I think it is very, very important to reward myself at every step of my weight-loss journey. This is especially important when my weight-loss is going slowly and when I am losing motivation to continue.
I reward myself for two things. Firstly for reaching my weekly goal, and secondly for reaching every quarter-stone mark.
My weekly goal
Each week, I fill out a ‘weekly review’ sheet that I devised for myself. I review the week just gone, and plan the following week’s targets and goals. I also record how much weight I have lost in total and add a pound coin to my money box for every lb I lose.
I set a goal for the following week. This may be to track my food intake, or to use one of the tools mentioned here. And I also choose a small reward from my box of treasures. I am a crafter, so my reward is usually a pack of ribbons or small embellishments worth a pound or two, but nice enough for me to want!
My chosen reward then sits in a prominent place all week, reminding me of my goal and spurring me on to succeed.
My weight goals
I use larger rewards for my quarter-stone targets. They might cost anything up to ten pounds, which may sound a lot. That’s fourty pounds spent on myself for each stone I lose. But when you realise that I might only lose a stone in three months (due to my health), these rewards become quite important to keep me going.
I then have even bigger rewards for each stone I reach, and for losing 10%, 20% and 30% of my body weight.
And one day I will be giving myself the greatest reward of all- when I reach my goal weight!!!
