Milestone rewards
CarvedTones
Posts: 2,340 Member
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?
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
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I don't treat myself with food, that's part of how I got to 387lb
Instead I've had treats such as a hair cut ( cut my own for years ), New earrings, nail polish, fancy underwear ( then I fell pregnant lol ), good books etc
I'm 154lb down with about 90 to go so no doubt I'll acquire more nice things before I'm done11 -
I didn't do milestone rewards actually.
I feel that me losing the weight was great but if I wanted a new haircut/color I got it...new clothing I bought it...a trip...I went, If I wanted snack I ate it..
I decided this time (yes I yo yo'd for years and used to reward myself on milestones) that it was life I was living and that if I was going to live this way for the rest of my life I needed to live life...not wait for the "reward"...
I think that can lead to let downs once you reach goal...what reason will you have for the reward then???
Just my perspective.
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These rewards sound sad. A piece of candy and a nut bar are things I would eat without batting an eye on a regular day if they fit my calories.
Good luck incorporating some of these foods back into your diet. Keep us posted on how it's going.16 -
I have in the past... but I'm not currently making enough progress (at least not in the right direction) for rewards to be on my radar. But I digress...
Personally, I don't make them food rewards as that's a slippery slope for me. I'll do things like new running socks for small milestones, or sneakers or bike tires for bigger ones. Maybe new headphones for gym-related accomplishments, etc. New gear helps keep me motivated, so it ends up being a win-win.5 -
I have had milestones, but no rewards - I considered it, but never bothered. Now I'm glad it never came about; the way I think now, is that healthy behavior, which leads to improved health and happiness, is its own reward, and that rewarding behavior that I should be doing anyway, gives the wrong message; rewards implies that I've somehow suffered, and in reality want to stop doing what I'm doing. Also, rewarding the results, and not the behavior, when the results are only the effect of the behavior, feels wrong.
What I've done, is loosening up on rules as I've become more confident; but I always have to look out for over-confidence.
ETA: Food rewards is just totally wrong in every way, in my opinion. A small one is sad, a large one can wipe out many days of calorie deficit. My advice would be to make food a normal thing, not something to be feared, but a necessary pleasure.6 -
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".2
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I don't do milestone rewards, the reward for me is hitting the goal itself. But I also don't abstain from eating particular foods and so I don't feel the need to "treat" myself.5
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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.3 -
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.
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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.0
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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).1
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I've done little rewards for myself as I went along. New shiny water bottle at 20lbs lost, workout clothes at 30lbs down, a bracelet at 40lbs, ect. Nothing crazy or expensive, but just something that's a pat on the back for a job well done. I try to stay away from food as a reward because it's just an excuse for me to eat more which is always a slippery slope.6
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CarvedTones wrote: »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?
a fun size candy and a mini bar as milestone rewards?? sounds kinda sad - I incorporate stuff like this almost daily to make this lifestyle managable - can't imagine torturing myself for weeks/months to be rewarded with a fun size bar :-(9 -
For me, my rewards are in fact more like necessities. Every 10- 15 pounds lost I get myself one or two items of clothing. This is the rate at which I seem to drop a size. I will get one or two really nice things to replace ones that are falling off me. I always donate these as they are almost new. These "rewards" are actually very motivating to me because I have a hard time seeing my results otherwise. At the same time it forces me to get rid of my "safety" clothes. The ones we keep just in case we get fat again.9
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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.2
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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.
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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.)2
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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.2
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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.2 -
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.4 -
Well I couldn’t afford a $500 reward every 10 lbs, as someone said upthread, or I’d be broke by now. When I reached my goal range I rewarded myself with a good pair of hiking boots. I’ve put them to good use in the year since.
Beyond that, doing more and looking and feeling better are their own rewards. That’s really what motivates me.2 -
For me it's usually work out clothes because the old ones are too loose. But reaching my final goal earned me a new pair of walking sticks so I won't fall on the downhills when I'm hiking.2
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I do simple, non-food rewards every 10 pounds (nails done, eyebrows waxed, go to a movie, etc.).0
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I get a massage every month. It's not so much a "reward," but it's more self care. Other things I'll do to treat myself is get new gym clothes or equipment. Or, I'll buy extra training sessions to get a jump start on the next goal.0
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Interesting. It does seem I am alone in initially depriving myself of snacks and treats, which I added back at the milestones. In hindsight, not allowing snacks at all to start with was a mistake because I ended up having too few calories most days (I didn't realize this until I started tracking, which I was not doing to start with). I think depriving myself of treats (non fruit snacks like cookies and candy) was not a mistake because I tried that and it led to mini binges and "I'll start over next week". I have to get "a lead to protect" before I reliably stick to a diet. So I cut treats so I would not repeat that cycle. Now I have lost so much that I am not succumbing to the temptation of gobbling up treats.0
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In previous attempts to lose weight, i did the 'treat' rewards with food. It was never a good idea for me and those attempts failed (not entirely because of the treats, but because my mindset was not where it needed to be). This time - which has been the longest running success I've had since I was a teen and super active with dance - my milestones are activity and material inspired.
