Rewards for sticking to exercise routine

Hi all,

Sorry for the long post - I know this topic has been discussed before but I thought I'd "refresh" it.

I’ve been on a health journey the last year, aided greatly by MyFitnessPal and research-based books like “Atomic Habits” & others on positive mindset. I’ve dropped 80 pounds just by changing the way I eat, and I’m getting close to my goal weight. But I want to keep going. The thing is, I’m losing fat but I am not gaining muscle, so I need to incorporate EXERCISE.

This brings up a lot of anxiety for me. I’ve always been overweight & out of shape, not coordinated/athletic and typically don’t stick with exercise routines. Last summer I walked my dogs every morning which was great, but then we had a baby and that stopped.

I want to get more into weightlifting/strength training. I’ve done all the research, planning, I have the equipment, I know what workouts/routines I want to do – I’m ready to go. But I keep dragging my feet. As James Clear (author of “Atomic Habits”) would say, I’m “in motion, but not taking action”.

I’ve got the system down. I’m able to get myself up and dressed & go upstairs (where I have my dumbbells and space to exercise). But that’s where I hit a wall & lose my drive.
I’ve decided I need to set up a reward system. Something daily/weekly/monthly that I can “treat” myself to if I’m consistent with my workouts.

My plan is to have either a large wall calendar to mark off days or a jar to put marbles in every day I exercise (or something like that). I want it to be visible in my house & get my kids excited about checking off days, as their involvement will help motivate me as well.

But when I start coming up with a list of rewards, I’m falling short. Here are some things about me that I take into consideration when picking rewards:

• I’m a recovering alcoholic (so celebrating with a drink is out)
• Due to spending time with my kids, I’m limited on time (not too limited to work out, but too limited to enjoy time-sucking rewards)
• We’re doing OK financially, but we like to be frugal – I’d prefer to create a list of rewards that are mostly free/cheap.
  **While my wife is supportive of my journey, she’s not very supportive of spending lots of money every month on a reward
• I don’t have any hobbies except work & spending time with my family, so it’s hard to pinpoint an effective reward because I don’t really know what I “like to do”
• I do all the cooking
• We moved to my wife’s hometown a few years ago, so I don’t have any friends in the area to socialize or work out with
  **Although an accountability partner would be really helpful, I’m pretty introverted and enjoy doing things on my own

So, with all that said, I’ve started a list of some weekly and monthly rewards that I’ll allow myself to “earn” if I exercise a certain number of times each week/month:

Monthly Rewards
- Massage
- Golfing alone
- Pay to have house cleaned
- Join a fitness class (boxing, BJJ)

Weekly Rewards
- Lottery tickets (we never play the lottery but I thought it would be cheap fun)

Types of rewards (often suggested) I’m NOT interested in (for a variety of reasons):
- “Buy yourself a journal or planner”
- “Get a new outfit or a manicure”
- “Spa day”
- “Buy new workout gear” (I’ve got everything I need)
- “Decorate your house”
- “See a movie”
- “Sleep in”
- “Buy songs or listen to a podcast”
- “Play video games”
- “Read a book”

There’s a variety of reasons why these rewards won’t work for me (I’m not “putting down” these rewards or people who enjoy them). Either I already regularly do these things or they are not motivating enough.

So this is where I’m at. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get as much info out there as I could to gather some good suggestions.

Anyone have any thoughts on rewards for sticking to an exercise routine?