Small Victories

Small victories should be acknowledged and celebrated.  For me, maintaining my weight for a week consistently, even when I haven't lost any is a small victory.  It means that I need to do some work to push past maintenance, but in the month of february I lost 2 full kg. going from 100kg to 98kg.  I need to lose 3 in march to meet my first goal.  I can do this and I will do this.

I have decided that my first 5kg goal will be celebrated with dinner at a delicious mexican restaurant with my fiancee.  I once read something on Pinterest that said "don't reward yourself with food, you're not a dog."  I completely disagree with this statement.  I also recently read something from Jillian Michaels about making 90% of your calories for health and 10% for fun (I don't think those were the exact numbers, but you get the gist).  If you are taking limiting yourself the foods you love in order to reach a healthy life you should be able to rewards yourself with food, of course this too has it's limits.  You can't reward yourself with a half gallon of ice cream after every workout, but for every small goal you reach (5-10lbs) you can rewards yourself with a treat.  I recommend going out to dinner and ordering something you wouldn't order to reach your goals (i.e. don't order a salad, unless you're crazy and love salad) but just treat yourself to something that makes you happy.  For me, it will be chicken fajitas with extra guac instead of a chicken taco salad where I don't eat the shell.  Remember, one bad meal won't make you fat, just like one good meal won't make you skinny.  Gaining and losing weight is about consistency, and if you take one cheat meal to reward yourself don't feel guilty.

You should chose how you celebrate your victories.  Don't let the opinions of others change your mind about your progress.  Maybe you want to buy a new shirt to show off your slimmer figure.  Whatever it is it's something that you can look forward to and the closer you get to your mini goal the harder you work because you really want to give yourself that reward.

Good luck and keep up the healthy lifestyle.