Rewarding yourself
ReenieHJ
Posts: 9,724 Member
How do you reward yourself as you make your progress? Or do you? Is it with food, clothes, activities? Let's face it; we deserve a reward!! This is awfully daMn hard work!
I haven't really done a lot of that but tend to think of using indulgent food as a reward but am so afraid of it backfiring. If I treat myself to a cookie or ice cream, I can just see myself not stopping. I have a friend that allows herself 1 piece of peanut butter. I'm thinking how do you do that??
I haven't really done a lot of that but tend to think of using indulgent food as a reward but am so afraid of it backfiring. If I treat myself to a cookie or ice cream, I can just see myself not stopping. I have a friend that allows herself 1 piece of peanut butter. I'm thinking how do you do that??
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Replies
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I just couldn’t reward myself with food. For me personally, it’s a bad idea and it would probably lead to things spiralling out of control again. Instead, I like to treat myself to a new pair of jeans in my new smaller size or some new make-up.
You could treat yourself to things like a new item of clothing, get your hair or nails done, a massage, go and see a film, a new book, a fitness tracker, some new kitchen scales etc.
All the best 😊8 -
I tend to treat myself with new clothes when I hit certain milestones and it helps since I would need better fitting clothing at those points. I have never chosen food as a reward for weight loss goals though.2
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I reward myself with ONE cheat meal per week, that is it. If I do a whole day, I feel terrible and you can easily ruin week progress with a full day of poor eating. I also will occasionally buy myself new things as a reward, but don't really need to. Years of doing this has taught me that discipline and consistency are key, and its best to try to completely remove old/bad habits because they are easy to fall back into one goals are met.3
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For me the answer is, "ANYTHING BUT food". Golf equipment, clothes, a new book, workout stuff, you name it. But food rewards are a trigger. I need to maintain the thought process that eating is NOT a reward, or a response to stress, sadness, happiness or any other emotion.9
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In my opinion rewarding yourself for weight loss with food is a terrible idea.
I don't cut out any foods from my diet whilst losing so I don't typically feel like I need to reward myself with them, I either moderate them or don't keep them at home and just have them whilst I am out. I do however treat myself to new workout clothes, hair/beauty treatments, etc with each 10lb lost.
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I reward myself with items for creating new *habits* and I tend to choose items that make the habits easier to maintain. If I've been packing a pre-measured lunch consistently for a month or two instead of eating out, I may get myself a cute new bento lunch box (Or some extra interior containers to make pre-packing lunches easier to do on the weekend.). If I've been doing yoga persistently every day, I may get myself an annual subscription to a yoga app I like, so that I don't have to spend a bunch of time every morning trying to find a video to fit my time and mood.
Most recently, I got myself some fractional plates to help me increase lifts on my arms without stalling out.
I like to make sure that my *treats* support my goals, while still being neat items that make getting to my goals easier or more fun.10 -
Hmm. I haven’t figured out a tangible reward yet...mostly I let myself really enjoy all the small victories. I think I focus more on my fitness goals...I bought a small pin after finishing the C2 dog days challenge. That was hard! I posted a copy of my 1m meters rowed certificate to Facebook on the day I got it. And on another site I frequent, I have a bit of a daily updated thread/blog that I track everything, and have a good group of people to share my successes with.
Honestly for me the weight has always been secondary to the fitness. And the weight milestones are becoming a pain in the butt since I don’t enjoy spending the money on new clothes.1 -
The scale, my improved health and well-being, my increased physical abilities. Those are my rewards. 🥳6
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I never reward myself with food. I think it just sets up an unhealthy relationship with those foods. For awhile all my rewards were fitness related - a new workout mat, new headbands, new leggings. At this point though I’m not giving myself little rewards anymore, they just aren’t that motivating for me and just seeing the number go down on the scale, my clothes fitting better (or in some cases getting too big), feeling stronger and healthier all of that stuff that just comes from losing the weight really is enough of a reward.3
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Shortgirlrunning wrote: »I never reward myself with food. I think it just sets up an unhealthy relationship with those foods. For awhile all my rewards were fitness related - a new workout mat, new headbands, new leggings. At this point though I’m not giving myself little rewards anymore, they just aren’t that motivating for me and just seeing the number go down on the scale, my clothes fitting better (or in some cases getting too big), feeling stronger and healthier all of that stuff that just comes from losing the weight really is enough of a reward.
