Weight loss is challenging. Even the best program will involve effort, motivation, and times when all you want to do is give up. People who have lost the weight successfully will often tell you that one of the best ways to keep up your drive to reach your goals is to reward yourself when you meet smaller goals that you have set for yourself. Choosing non-food dieting rewards are best.
This can help you to keep going to achieve them, and will also assist in reinforcing new positive habits. They can be used as incredible inspiration that will keep you on the right track throughout your journey.
However, all too often, the rewards that we tend to think up have to do with food. After all, you’ve been eating the healthiest meals of your life and have been restricting your access to junk food, so it can be natural to think that a great dieting rewards option for having been so “good” would be to enjoy a massive piece of cheesecake. Unfortunately, at the same time, by rewarding yourself in that way, you will be taking yourself backward a little bit, and will be negating some of the benefits that you’ve brought yourself by working so hard.
The key is to find dieting rewards in other parts of your life that will be equally as motivational and inspirational, but without allowing your enjoyment to set yourself back in your weight loss efforts.
The following are some great reward ideas that you can use to give yourself a little bit of extra enjoyment without having to undermine your efforts in doing so. You can reward yourself for eating well, without eating junk…even if that is a tempting treat. This is only a short list of possible ideas for you to use. Try them out or let them inspire you to come up with your own inexpensive options that will help to keep you on track with your weight loss goals.
Smaller dieting rewards are great motivation for sticking to a goal for a day, while larger ones can help to reward you for a week or even a month of great work.
• Head to your favorite store, all by yourself, and spend as much time there as you want
• Sleep in or have a nap
• Take a great selfie that shows how far you’ve come
• Spend all afternoon giving yourself a home spa treatment, guilt-free
• Eat a healthy lunch, but enjoy it as a picnic
• Clean out all of your clothes that are now too big, and donate them to charity
• Make a collage of your progress, posting your weight, the distance you walked or ran, or other important achievement milestones
• Buy a great new workout song
• Plant a window box herb garden to add even more flavor to your healthy meals
• Invest in an awesome pair of workout socks
• Buy a whole new workout outfit with all of the bells and whistles and that makes you feel great.
