I've been thinking a lot lately about something I never used to do for myself during any previous weight-loss effort: giving myself rewards for reaching certain goals. Well, I lie.... since I used to reward myself with food every time I lost a few pounds! But I think when I lose my first 10 pounds, I'm going to splurge and buy myself some of those Olay Regenerist products. They're like $18 each, so it'll be a nice reward. I've always wanted them but have never wanted to spend the money. For 20 pounds, a new hairstyle and color. For 30, I'm thinking my first Brazilian wax Always wanted one! For 40, a new photo to run with my editor's column in the magazine I work for. When I hit one-derland, a new wardrobe. I know at goal it's going to be a tattoo and belly-button peircing. I'm wondering how everyone else rewards themselves for their mini-goals and, ultimately, reaching their goal weight.

I always hear people say they can't think of reward items so here is a great article:

Eat or Treat
You know the feeling. You've hopped on the scale and WOW! it's looking good. Or you catch sight of yourself in a shop window and for the first time in years, instead of thinking “Who's that dumpy person?”, you say with an unexpected burst of pride: “That's ME!”
Or maybe you've won a prize, been promoted, come first place in a contest, beaten the opposition, or just got lucky in love. It's a human response in situations like these to want to celebrate; to feel like letting your hair down, painting the town red.
With most of us though, sooner or later our celebrating will flow on to food and drink. Of course! So what can we do to celebrate that has less calories than a box of chocolates, yet still feels like a reward? Here are our suggestions:
Instant Buzzes
· A facial can always make a woman (or a man) feel special. There is something about the smell of those creams and lotions and the clean skin we come away with that is pamper-plus.
· Go for glamour with a photo at one of those places that makes you look like a movie star or a top model. Or get an “olden days” photo to pass on to your grandchildren.
· A new hairdo is always a huge morale booster and a great reward. Try a new color, get your hair lightly waved (or straightened), braided or crimped.
· Give yourself flowers. Have them delivered or pick up a bunch at the markets. Better still buy tons and spread them through the entire house.
· Rent that video you've always wanted to see. If it's a romantic one, lay in a supply of tissues, or import a friend or two as support.
· Buy yourself a new outfit. If you’re still losing weight, you can be confident and buy it in your goal size as a major incentive to go the final distance. Or you can please yourself today with one that fits and flatters now.
· Don't wait for the overseas trip when you can get it duty-free, buy an expensive perfume and splash it around. You are celebrating, aren't you?
· Float for an hour or so in a huge bubble bath. Take that book you've been dying to read and keep topping up the hot water.
Time Treats
Of all our assets, time is perhaps the most elusive. It wastes without a trace, yet each day we have a whole new quota. But while we use it and abuse it, there often is not enough of it to do the things that really give us pleasure. So what better way to say “Congratulations” to yourself, than finding time to do the things that you specially enjoy?
· Read that new book. You know, the one that has been gathering dust beside the bed. Better still, combine two pleasures, and take it to the beach, on a picnic, or into the park and read for hours. Finish it if you like.
· Spend time with a friend that you have been promising to get together with for ages. Go shopping, take a hike, ride your bikes into the hills, even talk for an hour on the phone if he or she's out of town.
· Visit the museum, the art gallery or that new little craft store you've been dying to get around to.
· Scrap your diary and seize a whole day just for you. No plans, no pack drill. Take your watch off and just play it by ear.
· You love swimming, but somehow you never get to the beach these days. Pack a towel, sunscreen and hat, and go.
· Be a kid for a while. Go fly a kite, buy a bunch of balloons and give them away as you go, make a daisy chain, get a yo-yo and practice all those silly stunts again.
· Go through your photographs. Write on the back of them or have some fun making up silly captions. Stick them in an album or frame a whole wall-full.
Once you start thinking of special ways to treat yourself, dozens more will come to mind. Soon, rather than routinely slipping into a bakery the minute you feel a celebration coming on, you'll think again. You'll find yourself automatically popping open a bottle of bubble bath rather than the bubbly, passing the chocolate store on the way to the florist, and dialing the theater for tickets to a show rather than ordering in pizza.
And even if, after all, you choose to do none of the above, as the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “the reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.” So congratulations, anyway!