Tamschro, I can relate!
I told my husband that when I reach my total weight goal I want a horse! Having a horse is a life-long dream, so that would be ULTIMATE motivation for me! Unfortunately, he was kind of hesitant about that as a horse is a big financial commitment...

NothinToLose - a horse... awesome. I can understand his hesitancy. My DH doesn't really want a cat... but knows how much I do want one.

Okay, is it a bad thing to reward yourself? I am not talking about bengin and eating 20 bags of chips. I mean, if you do really good all week, is it okay to reward yourself with something that you don't want to have to worry about the calories, something that your craving. OR, do you think this would seriously set you back? Interested to know what everyone's opinion is. Thanks!

I sometimes let myself have something im craving, as long as its still under my calorie limit, so it may mean being even stricter than usual throughout the day!! (though I have been REALLY bad today and am not feeling like im in any position to give advice at the mo-see my diary!!)

I guess its better to reward yourself with non-food things though, eg "i lost 3lbs this week so im gonna buy some oh-so-gorgous new shoes" hee hee!!

I don't think in terms of rewards. Especially when it comes to food.

I look at my weekly calories which should range from 9800 to 11900 calories a week and see where I'm at - I average around 8400-8700 a week. If I'm out somewhere and eat more artichoke dip then I planned for, or want some of the cheesecake my husband and daughter brought home, or decide to go out for an unplanned dinner, I know that even if I splurge by 2000 calories, I'm still under for the week.

Generally, I simply try and keep my calories in my daily range.

I try and not look at it in terms of "I've been good" so I "deserve" this cheesecake (which implies that the cheesecake is bad). Food is not either good or bad to me - it is what it is. Sometimes it fits into my life/daily/weekly calories and sometimes it doesn't. It definitely is not a reward.

But then, I don't "reward" myself. I get pedicures, buy clothes, shoes, get my hair done, etc. when I need to.

Living life well is its own reward

The best reward is new clothes of a smaller size.

I'm with M2M, I don't use it as a reward, but if I do want something (like my pepsi, or that yummy chocolate chip cookie I had last night ), I make sure that I'm still within my range of points/calories for the day; if I go a little over, I make sure I do some sort of activity to make up for it.

M2M is dead on about not using it as a reward...

this article:
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/news-...cess-5428.html

explains how the occasional "cheat" is good for you diet... there's also an article on incorporating cheat days into your diet elsewhere...

I'm all with Maleficent on 'structured cheating'. I plan cheat meals, and when I'm at them, I enjoy every bit of it, and I make sure I don't constantly analyze the calories/fat content/protein! I haven't been at this all that long, but I think that changes the psychology of the whole process so much - it's not like I'm torturing myself with no end in sight (I think 'rewarding' might make the 'work' part seem more unpleasant than it really ought to be), nor is is it 'okay, torture yourself for a few more days, and if you're really good, we'll get ice cream on friday'. Instead it just feels like 'okay, this is what we're eating today; on friday we're going out for Indian' - it's a plan, not an if-then.

Oh my and it makes it so much easier to deal with life - I go on a date, no problem, that's my 'cheat meal'. No awkwardness, no diet discussion, nothing.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm bad at trying to manipulate reward systems. If I 'rewarded' I'd probably self sabotage somehow, maybe by becoming overly restrictive to gain a bigger 'reward', both of which would be detrimental. But that's just my own personal psychosis.

The trouble with this thinking is that you'll always be eating foods you don't love, and even if you have a "cheat" day, you'll probably go back to your old way of eating once the weight is off.

I try to make sure everything I eat is something great that I might "cheat" on, but just take smaller portions and stop when I'm comfortable. It shocks me just how little it takes to make me comfortably full these days.

My reward system has reached its highest lmao

I just turned thirty yesterday and four of the finest rewards I have ever recieved or bought are:

My sniffles I bought last year
guinea pig

My Chewie Chewiska
My female Maine Coon Cat

and my new reward
My tiny baby "Gray"
So baby Gray is less than a month old ..and he is the newest edition to the family. I don't know exactly what happened. BUT I walked into the pet store, not sure of why I was going in ..except to look at animals..per usual.. knowing I couldn't get one ...and I see Gray, Baby Gray, sitting and peeking his nose out of the cage and I put my nose up to the cage and he put his nose up and we were nosing each other and than I said to the cashier .. "I want him!" anyway ..he is grayish beige..with a little white in the back ... which is why I coined him Gray, because he wasn't responding to my bf name he wanted to give him "dookie" almost reminds me of a name off Builder the Bob... anyway thats what I pictured ..but you know how animals will go for different inflections in your voice ..well he took to "Gray"

So anyway
thirty
two guinea pigs, one one year old, the other a baby.
A beautiful ten year old cat that is as feisty as a kitten!
and me, myself and I ... twenty five pounds less! always a treat


Why I say this is because I am not rewarding myself with food! lol
I have an exercise ball my sister got for me for my birthday ..found my step for my step aerobics .. Which I will be pulling up ..

well ttylater folks
off I go ..to write in more diaries ..and stair step ..seeing as I just found it in the basement ...

laterz
love yas
always
natalie jo

Congrats on your new baby!!!

I have a tendency to get new animals all the time ><.....I got my ducks because I saw a guy selling them on the side of the road lol

Oi when I used to take pictures of the animals at the pound for petfinder I would adopt pets or go home crying because I couldn't save them all.

My cockatiel was another random gift to myself and my female turtle was a gift to my male turtle lol

What do you do to reward yourself when you reach certain milestones? Do you buy yourself something nice? Get a pedicure? New clothes? Tickets to a show or game? Do you have certain rituals you do? What kind of thing motivates you to get to your goals? How often do you reward yourself? (every 5 pounds? 10? 25?)

I, for one, will be halfway to my goal in 3 pounds and I'm pretty excited. My next goal will be 170 pounds, then 160, then my final goal of 150. I think I'm going to go the "buy myself pretty things" route and get things that make me feel good like new lingerie, a killer pair of heels, or new jeans. I'm really curious to see what you're all looking forward to, though!

Clothes but not too many as I still have a ways to go to get to my goal. Just a nice fitting shirt or something works for me.

Personally, the self gratification of losing the weight is my reward. I'm a dork I know, but losing the weight and seeing the difference from say 3 months ago is my reward, and one I plan on keeping. I love the surprise gifts, like putting on pants that were getting snug and now are loose. Or looking at my shirt and thinking to myself, was this shirt always this baggy? Or putting on a belt I haven't used in a while and using a hole I've never used before, bad part is the belt now has a visble worn mark as a constant reminder of what my waist was, lol. Oh my all time favorite, I am starting to look better with my shirt tucked in verses leaving it out so my stomach doesn't stick out as much. Those simple gifts, are truly the gifts that mean the most to me.