Day 193 - Rewards Rock, But

GO, that is my word for the day. I am not at work this morning, so no fancy white board. Just cheap ball point pen to scrap paper. No picture of new clothes today either. I just got back from a 2 mile walk/jog combo where I posted a new PR at 29:03 minutes. So you see me in my cheap workout shirt trying to get this post put together so I get on to eating some breakfast and a take a shower...

Where do you want to GO today?

Rewards rock! And they certainly can help motivate, they do for me. But those of us that use rewards for attaining milestones must keep rewards in perspective. The rewards are not meant to be the primary, or even secondary, reason we strive to get healthy.

Rewards are simply carrots we dangle to help us alongside the real reasons we do this. For everyone our real reasons are different and most of us have shared them from time to time with each other. If I were to hazard a guess, and I shall; a guess at the commonality amongst all of our real reasons I would say longevity & happiness may be the big two. Fitting into smaller stuff may be a close third :-)

For my 40% to goal weight reward it took me a couple months to cash in that reward. Simply I debated whether I really needed the hitch-haul I had originally set out for that goal. Mixed into that self-argument was the looming reality that I needed a whole new set of work clothes. As I shared last week my wife ended my internal argument for me and took me shopping, so new clothes it was. I Love My Wife!

For my 50% to goal weight reward it took me a couple days to cash in. There it is below, my new hunting rifle. Bought it on Sunday, the day I verified I had eclipsed the 50% mark. Illinois has a 1-day waiting period before you can pick up purchased rifles yet it took me two days to get back to the store to bring it home. For any fellow hunting or shooting enthusiasts out there I picked out a Savage Arms 7MM Rem Mag Rifle w/3-9x40MM Scope.

Now on towards the 60% milestone which I hope to attain by end of year at the latest. 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 189 - Got New Clothes

Enough is enough, a phrase that applies in oh so many ways to life. Certainly being obese itself has that day dawn where we stand up, or stay seated, and say enough is enough! And those of us who are parents can agree we regularly take a child aside and demand, enough is enough!

Well yesterday was an enough is enough moment for me, enacted by my wife (pictured to left) and fueled by my own lack of action to get new clothes that fit my lessor sized me better. Yep, she took me clothes shopping after work.

Now I've never cashed in my reward for achieving 40% of my weight loss goal. A combination of never finding the hitch-haul I wanted on sale and a realization I may not actually need one. So this enough is enough event was also made possible by allowing myself to accept it by making it my long-ago earned 40% reward. Oh who am I kidding, she would have taken me shopping irregardless of my delay to reward myself.

My work wardrobe used to consist of trousers with tightly fitting 46" waistlines and 3XL shirts which fit as needed in the gut but tended to be baggyish in the chest. Being apple shaped its always been hard to find shirts which were cut well for me in both gut & chest. Well no, finding such a shirt was a dream and rare find to be honest.

Now that wardrobe has been replaced with comfortably fitting trousers that are 42" in the waist and 2XL shirts that fit well and have me less conscious about that gut to chest differential. There you see me checking out one such shirt. Like?

Have you rewarded yourself lately for your accomplishments?


Have a wondrously awesome weekend!



Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 57 - 24% Progress

Sunday, or is it Sundae? yeah, lets go with Sunday, less calories. Happy Sunday to all!

That smoked leg of lamb below, that was dinner last night. It spent three hours on my smoker and boy did I get a good garlic & spice crust on that sexy leg. Saying it was delicious would be an understatement worthy of prison time. Temptation to eat 2nds and 3rds and, well I was tempted. But I abstained from temptation and had a single slice. Oh there are left overs, so my protein today just may be another slice.

Last weekend I hit the 20% weight loss mark on my mission. Having gone a week without back-sliding I can now order my reward for hitting that mark; a new laptop computer bag. I've had the same one my employer gave me for about 5 years, maybe more. Now when we get new laptops we don't get new bags, so it is time for me to get my own. And I shall do just that later today.

It is weigh in day. I was a bit apprehensive when I stepped on the scale as I had not exercised for a couple days this week while busy celebrating the Blackhawks title. But I knew I had been eating well so I wasn't too apprehensive. I have had better weigh in's lately, but as my goal is for a 1.5 pound per week loss, I can't be anything but smiles again this week. Today I got off that scale at 24 % of the way to my goal, I've lost 28.5 pounds in EIGHT weeks; 1.5 of them this past week.

Today I weighed in at 291.5 pounds. Feels good, so good, that I want more. More losses, more feel good. So off I go to get a quality breakfast and find some exercise that needs doing.

Have a good Sundae!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 31 - Magic Fitness?

Have you see an advertisement lately that sounds something like this... 10 foods that burn fat... Or this... Our pill, powder or drink slims & gets you ripped... Or...

I'm sure we've all seen ads like these in magazines or websites, perhaps even on some of our favotite blogs. I've peeked into the details of a few of these ads over the years; usually at times when I wasn't dieting or working at getting healthy. Just a few minutes hoping to discover that magic to quickly returning to the fitness glory of my youth. Each time I've come away unconvinced & unwilling to go there.

But, still these marketing marvels get me wondering. Just last week I read up on two such popularly seen pills. After 30 minutes of reading I had more questions than answers, unconvinced again. Plus there seem to be some serious law suits alleging neglegence that may have resulted in harm to health including death. Justified legal action or not, I have no idea. But the risk doesn't justify the lack of certain & safe reward as I see it.

Therefore as I write this I doubt there is any way to do this short of earnest discipline & effort.

If anyone has opinion or experience to the contrary I'd enjoy hearing about it; do you?

Today is work out day, I took yesterday off. Thinking dumbbells after work. Maybe a walk too if I can, hope so.

