Friday, April 29, 2011

Reward Systems?

The final goal in my long, long (did I say LONG?) weight loss journey is just over 60 lbs. That's a lot of weight.  I cannot imagine how...light... I will feel when it's gone.  More- when I pick up a box that heavy (and we do have them in my job) I can't believe that I am carrying that around on a regular basis.  I think that it might be a good idea that I put a 60lb box in my office, maybe try to pick it up on a regular basis.  Then again- that would probably make me cry- which I wouldn't want to do at work.  There is a study that says that losing one pound of weight takes four pounds of pressure off of your knee joints.  When I make my goal- I will have removed 240 lbs of pressure from my knees- that's far more than my starting weight!  Crazy huh? 

Anywho- I need something to work toward.  When you think of losing 60 lbs it's very overwhelming.  WW suggests smaller goals so here is what I am thinking:

Every 5lbs, a bouquet of fresh flowers.  I love flowers!  If I give myself a bouquet for every 5lbs, I have 12 bouquets to look forward to. 

At 20lbs, I get new "blingy" collars for the puppies.

At 30lbs- half way there- I get a spa service

At 40 lbs I get a carriage ride in Louisville

At 50 lbs I get a new wardrobe

At 60 lbs I get a new ring. 

I was thinking last night that maybe I can use this same system to quit smoking.  The problem is that it took me quite some time to come up with this list- and this isn't that many things.  :-)  I guess that's the problem and advantage all at once with being an empty nester.  If we want something, we just get it because we are past the expense of raising a child.  But here is what I was thinking in terms of quitting smoking traditional cigarettes ( I am going to use electronics to quit). 

At 24 hours- I get a new bottle of "girly" lotion. 

At one week I get Zumba fitness for either the Wii or the PS3

At two weeks I get a mani/pedi

At three weeks I get 3 new soy candles

At one month I get new sneakers

At 3 months I get  a Bed Bath and Beyond Gift Certificate

If/When I can accomplish these two very big goals- especially at the same time- I will have made huge strides in caring for ME.  Both will help with my RA and Fibro, as well as other internal systems.   One of our "problems" as women is that we take care of everyone else first and let ourselves go in the process.  But if we don't take care of ourselves- who will?  It's time that I do something big for me- and therefore, these are my goals. 

1 comment:

HealingWell said...

Great reward plan. I have a friend that did something similar and she lost 120 pounds! ~ Peter