Rethinking Rewards

What truly brings you joy?

So much of today’s marketing centres around indulgence and instant gratification.  Unfortunately, the good things in life rarely work that way.  The best things are generally achieved through a lot of hard work and diligence.  When it comes to weight management, this is also true.  If we’ve spent years telling ourselves “you’ve had a hard day, it’s okay, you enjoy that ice cream,” and then “it’s Friday night, everyone has pizza and drinks,” and then on Saturday its “I deserve the weekend off of worrying about what I eat; I’ll start dieting again on Monday.”  When Monday comes, it’s “Tomorrow.”  These stories and excuses we tell ourselves honestly are just sabotaging our success.  Yes, we need to be able to live our lives not rigidly and allow for those treats during special occasions, and I’m really not talking about diet perfection because honestly, who wants to try to live that way?!  What I’m talking about is taking an honest look at what we are eating everyday and evaluate the self-talk.  Try writing down everything you put in your mouth for three days and also write down the things you told yourself when you ate each one.  You will probably surprise yourself!  Also ask yourself if those treats you allowed yourself actually brought you the joy that you thought they would. You don’t need to share what you wrote down with anyone, but I realized I have a lot more self-talk about what I eat than I ever realized!

The point of my story is that instead of rewarding ourselves with food (or sugary drinks), as we’ve been so conditioned to do, think about some other ways that you can reward yourself for your hard work.  Part of my education in coaching has been asking myself these questions and sitting in silence as I work them out myself, so I’d encourage you to do the same thing.  Think about things that don’t have negative repercussions (if you’re on a budget, make sure it doesn’t cost money).  To get you started, I’ll give you a few of my ideas.  I challenged myself to think of everyday things that give me joy.  One thing that always makes me happy is to create/make a healthy recipe that is satisfying to my whole family.  I also love playing games with my family and friends, so rewarding myself with a game night is a ton of fun for me.  I’m also a bit of a workaholic, so doing this is also just good for my mental health!  Another thing is seasonal - during the 6 months of the year that we can be outside in Edmonton, I love to take my dog for a walk WITHOUT my phone.  There’s just a peace that comes from being disconnected for a bit everyday!  During the winter, its having a hot bath and reading a book.  

So take some time without your phone, grab a journal and think of some things that give you joy and ask yourself if you can start rewarding yourself with these things instead of food or drinks that are sabotaging your health goals. Please also comment on if you start realizing just how much self-talk goes into your day about what you put into your mouth.  It’s actually crazy!

Remember, it has taken years to develop the issues of weight gain, so its going to take time and hard work to reverse it.  BUT, it’s going to be SO worth it. Your body is an amazing thing and it has carried you through life thus far.  Thank your body for all it has taken you through and give it some love by feeding it the things it really needs.