Healthy Rewards

I think it is in human nature to reward ourselves after accomplishing a task. It starts in childhood when we are rewarded for cleaning our room, doing chores, or getting good grades in school. Rewards are the "carrot" to the stick, necessary to balance out work or effort. If you continually pushed yourself without enjoying yourself along the way, eventually you would find it easy to stop punishing yourself.

A big problem I have and have had to struggle with is rewarding myself with food. I love food. My unhealthy love affair with food put me in the 300 pound bracket, 3X shirts, and 44 pants. While I realize that fact, its hard to separate food from reward. I believe part of this is because we typically use food as celebrations of accomplishment. We have food to celebrate wedding and graduations. When I was younger eating out was a reward for good grades and for completing church projects. It almost feels unsatisfied if we don't reward our healthy living with celebration food.

So what do we do? I reward myself, almost weekly if need be. A pound off is a pound in the right direction. One thing I do is set small to bigger goals. I will get a wii when I reach my goal weight. I love music and my mp3. One reward system I set was a song for every pound lost. It keeps me focused. I try to find non food rewards. Ten or twenty pounds is worth a new pair of pants, workout attire, or a new book. I especially like the clothes reward system. If you're working hard, it may be the best way to reward yourself and show off your great results.

In good health!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry