Treat Yo' Self instead of having a treat

Hey there! How are you on this fine day? I am so glad it’s Friday. It’s been a busy week. Even this past weekend the hubby and I ran a lot of errands. It was kind of fun because we were shopping for our upcoming trip, but all of our running around further validated the fact that I HATE SHOPPING. I’m just not into pawing through items. I know I often pay more for things because I just don’t have the patience to hunt for the deals. Not to mention, I had to find a bathing suit this weekend. Yes, the most dreaded shopping trip of the year for men and women alike. I can’t tell you how many bathing suits I was in and out of this weekend. I did finally find one. I’m not really sure if it looks good or I was just so tired of looking I settled for it but either way I purchased a bathing suit. If this is a shopping trip you have coming up I wish you luck and patience.

So lately I’ve been giving you work out ideas, we’ve talked about food prep and ways to stay focused on your goals. I have also talked about my experience with disordered eating. This week I want to tie all of that together and talk about rewards. How do you reward yourself when you have accomplished things in life, no matter how small? In particular, how do you treat yourself when you have met a weight goal or a fitness goal? When I was in my early college years my best friend at the time and I started going a couple times per week to the campus gym. We seemed to always follow our gym time with a meal. Either lunch or dinner. For some reason, we felt it would be totally legit to get a salad and a side of French fries to share. Why we thought that made sense, I can only chalk it up to rewarding ourselves for going to the gym.

When I was in elementary school we had the Book It program. Do you guys remember the Book It program!? It was great. You had a button and for each book you read you received a star to place on your button. Once the button was full you could take it to Pizza Hut and get a free personal pizza. Are you noticing a trend? Goals are rewarded with food.

I notice this a lot with parents. They tell their children, if you eat your dinner you’ll get dessert. If you behave at school, I’ll take you for ice cream. If you stop crying, I’ll give you a cookie. I could go on. It’s ingrained at an early age into our minds that when we do something good we get food, a sweet treat like candy, cookies or ice cream. As we grow to adults we take on rewarding ourselves that way. When I was in Weight Watchers on Saturdays, if I did well at my weigh in I would reward myself with a cheat meal which always included dessert. I’m not saying you shouldn’t reward yourself. You most certainly should reward yourself for great things that happen in your life. You’re amazing and you deserve it. But, there are other ways to reward yourself besides food.

I feel it’s important to find other avenues of self-praise. Using food as a reward can create an unhealthy relationship and association with food. Offering food as reward can subconsciously cause binge eating behaviors. I know this seems a bit extreme but I only speak from experience. If you stick to your “diet” all week and then reward yourself on the weekend with a “cheat” meal this can potentially, if your not conscious of your eating, start a spiral where you try to cram more and more into your “cheat.” It starts as just a meal, then its and appetizer and a meal, then you add dessert and at some point, you just say F*&% it and your whole day or whole weekend is spent on a bender consuming all of the foods you deprive yourself of during the week. This will wreck your accomplishment.

So, what are some ways you can treat yo’ self without food? Lucky for you, you’re reading my little blog and I’m going to give you some ideas!

One of my favorite ways to treat myself is with a massage. Especially with as much as I work out it has become more for my health than just simply a treat. Here is a link to the spa I go to http://www.essentialswesleychapel.com/ If you don’t live in the area check out Groupon or Living Social for great deals in your area. A massage can really leave you feeling refreshed and revitalized.

I also like to treat myself to a facial. And don’t be fooled, facials are as much for men as they are for women. With everything in our environment and what we put on our face it’s nice to let a professional really get all of the gunk out of your pores and reveal fresh skin. I recently had to give up my facials while I’ve been visiting the dermatologist but I finally was able to go this weekend and it was amazing! My pores look so much better! I just love facials.

Along those same lines are the manicure and pedicure. Again, both men and women can enjoy a good mani pedi. Summer is coming up so get those fingers and toes on point! Its flip flop season people!

Buy a new outfit! Especially if your goal is to lose weight. If you have met certain mile stones toward that goal buy some new clothes so you feel and look good and want to continue working toward it.

                                     
Take a trip! Go away for a day or even a week! It will be good for your mind, body and soul and is a great reward for your hard work! If you’re thinking…. shooooooooootttttt, I don’t have the money to take a trip. Well, then start rewarding yourself by putting the money away you would use for a cheat meal so that my years end you have some money saved and youcan take a little trip 😊

Get yourself something nice. Maybe you’ve been eyeing a watch, earrings a new phone. You’ve been killing it lately! You deserve it! Treat Yo’ Self!

What ideas can you think of? Please share if you have any other ways to treat yo’ self. I mean, food is delicious, don’t get me wrong, and having a sweet treat from time to time isn’t going to make or break you. The issue comes when every celebration and every accomplishment revolves around food. Plus, in doing one of the above you may find more fulfillment plus you won’t have a food hang over the next day!

In case you didn’t catch me on the Instagram the blog is on Pinterest now! Give me follow! I have some great pins up already of workout ideas, recipes, clean eating and more. I pin daily so check it out to see what pins I find helpful and interesting. Plus, it’s a quick way to find all of the blog posts in one place.

Next week I’ll be talking travelling. How to pack, prepare and what snacks to take on a trip.

Don’t forget to follow the blog in the upper right hand corner. (P.S. if you are reading this on your mobile device you may have to switch to “view Web Version” to see the Follow Me box.) I will be doing a giveaway for my followers in the upcoming weeks so make sure to follow me so you’ll be eligible to win! And hey, share with your friends!

Let me know how I’m doing by either commenting below or sending an e-mail to barbellsandboyshorts@gmail.com

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