Milestone rewards

I doubt I am alone in this. Today I am at my second milestone. When I first started the diet, this was goal. But then after I got on track I decided "no half measures" and I changed the goal to getting/staying under a BMI of 25, which is 20 more pounds. But I digress.

At my first milestone, I have a fun size York peppermint patty and a KIND mini. I had cut out snacks completely until I hit that milestone. I also started allowing fruit snacks at that point. Today I am having a cookie and another KIND mini. I am upping my calorie goal and lower limit as I really haven't been eating healthy enough in my impatience to lose the weight. I am also opening the menu up; nothing is off limits now, though there are some foods I am choosing to avoid because of binge history and some from personal preference. I will keep tracking, of course, and any treats have to fit and still allow me to stay at or under goal.

I am curious about others; do have milestones at all? Do you have milestone rewards? If so, what?
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Replies

  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    When I was losing, my only "milestone" was my ultimate goal...and there was no reward when I got there, except the satisfaction of a job well done. Then I set new goals focusing on my lift progression...where self satisfaction and the number on the bar is my "reward".
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    I think that can lead to let downs once you reach goal...what reason will you have for the reward then???

    I am in the mode of dieting without additional rewards and without off limits foods now; that is part of the milestone reward. The satisfaction of reaching goal will be its own reward.

    I also have a yoyo history and I am a procrastinator when it comes to starting diets. Setting some hard rules with a goal that wasn't terribly far away with a reward made the decision that I had started the diet more firm. Also, I wasn't using MFP or tracking when I started; I just cut out all between meal snacks and tried to eat light at meals. Rules and rewards made sense to me in the absence of any other plan.
  • dinadyna21
    dinadyna21 Posts: 403 Member
    My reward for reaching a goal is usually clothes or shoes, I like rewarding myself because reaching that goal makes me happy. For me it's a little like celebrating that I achieved what I set out to do. :)
  • pogiguy05
    pogiguy05 Posts: 1,583 Member
    In my mind it is my goal to get to my goal, which is turning back 25 years of neglect. I know it is not going to melt off and in my mind right now is I will see when I get there. I am thinking ultimately if I feel better then I even do now I might try to work on building more muscle and seeing if I can get a pretty decent looking set of muscles for a guy my age.
  • StatsGuy99
    StatsGuy99 Posts: 35 Member
    If I'm doing great and reaching my goals, I'll sometimes reward myself with a nice steak and a small glass of whiskey. I don't think this reward is at all problematic, however, as I'm rewarding myself with a higher quality meal rather than with extra calories (I still meet my daily caloric goal).
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    I do milestone rewards at every 10 pounds. Bigger things that I want, like in the $500 range. So they are meaningful, but I have to work for them.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,394 Member
    Your milestone reward of trying to develop a permanent way of eating is the best reward of them all!!!

    You can add me too to the camp where I view the results of the process as my reward for embracing the process.

    Thinking back at the things that I couldn't do or had more difficulty doing that I can now do with ease.

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,262 Member
    I started at just over 200 lbs. My big milestones were 175 (25 lbs lost), 154 (top of healthy BMI zone), and 150 (52 lbs, my goal for that year.) I bought clothes along the way but my rewards for the milestones were footwear. Boots and other shoes have been my reward of choice for years (for my master's degree, new jobs, etc.)
  • magster4isu
    magster4isu Posts: 632 Member
    When I started, I set up 45 mini-goals (milestones) for my journey. At the beginning, it was a great way to keep me motivated. While I still have those goals and still reward myself for them, I'm not dependent upon them to keep me going. My rewards for hitting these goals have also changed a bit (though I never used food as a reward). When I first started, they were things like going to a movie or getting a pedicure. Now my rewards are things like 5K entry fees and workout equipment/clothes.
  • grinning_chick
    grinning_chick Posts: 765 Member
    edited November 2017
    After decades of denying it and deploying it, I've finally accepted the carrot and stick approach does not work for me. Not food, not treats, not material goods, not trips, not even money. Not even a little. I sure wish it did but it does not.

    This time I have no milestone except to arrive at my goal weight. When I do, the reward for doing so is I get to figure out what my daily caloric intake for maintenance is.

    I will never get rid of all my fat clothes again. I did in the past and ended up having to repurchase more than once. Or store them away out of sight/out of mind. Instead, it'll be like nicotine/tobacco. The reason I have never caved since quitting it in 2006 is because there is not a week that goes by that I don't think/have some dream about it. The clothes will be that regular reminder.
  • nickssweetheart
    nickssweetheart Posts: 874 Member
    I haven't celebrated milestones up until now because frankly, I didn't have the money available for any meaningful type of rewards (even an afternoon at the movies would have stretched my budget.) Now that I've lost a significant amount of weight and have a job, I think I will occasionally do something nice for myself to mark certain things, but I don't want it to be strictly weight related.

    I recently tried on an old shirt when I had nothing to wear, and to my amazement, it not only fit but was kind of loose. So when I get to 75 lbs down which I'm pretty close to, I'm going to try on everything that's even close to fitting, then get myself some new earrings and go out in my "new" outfit.

    It's been 57 days since I missed logging a meal (I use another site for my "main" logging), so I'd like to mark my 60 day streak with a little something and then my 90 day streak, etc. I'm thinking a matinee movie.

    But mostly, the journey is its own reward. I feel so much better. I look better. I even sleep better. I feel happier and each day when I plan/cook/log my food I get the pleasure of knowing that I'm taking care of myself.