I am a firm believer in setting goals and rewarding yourself for achieving them. I've rewarded myself about every 25 pounds on this journey, and at every major weight loss milestone. Why is this important? Because you've gotta have something to look forward to. Sure, you can lose weight without treating yourself every now and then, but it sure makes it a lot tougher. Think about things you want, and make yourself work for it. Last spring when I hit my 125lb loss mark, I bought myself a new Vera Bradley purse and wallet. Was it something I needed? Probably not (this of course is up for debate depending on your severity of addiction to all things Vera.) ;) But it felt really good that I had worked hard for that bag, and I carried it with pride. Before I got to my goal, I picked out the bag and wallet I wanted, printed out a picture off the website, and hung it on my fridge. It helped every time I went to the fridge seeing the goal I was working toward. I swear it kept me from binging. It is so important, especially when you have as much to lose as I did, that you reward yourself frequently.
Some people would argue that rewarding yourself with food is bad. I disagree. Why not, if you've been doing well and have an event you're looking foward to, allow yourself that piece of cake? I've made a couple trips for tasty treats just to remind myself that I am in control and I can have small indulgences without losing (or gaining as the case may be) what I've worked so hard to achieve. I think there is nothing wrong with telling yourself, "ok, if I get down to (insert number here) this week, I will allow myself a trip to Coldstone Creamery this weekend." I will even plan the flavor ice cream I'm going to get, or whatever the treat is depending on where I'm planning to go. But the key here is that I AM IN CONTROL. We're not taking binge eating trips here people. Just a treat to reward yourself for a job well done. Most of the time I find that a small treat is plenty, and I end up eating a lot less than I thought I would and making a healthier choice. Just another sign of how far I've come.
A year ago, I never would have imagined I would be where I am now. I hoped I would be, but being as down as I was about my weight and my health it was hard to conceptualize. Giving myself little rewards has been a key part of my weight loss. So ask yourself what a good reward would be, and set a goal to achieve it. Maybe you saw a really cute dress in the store, or there's a new tech gadget calling your name. It doesn't have to be anything expensive, but should be something meaningful. A sort of trophy if you will. Go get it!
Now, only 9 more pounds need to disappear and I can finally order that new Polamalu jersey...
"The desire to do something is the proof of our potential to do it." -Eric Butterworth
Friday, September 3, 2010
Me and My Shadow...and the mystery of the missing pounds.
I made an interesting observation this morning. As I was waking up, I sat up in bed and, groggily, looked at my sillouette on the wall. It looked like the sillouette of a normal person! I was a little taken aback and thought wow, I've lost so much weight that even my SHADOW has changed! That's pretty freakin' cool if you ask me. It's one of those little non-scale victories, or NSV as I call it, that I've learned to treasure. I've really payed attention to all the NSVs in the past few months as my weight loss has slowed down considerably. Like last Friday when I put jeans on for dress down day at work, and they almost fell off. I just spend oodles of money on back-to-school clothes, and didn't even consider that my dress down day jeans might not fit! Oops! While the pounds don't always come off as quickly as I'd like, paying attention to things like how your clothes are fitting is a sure sign that you're on the right track. I'm also finding that the more I run and work out, the easier it gets.
So another weird thing that happened this week was the mystery of the missing pounds. I've been on this yo-yo lately...I'll lose a few pounds, gain a few, lose a few, gain a few...it's very annoying. In general the scale is going down, it's just got a very frustrating way of doing it. I think my scale likes to toy with my emotions. I was at the doctor two weeks ago and was not quite where I wanted to be, but have been averaging a pound a week weight loss for the past two months which is not great, but it's still progress. I lost 3 pounds the week after my appointment, then the week after they reappeared. I hate the pound reappearing act. My scale thinks it's a magician. So then of course for a week I'm sitting at the same weight. No budging, nothing, even though I've kicked up the exercise and re-structured my diet. I got on the scale yesterday morning and, no kidding, I lost 5 pounds OVERNIGHT (I have this really bad habit of weighing myself in the evenings too. I really shouldn't do that). I was like, what the heck!?!? So I stepped on the scale about 4 more times, moved it to different places, and sure enough the number was real. This morning I was down another pound. 6 pounds in two days, that's pretty flippin' awesome. I have no idea how, but who am I to argue with the almighty scale? ;)
I think sometimes our bodies aren't quite ready to let go of the pounds as quickly as we'd like them to. We hit plateaus because our bodies need to adjust. A friend of mine explained it in a way that our bodies lose quickly for awhile and then at some point it's like "hey, hold on a minute will ya? I need to catch up here!" So our body needs to take some time to get acquainted with its new, smaller self. My doctor also explained to me at my last visit that your metabolism changes as you lose weight. 100 pounds ago, every move I made burned calories because it was an effort to make any movement at all. Now moving isn't as much of an effort and my body doesn't burn calories as easily. I have to put forth more effort (aka: EXERCISE) to burn off calories. There's a lot less of me to move around, and if I want to have even less I have to move a lot more! Simple formula really.
I'm learning more on this journey every day, and I hope I never stop learning. I love reading about others' journies and talking to people who are also trying to get healthy. Who says you have to be rich and famous to be an inspiration?
"Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you." -Unknown
So another weird thing that happened this week was the mystery of the missing pounds. I've been on this yo-yo lately...I'll lose a few pounds, gain a few, lose a few, gain a few...it's very annoying. In general the scale is going down, it's just got a very frustrating way of doing it. I think my scale likes to toy with my emotions. I was at the doctor two weeks ago and was not quite where I wanted to be, but have been averaging a pound a week weight loss for the past two months which is not great, but it's still progress. I lost 3 pounds the week after my appointment, then the week after they reappeared. I hate the pound reappearing act. My scale thinks it's a magician. So then of course for a week I'm sitting at the same weight. No budging, nothing, even though I've kicked up the exercise and re-structured my diet. I got on the scale yesterday morning and, no kidding, I lost 5 pounds OVERNIGHT (I have this really bad habit of weighing myself in the evenings too. I really shouldn't do that). I was like, what the heck!?!? So I stepped on the scale about 4 more times, moved it to different places, and sure enough the number was real. This morning I was down another pound. 6 pounds in two days, that's pretty flippin' awesome. I have no idea how, but who am I to argue with the almighty scale? ;)
I think sometimes our bodies aren't quite ready to let go of the pounds as quickly as we'd like them to. We hit plateaus because our bodies need to adjust. A friend of mine explained it in a way that our bodies lose quickly for awhile and then at some point it's like "hey, hold on a minute will ya? I need to catch up here!" So our body needs to take some time to get acquainted with its new, smaller self. My doctor also explained to me at my last visit that your metabolism changes as you lose weight. 100 pounds ago, every move I made burned calories because it was an effort to make any movement at all. Now moving isn't as much of an effort and my body doesn't burn calories as easily. I have to put forth more effort (aka: EXERCISE) to burn off calories. There's a lot less of me to move around, and if I want to have even less I have to move a lot more! Simple formula really.
I'm learning more on this journey every day, and I hope I never stop learning. I love reading about others' journies and talking to people who are also trying to get healthy. Who says you have to be rich and famous to be an inspiration?
"Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you." -Unknown
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