to being smaller - but I have no experience with long-term success. So, part of me wonders whether long-term success is even possible, but even if my head goes there, I have the short term reward as a back-up plan. When I can't see how the next few pounds are going to make a difference, and suspect that I might never be able to get to goal for all the reasons I gave up in the past, the short term reward is still there. It's a game, I play with myself, for many reasons, but the least of which is not becoming bored or impatient with the slow progress. Once I write down my next reward, the rule I set for myself is that I can't buy it or aquire that specific item for myself until I lose the weight, or have completed the exercise quota. It may seem silly or even pathetic that I'm likely to work harder for a specific book checked out at the library, than I can for the prospect of better physical and mental health, better social status and treatment, and the aesthetic benefit of looking better, finding clothes easier, and all of the benefits of being at a healthier and more attractive weight.
Short term rewards are the hallmark of overeating (mmm, this sure tastes good even though I know I'm going to pay for it later), so combating short term rewards with short term rewards is a logical choice - fighting fire with fire.
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