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 24 - My Rewards

Monday was a great day. Ate superbly, hit the dumbbells and had my best workout with them so far, just a fine day. Let's see if Tuesday can go just as well. How was your Monday?

Ok, yesterday I wrote about rewards - Thanks for your comments on rewards, opinions on deserving them, affordability, etc... So yesterday I stopped short of defining my goals. Having left myself hanging there I thought about them often throughout Monday and have made my list. The structure is to reward myself for every 10% of progress. I am looking to lose 121 pounds from my start of 320 pounds so every 12 pounds lost is another 10% and a reward will be mine! I set this up based on stuff I like and want; good characteristics for a reward don't you think? However, setting each reward at 10% had me thinking that that is 10 rewards and those can add up to a lot of cash if I don't show a little restraint. To add a bit of balance I set it up so the odd-tens, 10%, 30% etc... these would be fairly inexpensive rewards. At least compared to the even-tens, 20%, do I really need to explain that ? ;-)

Enough explaining, here are my rewards which I intend to visualize myself enjoying as a means to motivate me to get to my goal weight of 199 pounds...

My Rewards~
10%~Work out clothes (all I have now are old t-shirts, shorts & sweats from the 90's)

20%~Computer bag (the one I have now is in bad shape)

30%~Three Pack of Hot Sauce (to feed my hot sauce collection, nearly 300 bottles with room for more)

40%~Masterbuilt Hitch-Haul® Cargo Carrier (We are a family of hunters and this will come in handy)

50%~Four Pack of Hot Sauce

60%~Hunting Rifle (Savage Arms, not sure yet whether to get a 7mm, a .308 or a .30-06; time yet to decide; hunting season is in November, can I achieve this one by then?)

70%~Five Pack of Hot Sauce

80%~Bedtime Reader's Nightstand (actually to use by my chair in the family room)

90%~Six Pack of Hot Sauce

100%~Daytona 500 Week of NASCAR racing (My wife and I are big NASCAR fans and we've talked about going to Daytona soon so we may as well earn it. This one, the 100% reward, is a joint goal. My wife is working at losing a chunk of weight too. So which ever one of us that gets to their 100% first has the added incentive to help motivate the other the rest of the way because we want to go to Daytona!)

If you have a rewards list you are working toward I would love to see it; who has one?

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 23 - Change #4

Hope everyone had a good weekend and a successful week last week. A new week is here, welcome to another Monday.


Monday's are change days for me in my mission. These have been the hardest posts I make each week. You would think it may be easy since I am in no doubt making many changes from the old-unhealthy me to the new-healthier me. When it comes to this post it is not just about changes, but about a sincere commitment to that change. As well they are meant to be beyond the obvious, e.g. eating better, getting in some exercise, etc. This is only my 4th change and identifying impacting changes that really define a new me are not no-brainer's, I take them seriously.

This week's change may not seem like a real change to some at first but instead a want or a goal, however it definitely is a change for me.

Change 4...

• REWARD MYSELF FOR SUCCESS

Huh... Reward myself? Yep, rewarding myself is not a behavior, or better yet not a discipline, which I have ever practiced genuinely when it comes to my health. In the past if I wanted something, I went and got it. Not much thought to whether I deserved or needed it. If I didn't want something then I avoided it. Not much thought to whether I might be better off for having it. Sound familiar at all? It sounds like my old eating / exercise habits to me.

What I've been missing is a discipline to identify that bridge between my health behaviors (good and bad) and which are in my best interest and that of my family both today and in the future. Rewards may be part if that bridge, that discipline, I'll need to sustain momentum and motivation through to the end of this mission and then maintain a healthy lifestyle forever onward.

Is self-reward really necessary? Can't I just get it done without a 'carrot' to chase? Perhaps, probably, or; maybe not. Let me try and add a hint of I am placing self-reward into perspective. Here I am talking about rewards for healthy behavior. What about my professional behavior? My career is filled with plenty of risk and thus plenty of consequence & reward is present. I've done well to attain much reward. Why? Because I've always known what my efforts can bring me if I work smart; the tangible financial gain and the intangible sense of being valued if not necessary. Knowing these rewards are there to be had, I've chased them. Same could be said for my behavior towards family and marriage. The tangible fulfillment of the want for love & companionship, and the intangible sense of pride from providing for the needs of those I love. Knowing these rewards are there to be had, I've worked smart at being a good husband and father.

So, what about being healthy? As all of us driven to lose weight have made the decision to learn what healthy behaviors are and finally acknowledged the tangible and intangible benefits of being healthy are there to be had if we want them. But, for whatever reason, as clear and righteous as those benefits are now becoming apart of us; we've really known them for years but ignored them until recently. For some of us decades of ignorance is in our wake. Together we could fill hundreds of blog pages listing these benefits. But listing them is not my intent here. My intent with committing to a new change weekly is to forge behaviors that will increase my chance of succeeding in my health mission so that my health becomes as great as the successes I have achieved in career and marriage.

I chose to see myself as victorious!

I acknowledge my accomplishments by celebrating my successes small & large in ways that motivate me to go on and achieve my ultimate goal.

I control who I am, I've acknowledged that several times in this blog. Part of that acknowledgement means realizing I control what makes me feel good and keeps me going for more.

There you have it, my change for week four; I will reward myself for success.

What about the actual rewards. Oh worry not, my mind is in hyper-drive working through that detail believe me. Those thoughts aren't ready to put on paper and share yet, but they will be very soon; later this week soon. I've all but decided to set up rewards as I achieve each 10% mark in my mission; for me 10% = 12 pounds. As I am close to that first mark now, I have to get this nailed this week. Stay tuned...

How about you, do you reward your successes and if so how?

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!