food, the good and bad, is energy. that's it. I need it one way or the other, so rewarding myself with it doesn't make sense. It'd be like hey, I need to do XX to breathe! now, i just have to log all my foods. If I want rewards though, like new gear or race entries, i have to *earn* it with effort. It's not just tied to my weight either which was another mistake I was making previously. Now it's weight AND mini goals like being able to do x amount of regular pushups, or running a mile in x time, or prepping my food for a week straight -- I looked at all the things that I had bad habits for, or things I wanted to improve, and figured out what would justify a solid effort.
Rewards and mini goals are a really good way to start I think, but I really recommend non-linear goals. Look at the big picture, long term things, and adjust them as you go. You'll find that what you *want* changes as your physicality shifts. I have an xcel spreadsheet that I open every couple of weeks and look over to see what I've done and where I want to add things.
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enyagoboom wrote: »In previous attempts to lose weight, i did the 'treat' rewards with food. It was never a good idea for me and those attempts failed (not entirely because of the treats, but because my mindset was not where it needed to be). This time - which has been the longest running success I've had since I was a teen and super active with dance - my milestones are activity and material inspired.
food, the good and bad, is energy. that's it. I need it one way or the other, so rewarding myself with it doesn't make sense. It'd be like hey, I need to do XX to breathe! now, i just have to log all my foods. If I want rewards though, like new gear or race entries, i have to *earn* it with effort. It's not just tied to my weight either which was another mistake I was making previously. Now it's weight AND mini goals like being able to do x amount of regular pushups, or running a mile in x time, or prepping my food for a week straight -- I looked at all the things that I had bad habits for, or things I wanted to improve, and figured out what would justify a solid effort.
Rewards and mini goals are a really good way to start I think, but I really recommend non-linear goals. Look at the big picture, long term things, and adjust them as you go. You'll find that what you *want* changes as your physicality shifts. I have an xcel spreadsheet that I open every couple of weeks and look over to see what I've done and where I want to add things.
I have all too much experience with previous failures also. I have even lost down close to goal range about 4 years ago. that was a 62# loss starting at 230. This time I am shooting for 58#, starting at 223. I have lost 39 so far, so I denied treats for quite a while. But I had so many false starts that were derailed by treats ("I will eat another donut in the break room and just start again tomorrow - oh look, a long john is left!").
One thing I am doing different this time is making my goal be the upper limit and basing it on BMI, staying below 25. I don't care that BMI is not perfect; it's good enough and it makes my goal a hard number I can't change and the only way I can expand the range is to go lower. In the past, I caved in to thinking "it's too hard to stay at this weight, my body likes 175 better" and "I can yoyo on a short string, it's okay to have a range of +-15#". So the next thing you know, my weight is 190 going in to the holidays (a few years ago) and by January I am up another 15 and my target weight/range are irrelevant. This time goal is 165 and 166 is a problem that has to be rectified. So true goal is probably closer to 162 or so so I have a little range for small spikes.1 -
One of my rewards upon reaching a milestone or mini goal is coming back here to the mini goal thread and updating it. My current mini goal is Onederland, and I'm 3 lbs away. You bet when I hit 199, I'll be back to say woo hoo and to set a new goal. (I consider this a reward in that it is something that motivates new and I really look forward to it.)
Like others, I also get new workout clothes or accessories, or clothes that fit me better. I do align these with each 5lb lost, but would probably get them regardless. It's kinda nice to look back and say those were the sneakers I got when I lost 20 lbs.2 -
I bought myself things I've always wanted as part of my milestones
Tried to train myself out of food as a reward 0 -
One of my rewards upon reaching a milestone or mini goal is coming back here to the mini goal thread and updating it. My current mini goal is Onederland, and I'm 3 lbs away. You bet when I hit 199, I'll be back to say woo hoo and to set a new goal. (I consider this a reward in that it is something that motivates new and I really look forward to it.)
Like others, I also get new workout clothes or accessories, or clothes that fit me better. I do align these with each 5lb lost, but would probably get them regardless. It's kinda nice to look back and say those were the sneakers I got when I lost 20 lbs.One of my rewards upon reaching a milestone or mini goal is coming back here to the mini goal thread and updating it. My current mini goal is Onederland, and I'm 3 lbs away. You bet when I hit 199, I'll be back to say woo hoo and to set a new goal. (I consider this a reward in that it is something that motivates new and I really look forward to it.)
Like others, I also get new workout clothes or accessories, or clothes that fit me better. I do align these with each 5lb lost, but would probably get them regardless. It's kinda nice to look back and say those were the sneakers I got when I lost 20 lbs.
Onderland was my previous milestone. 0
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