Blogger Challenge Week 3

Whirlsie has once again posted a great question for this week's challenge:
How will you acknowledge and reward yourself during Round 1, 2012 of the 12WBT? What are the small wins? What are your big accomplishments? How will you achieve these and how will you reward your efforts? (food doesn't count!)

The obvious reward for me is a new wardrobe. Hopefully from Vancouver. But that's still 3 months away. So, what will I do to celebrate the smaller milestones along the way? And what will these milestones be?

Small wins:

• Losing 5% of my body weight (4kg).
• Losing 10% of my body weight (8kg)
• Running 5 mins without stopping

Big accomlpishments:

• Losing 8kg (halfway to goal) (I know, I said this up top too)
• Getting to goal weight (65kg)
• Being a size 10
• Running 5km on a regular basis
• Going from beginner to advanced on everything (except sit ups)
• Beating my PB on the 1km run on the fitness test.

How will I achieve this?

I will admit, these last few weeks I haven't given it my all. My eating has slipped from tracking everything and following Michelle's plan, to barely thinking about what I'm eating and not tracking. My exercise... not really existent, sporadic at best.

Now, to fix it all. I will get back on the horse in terms of my eating. I will sit down and work out my meal plan. I will grocery shop and make sure I have all the ingredients I need. I will make sure that I have healthy snacks on hand.

I will make exercise just another part of my day. I will exercise with everything I have, 6 days a week. I will give it my all.

Rewards for my efforts?

I have never really been one for rewards. I mean, I can make them, use them as an incentive for getting to my goals, but I've never really been one to take them. I mean, I love a massage, and I love the way I feel after I have one (a friend of mine says I look high at the end). I regularly have my eyebrows etc waxed to look and feel better about myself. I would have my nails done (either manicure, or acrylic) if I was allowed to have them at work. I have my hair cut semi regularly, and occassionally have foils put in. I have a bubble bath with music, sometimes candles, always a good book, when I have the house to myself and I want one.

I see no reason why we should deny ourselves the pleasures that come with looking after ourselves, and make us feel better about ourselves, just because we are on a weight loss journey. These are things that I, personally, don't see as any different than getting my eyes or teeth checked. They're a normal part of keeping myself looking and feeling good. (This may make me sound vain, but I hate having my eyebrows out of control. It makes me feel out of control). These sometimes small things can feel like something I can control in an environment where I don't really control much.

I don't understand why some people put off getting things until "I'm a xx size" or "I weigh xxkg". To me it makes no sense. Why shouldn't you look after you now? As you are right in this moment? Are you not worthy of having the same things as thinner people are? Why not?

I understand that these sorts of things are a personal preference and I don't mean to come across as bitchy, or unsympathetic. I understand there are constraints on people that doesn't allow them to have these things on a regular occurence.

I'm not sure where this mindset comes from. Maybe it's having been bought up believing that I can do, have and be, anything I wanted. That I don't need to wait for the right time, or the right place, or the right person. That if I work hard enough, I can have it.

Maybe it comes from my psychology background? The lessons on negative self talk, and putting yourself last. Maybe it comes from seeing my mum put off buying/doing things for herself, and putting herself last. I'm not sure.

But, I believe that things like that, are, for me, not rewards. These are things that people do all the time. Young, old, thin, overweight, pretty or not. It doesn't matter.

I guess for me, rewards are big things. Going overseas. Scuba diving lessons. My first leather jacket that I bought when I first started working.

But most of my rewards are physical... That high at the end of a run. Feeling exhausted at the end of a full on session. Feeling my jeans get looser. Not having a double chin in my photos. Feeling lighter and better about myself. Beating my PB times/calories burned/weight lifted/reps completed/times etc.

I will, of course, get my hair recut and foiled before I leave the country. I will allow myself a massage when I have massive knots in my muscles. I will allow myself to have a bubble bath and read a book if I want to.

I guess my biggest reward for myself is knowing that I did it. I will get to the end and be able to say 'I did the 12wbt' and I made it out the other side. I will be able to say that I am lighter, fitter, healthier and stronger. And I DID IT!!! No-one did it for me. That feeling of accomplishment.

Also, while I'm in Canada (however long that might be), I want to do the Stanley Park walk. It's about 6 miles (10km) right round, plus the walk to and from the youth hostel I will be staying at. I want to be able to do that and enjoy it. Not just huff and puff, and feel my legs aching, so that I miss all the scenery. It's supposed to be a beautiful place, and I want to experience all it has to offer.

What are your thoughts on rewards?