Rewards
 

Does anyone else try rewarding themselves with things other than food, when you meet your workout/nutrition goals for the week? I can't tell if this actually helps me or if it's just another excuse to spend money :) Does this work for you, and if so, what do you reward yourself with?

I dont have set rewards but lots of people do. This is only because I am saving up money for a trip. I suppose going on the trip at a weight I am comfortable with is my reward!

I also like to "reward" myself for not overeating. For instance, I will take a nice bath or go for a walk instead of eating at home on the couch. I suppose you could call the gym membership a reward for continuing to go. My father says I should rethink the amount of money I spend on the gym - I refuse. I say we should always be rewarding ourselves. We deserve it!

If I hit my graduation goal, I'm going to reward myself with a great new dress. If not, I'm wearing something I already own.

I'm buying myself a new bellybutton ring for every 20 lbs I lose.

Each one I buy will look better and better on me. :)

Ooooh, a trip sounds like a great reward!

I'm think I'm going to reward myself with a little Lord and Taylor shopping spree this weekend (I just got an e-mail for their VIP sale, so I figure I can't do too much damage on my wallet!)- I deserve a little something for staying away from all the sweets (my downfall!) and I don't know what it is, but when I'm wearing a fabulous outfit, I feel great, and am not so tempted to sink back into my old habits!

Anybody else ever feel that way?

Yes, I definitely do set rewards for myself. I hadn't worked out in about a month because i was traveling so much, so my first reward is on saturday...i told myself that if i work out everday monday thru saturday, then on saturday afternoon i will go for a massage. next time my reward won't be so soon and will probably be after i get down to the next dress size. Typically, i go to a school of massage and get an hour massage from an intern for $30 which definitely saves me $$ as i'd be paying $100 at a spa!

My rewards (and benchmarks) for reaching them, tend to be larger too -- for my summer goal (only 3 pounds away) I want to reward myself @ a day spa. Or possibly taking some surfing lessons, since I've always wanted to pick that up and it IS an active thing to do.

I don't particularly see clothes as a reward (then again, being a guy who dresses pretty casually outside of work, they aren't that pricey), since buying new clothes just kinda come with the territory of losing weight.

But as for a pretty frequent, regular reward (which seemed to be more of what the OP had in mine) I considered my floating 7th (no-exercise) day of the week my reward, I deserve the rest! And if I fall short of my exercise plans a little bit, I use that 7th day of the week to catch up.

well, its not realy a weekly goal, but when i reach my goal..i want one of these....
http://zales.imageg.net/graphics/pro...221854t240.jpg

It's hard to not reward with food. The last time I lost 20 lbs dh would reward me for every 10 lbs by letting me go on a shopping spree. He let me have a certain amount of money for each ten pounds that I could maintain. Awesome idea, any excuse to buy clothes, plus, if you keep losing weight you'll NEED new clothes cause the others will be too big;)

i have 9 more lbs then i go for a massage. Next 10, a facial. I never do these kind of things. As a mom, a wife and a ft student i dont have time!! Im looking foward to it!!

My overall reward will be skydiving over Uluru. My motivation for my new start was being refused because of my weight, so this is something I really want to do. I'm planning facials, new clothes and things like that.

for every pound i lose i'm going to save 5 dollars and when i hit my long term goal, i'm going on a big shopping spree for all new clothes,plus my trip to australia!!

and samantha i want one of those rings too!!!

Renny Sue that is an awesome goal. maybe i can do that on my trip!!!

That's a great plan- I should do something like that. I went shopping this past weekend, and just felt like I wasn't where I wanted to be with my goals. A little depressing- but it did motivate me to focus again. I've made myself a mental note of my wish list, and once I lose 5 more pounds, I'm heading back to L&T to reward myself- I saw the cutest stuff there!

Wow Renny Sue, skydiving?! That sounds amazing! Where is Uluru?

Uluru is Ayers Rock. In the late 80s the site was given back to the local Aboriginies and was given back its original name. Most outside Australia aren't aware of the name change though ;)

I used to fall into the "reward myself with food" trap. Right now I don't have any set reward, but I'll try to think of something! I'm sure a clothes shopping spree would be wonderful! I think really seeing my boyfriend after his deployment during the Summer is my biggest reward of all. He can see a more healthier and energized me!

I like to pay myself, $10 for 10lbs, $20 for 20lb etc. I had a hard time figuring out what rewards I could give to myself, so I saved my first $30 from my first 20lbs I lost and am putting it towards a new camera.

i just rewarded myself by spending the money to start a new artistic endeavour. i make stencils, but havent had the time/money to make any in a long time. so im making a stencil set right now of the interior of a gothic church. both of the stencils are done, i just have to make my prints and see if it comes out nicely.

i also reward myself every once in a while by going out for drinks. i dont have a job, so i save money when i have it...then, every week and a half, or so, i go out for drinks with my friend stacy. we have such a good time. it makes me feel human. and i drink vodka with soda, so its not TOO horrible for me.. and i eat well enough to allow for it.

i think the social aspect is the most important for me..

Ahh, the rewards system. :)

In the beginning, I would reward myself with foods, but I quickly stopped doing it, since it was kind of defeating the point, and fueling the nasty old habits on top of it (at least, in my case).

I seriously need to get back on track now, though (managing job + studies proved harder than I thought, and only now have I found "my" rhythm, so to say). I need to set new rewards, but food is out of the question, and I don't have much money anyway (it'd suck being entitled to a reward and not having the actual cash to get it!). So I decided to put 1 euro in a box for every day of "appropriate" eating. That makes it 30-31 euros a month (this I can still save up), it allows me to take it day after day rather than diving into the all-or-nothing mindset, and I can buy myself something nice with it afterwards when I reach a mini-goal (first mini-goal being getting back to where I had gone before relapse *silly me*:( ). I knew that being a lowly down-to-earth and money-loving being would be useful someday. :D

Now I just need to find out what would be worth it. I've decided I don't want to treat myself to a new hairdo or somesuch, because this makes me feel too much like I'm not allowed to be pretty as long as I'm overweight, no matter how much overweight exactly. Maybe I can save up all of this for a digital camera... so that I can actually take pictures of myself again? *goes scanning the thread for more ideas*

I'm going to make out with the first cute guy I see when I reach goal.