The path is long, the terrain dull
Yeah, okay, it’s not the Bataan Death March, but dieting can…drag on a bit, yes? You need joy along the way to keep you motivated. When you tell yourself, “I’ve got to lose 30 pounds”, can’t you just feel your energy plummet? We want you to feel happy along the journey, not just when you reach a goal weight. Feed your spirit with rewards as you go, and you’ll be more likely to keep going.
Change is hard
There are some people who embrace change with a spring in their step and a song in their hearts, and they never, ever get invited to my dinner parties. I’m one of the fearful plodders. I need reinforcement. A lot of reinforcement. I can’t even muster a sprightly slog along the path of change unless it’s positively littered with treats. Losing weight means making a lot of changes in body, mind, and spirit. Rewards help you embrace them.
Rewards get your brain on your side
You know those mean voices inside you that love love love to beat you up? The ones on an endless loop of You’ll always be fat/You can’t lose weight/ Might as well give up/ You can’t do it/ See, I told you you’d fail? Imagine they’re goofy seals and you’re gonna toss ‘em some sardines to shut ‘em up. If you’re diligent about rewarding yourself, you’ll soon have your brain on your side. Say…if I play nice, she treats me nice! Rewards remind you that you’re succeeding, and that quiets down the mean self-talk. You’ll beat yourself up less. Hey—when you notice that happening…give yourself another reward!
What’s a reward?
Here I borrow from life coach Martha Beck’s definition of “treat” in her marvelous The Joy Diet: Anything that makes you feel like smiling. Personally, I’m clam-happy with a simple houseplant, and reward myself with them frequently. (Sadly, no, my house isn’t a verdant rain forest, on account of how I also accidentally kill houseplants with my black thumb, necessitating constant restocking.) I also reward myself with TED lectures (download them for free from iTunes), buying a favorite song download or two, trying a new nail polish, playing my favorite online game (no, I won’t tell you the name, because I’ve wasted far too much time on it). Larger rewards for me include bigger plants, mani-pedis, a new top from eBay, and the like.
Rewards need not be expensive—my African violets cost $3.99—but they must give you joy.
You’ll want to stock up with a handy-dandy list of rewards for short-term weight loss goals (we recommend any number ending in a “0” or “5”, a weight loss of between 2 and 5 pounds), medium-term goals (5, 10, 15, 20, 25… pounds), and your goal weight. Or hell, why not reward yourself for any movement whatsoever toward your goal? You took a walk? Give yourself a reward! You did something to calm your stress level? Give yourself a reward! You bought yourself some good athletic shoes? Give yourself a reward! You backed away from the Thin Mints instead of running the whole sleeve? Give yourself a reward! Are you detecting a theme here?
I can’t decide your rewards for you, because I have no idea of what would make you smile. If you’re stuck, you can always brainstorm by filling in these blanks:
I like the smell of _______ (Perfume? Flowers? The top of a baby’s head?)
I like the sound of _______ (An African rainstorm? Your favorite dance tune? A giggling toddler? A Chris Rock monologue?)
I like the feel of _________ (A long immersion in the fur and purr of your kitty? Your dog’s soft ears? A favorite cashmere scarf?)
I like the sight of ________ (Pick a YouTube! Go spelunking in your iPhoto library!)
For obvious reasons, I like to avoid food rewards, except for treating myself to semi-extravagant healthy foods, like artichokes and avocados, my personal faves. I’ve been known to consume an entire bag of Trader Joe artichoke hearts at a sitting, jabbing my fork pointedly at anyone threatening to penetrate my airspace.
So: Brainstorm your rewards, then be diligent about rewarding yourself early and often. Because you deserve it!
What are your favorite rewards?
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