Goals

What are your goals, and how do you plan to reward yourself?


I think having outlines for both of these things are very important. You see, how I see it, is if your only goal is to lose 90 pounds, and your reward is only the fact that you did it, you are probably going to fail.

We all like to be rewarded. There is no point in denying it. You do good at work, you want recognition or money...You get all the laundry done at the house, you want to be thanked. Regardless of what you accomplish, you want some sort of gratification for doing it. So, as long as you are completely in control, make it happen. Don't look for someone else to be proud of you and reward you for your personal goals....it's not that important to them.

So, as for my goals, I have them set up all over the place...with built in rewards for the small ones and not so built in on the big ones! I also make them all dependent on me, not the results. You'll see what I mean.

Each week, I plan to work out 6 of the 7 days. If I accomplish this, I reward myself with a bubble bath on Sunday night with a glass of wine. Notice that I didn't put a weight on it, like if I lose 3 pounds each week, I get to..... because losing weight sucks, and there are going to be days and weeks where you are spot on, but the scale doesn't budge. Don't beat yourself up. You are doing what you can, and you should recognize that for yourself.

Also, and this one may sound silly, but if I don't get up and go to the gym, I don't let myself put on lotion that day. Part of it, I guess, is like I don't deserve it, but really, I love lotion, and I need to do it everyday, so I've made it part of my workout ritual.

I also have the goal to find healthy and easy recipes for my whole family. I'm sooo excited about this one. I'm getting them to join me on this healthy journey, and they don't even have to do anything! I've discovered that I love one dish meals, so I just ordered 4 cookbooks that have these healthy recipes. As long as I keep up with this, the reward is building my recipe collection and making my family healthy....kind of a boring one.

I do have some weight based goals too. Like once I lose 50 pounds, I will definitely need new clothes. So there is a shopping spree there! Same with once I hit my goal weight. According to LoseIt, that should be on December 8th, so right before my birthday! What a great gift to myself :)

Also, if I follow my eating guidelines (not a diet-a change of lifestyle), I will allow myself one "cheat meal" a week. It's important to remember that this should not be a cheat day...and I still want to log the food I eat. DO NOT KEEP YOURSELF FROM EATING THINGS YOU LIKE! You just have to do it in moderation. Like last Sunday, we were celebrating a birthday, and I made a cake that had 588 calories per slice....WOW. So I was careful the rest of the day, and when cake time came around, I only ate half a piece. That's a fair compromise! 

Money usually seems to be an issue, so my rewards tend not to be a purchase. Sure, I'd love to be able to buy a new outfit every time I lost 10 pounds, but that's probably not in the cards. I do sometimes make my rewards something I need. I also have it set that once I get down to 190, I will buy new gym shoes. Silly? Maybe, but it works for me.

I hear of a lot of people that will reward a success by setting themselves up to fail. Food rewards are usually not the way to go. They can be if you do so with caution, but let's be honest, is that how you do it? Let's say you love Big Macs. Well, so, you hit your goal of 10 pounds, so you head to McDonald's and get the Big Mac meal. In that meal alone you are eating 1320 calories. I don't know about you, but that's just about my current calorie limit for the day.....and then either you need to work out like crazy just to negate it, or you're probably going to go up on the scale. You gain weight, you get discouraged....and you are on a downward spiral. Instead, maybe, make your own version of the big mac? I know there has to be a better way to make that secret sauce...and other than that, you can do it with a turkey burger, or not have the fries and/or soda..... Just use common sense. Eating bad food isn't going to make you feel better.

I prefer my goals and rewards to be event based. Like a walk at my favorite nature preserves, or letting myself have a girly movie night. And they can support each other. If you go for that walk, make yourself do 3 miles, 5 miles, whatever it is, and then let yourself have a lazy evening or something. You will feel so much better! If you don't have a fit bit or other activity tracking device, there are some great apps out there. Map My Walk (run, exercise, etc.) can be activated on your phone and use gps to track your route, miles, pace, elevation, etc. So, you will know just how hard you actually worked that day :)

In terms of weight goals, I think it's important to not give yourself strict date deadlines. Sure, aim for something, but life happens. There's going to be funerals and weddings and birthday parties and meals you are invited to. You aren't going to be able to control what is served or if there is a place for you to work out....keep yourself in check, don't gorge. You can still control how much you eat, but somethings are really out of your hands. So, you can't get discouraged if you didn't get your 10,000 steps in that day if you were in the car for 8 hours. Or if you couldn't get your time in on the elliptical if the hotel you were at had no work out facility. Just do the best you can, and if you know you put in your very best effort, recognize that for yourself!

Think about your goals. Make them something you can actually do. Write them down. Hold yourself accountable. Don't make excuses. You can do it!