Non-scale goals and rewards

Well, this could be a two for one deal: how about rewarding yourself with smaller clothes as you lose the inches? With this you are rewarding your loss and your non scale goals.

You can enter marathons throughout your journey. Buy a book, go bike riding somewhere new, visit a friend or family member you haven't seen in ages, pick up a new hobby. I bought a new specialty yarn every 10 pounds. Every 20 I got a skirt or shirt. My hubby painted the bathroom when I lost my first 55 lbs. how about going to the movies? Or have a movie get together at your house so you can monitor the snacks better and prepare healthier choices.

It is so hard in America to find rewards that are not food related. Every holiday is food. Every summer get together more food. Birthdays, anniversaries food. So I understand your dilemma. It depends on your interest and what is available to you.

I did this same thing when I started lifting! I would make strength goals and if I reached them by a set time, I would get rewarded. I was prepping for vacation so my rewards included bikinis, that pair of sandals I really wanted, sunglasses, etc. It worked really well and gave the encouragement that I was needing. Now I'm probably going to reward myself with a fitness class I've been wanting to try or a trip to Philly for the day.

peaceout_aly wrote: »

Cutaway_Collar wrote: »

Every fall I buy me a trench coat.

I tell myself beginning June that in 2 months I will shape up for the best of trench coats. And it has motivated me every year.

After fall, I get into a little foodie fattie mode starting from the halloween/thanksgiving timeframe. I don't know why the *kitten* people stock up on candy and pies and put it out like *kitten*. Every thanksgiving season I gain 3 to 5 pounds.

Don't we all?! Consider it "bulking" season

I hit the weights hard and hope to add a little muscle along with the fat. Of course, running season is just getting into swing around then, too, so increasing mileage means I can eat more. Win-win!

Larcher91 wrote: »

There's some good ideas there

The problem with most rewards that would work for me is that they cost money and I don't have much of that!

Just thought of a great goal, something I was aiming for anyway, but not confident in my ability to do: do not weigh myself more frequently than every 30 days. I suppose it is a scale goal in a way! Writing it down as a goal and having a reward lined up will help me stick to that I don't want to focus on weight but I know from past experience it's easy to end up obsessing over it!

I don't know that weighing that seldom is necessarily a good goal. All's fine as long as you're losing but if you're not being careful you can do a lot of damage in a month. The sooner you catch upward trends, the sooner you can reverse them.

As far as goals go, though, weight lifting goals or performance goals in anything you do are always good. Number of pushups without stopping or within a certain time frame, how long you can hold a plank, etc. If there's an activity you've thought of trying but are afraid to, that could be a goal, too. It took me a long time to get into the gym because I was afraid of looking like a total n00b, for example.

Rewards that don't cost money are a little more difficult. You might try saving up for something special, though. I stick my change in a jar and buy an Amazon gift card for myself when I reach a certain amount. I can then spend that money however I want. I also pick up spare change when I run around my neighborhood and add it to the jar. You'd be surprised how much I find! 11 cents today, alone. 2 cents on Monday. It all adds up! Perhaps you could put a quarter in a jar every day you can do more pushups than the day before or beat another personal best.

Cutaway_Collar wrote: »

Every fall I buy me a trench coat.

I tell myself beginning June that in 2 months I will shape up for the best of trench coats. And it has motivated me every year.

After fall, I get into a little foodie fattie mode starting from the halloween/thanksgiving timeframe. I don't know why the *kitten* people stock up on candy and pies and put it out like *kitten*. Every thanksgiving season I gain 3 to 5 pounds.

Why am I not surprised you wear a trench coat?

This is really good to see!
There is so much more to this than the number on the scale.

Yes! Aside from lowering body fat %, I have really come to enjoy setting more performance based goals. Some of mine have been:
- how fast I can run a mile
- how fast i can two miles
- 5k time
- how far I can run
- how long I can run
- how high I can get my wattage number on a water rower
- how long I can hold a plank
- how many pushups in a minute
- trying to do a split (or get closer!!)/improve flexibility
- improve balance
- lift a heavier weight for different strength exercises

These have been fun because some of them I never even had a baseline before. Once I had a starting point, it's been fun to pick a goal and challenge myself if i can beat it. It's neat to see a progression over time. These days I always try to set a little goal in my head before each workout.

It's funny, sometimes when I run, I won't beat my best mile time, so then I stubbornly think, FINE, I will try for my best distance instead. I think once I started setting little personal goals and bests, I truly stopped paying attention to what anyone else was doing. While I always like having that rabbit to chase, that person who is going to push me to be better and work harder, it really is just about competing with myself and trying to get better than I was before.

Non-food rewards...hmm free is hard, but these are my non-food ones -
- lululemon tops and speed shorts
- new sneakers
- or something less expensive, like just a new pair of workout socks or headband
- foam roller
- download new songs for my workout playlists
- massage
- mani/pedi
- download a book on amazon
- something new I use in the kitchen to meal prep, like a vegetti, a ninja, foreman grill, etc.
- new spices and seasonings to cook with, specialty infused olive oils or vinegars - simple new things I will enjoy trying and cooking healthy meals with