Yeah pretty much this. My larger rewards were more about getting fitness equipment that I didn't use to think was worth the expense.
I"m currently in a maintenance spot, so instead of rewards I have switched to ongoing incentives. I made a list of daily and weekly goals and give myself a financial reward for each goal completed. The amount of daily reward is based on how hard it is for me to hit that goal, 25c for easy ongoing goal and $1.00 for harder goals. I then use the money earned to purchase hobby supplies I don't need but want =P Two birds with one stone, as this also helps me keep to budget on entertainment spending.5 -
So I’m a person who does actually reward myself with food! I don’t ever binge eat or anything. But I’ve got two young kids, so a kid free lunch/dinner with friends is my treat. I should note that whatever I consume always fits in my daily calorie allowance.7
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This may sound Pollyanna-ish, but for me, weight loss was kind of its own reward, in the form of things like less knee pain, more physical flexibility, sense of self-mastery, normal blood tests/blood pressure, etc.
It never would've occurred to me how many rewarding mini-successes happen along the way. It's amazing! Great thread about that here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv
Like others, I think food rewards are a bad plan. Experience-oriented rewards (trip, spa, massage, concert, etc.) or indulgent non-food purchases are a better idea.8 -
I'm kinda at a point where the weight loss (and more in shape body) is its own reward. But when I was rewarding myself earlier, like for hitting 30 pounds and so forth, it was clothes. Definitely not food. Rewarding yourself with food for losing weight is a terrible idea on so many levels, not much different than rewarding yourself for six months of sobriety by having a beer. Clothes make a lot more sense, because you're treating yourself to something you couldn't wear before, so it all fits together in a mutually reinforcing positive experience.3
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It's a process. If you have an unhealthy relationship with food to begin with the reward concept isn't going to work at all.
Just as a financial reward for straight A's is doomed for failure, but engaging in this may cause one to recognize that success is it's own reward.
There's nothing unhealthy about thinking about rewards - it's very human, but I would not begin with this early on.
I run long distance and would keep a bag of Skittles in a pocket and chew one every mile or so. Early on I thought of this as a reward. As I continued running I didn't think of this as a reward anymore, but just fuel - part of the process.
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This may sound Pollyanna-ish, but for me, weight loss was kind of its own reward, in the form of things like less knee pain, more physical flexibility, sense of self-mastery, normal blood tests/blood pressure, etc.
It never would've occurred to me how many rewarding mini-successes happen along the way. It's amazing! Great thread about that here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv
Like others, I think food rewards are a bad plan. Experience-oriented rewards (trip, spa, massage, concert, etc.) or indulgent non-food purchases are a better idea.
^^ So much this. Being able to bend at the waist to tie shoes without having so much belly in the way that I have to hold my breath, being able to squat down to pick something up off the floor or get a pan from the bottom cabinet and stand up again without holding on to anything for leverage, and not having those scary numbers in my bloodwork and BP -- those are the real rewards for me.2 -
Firmly in the ‘progress is my reward’ camp!
The days when the scale shows the next pound has gone give me the best feeling and although I know I can’t possibly look thinner just from that most recent pound I feel thinner!
Food based rewards are dangerous territory!1 -
For me it's all about the clothes and all about the shoes. I get it, I'm shallow but it works for me. Find what works for you5
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Clothes, running shoes and accessories and races, experiences. Not tied to specific weight loss goals, but when it feels right.1
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Another 5 minutes in front of the mirror, loving how I look, puts a bigger smile on my face than anything else I could imagine.
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