What do ya'll think of setting up mini rewards for hitting milestones in your weight loss journey? I am one of those people who A) have a hard time getting started and B) staying motivated to keep things going. I have done these mini rewards in other areas of my daily life. Such as when I wanna go visit my mom (she lives over 45 minutes away) I will say if I keep my house really clean for a week (sometimes 2) then my reward is I can take the trip to visit her. Things along those lines. So I am thinking about mini rewards I can add to my weight loss journey. Such as for every 10 lbs I loss I can buy a movie I want (not often done here) or anything else I can come up with that would be a luxury for me.
right now, because it's hot I make it like....if I lose my desired amount of weight this week, then next week I get to go to the water park. I try to pick faily inexpensive things because I have a LOT of goals...lol. I guess that's the nice thing about starting out heavier is I get more treats and gifts!!! lol
My rewards I've planned for myself are new clothes. The next pair of pants I buy is going to be two sizes lower than those which I currently have - I'm so excited that I can almost make it into a size 9 now. I'm going to probably buy some new jeans for every 10-15 pounds until I make it to my final size.
I often set rewards for myself, when I get to certian goals. Unfortunatly, I don't make it to goal very often.
My reward to myself for when I reach my first mini goal (losing 28 pounds, and getting down to the 200lb mark for the first time in AGES) is of course, buying new pants! Since I love shopping, buying things is always a reward!
Sometimes (in the past), I'd reward myself for reaching a goal with food... After I noticed a pattern going on (reach a goal, get to go out to my favorite fast food) and wham! I'm off my diet. So needless to say, I don't reward myself with food anymore...
I love pedicures, but I can't justify getting them every month just because... I think I will make it part of my mini-monthly goals, that would be easy to rationalize.
I don't need to reward myself for losing weight, but I do allow myself to download a song from iTunes for every time I floss my teeth. It's a pretty inexpensive reward (only $1 a song). You could allow yourself a song for every time you exercise for 30 minutes or more, or 5 songs for 5 lbs lost, etc. If you don't have an iPod, you can burn CD's with the songs.
My mini rewards are about giving myself a non-food related treat. For example, when I reached 15 lbs lost my friend and I caught the gondola up to the top of the hill and enjoyed the view over the city and towards the mountains.
We've got other ideas planned as well and when I get to goal, we're heading to Europe for a couple of months...
I think mini-rewards are awesome. Just a little something nice to give yourself for working hard and something to look forward to besides the great feeling of weighing less. I actually just rewarded myself without even meaning too. I had to stop off and buy a pair of pants for work yesterday morning and they didn't have a single pair of 10's in a certain style i was looking at. I was forced to go try on a pair of 8's. And they FIT!!! what a reward i wasn't even expecting.
My next reward besides a new pair of pants will probably be a pedicure. I really want to get one. So, when i reach 150, i may do that. Also, I will make another certificate to myself when I hit 50 pounds. I made one for myself when i hit 25 and so i'll make another one when i hit 50. And if I hit 75....you better believe it. I might even have a professional plaque made!!!! lol.
Mini Rewards
