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....

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!