Slimming down: objective and reward

Slimming down starts with a goal, followed by a reward. Before you start losing weight, it is important to set a goal for yourself.

How much do you want to lose weight? And what would you like to do when you reach your target weight that you haven't done for years (or perhaps never have done)?

What will be your reward when you reach your goal?

For the ladies: hair extensions, a little black dress, a tattoo, a navel piercing, pretty lingerie, acrylic nails, a tanning bed, a complete beauty treatment, permanent make-up, a professional photo session, or something else?

Or for gentlemen: a nice new pair of jeans, a slim fit T.shirt of your favourite brand, a hoodie that only goes up to size (?) so you don't fit it now, a well-fitting suit? Or...?

Write down for yourself what your goal is. How much do you want to lose? And what will you reward yourself with when you succeed?

Cut out a picture from a magazine of what you like and stick it in a notebook or workbook so you can look at it every now and then at times when you are having a hard time.

When you find yourself craving a bag of crisps or bar of chocolate again, look at the picture and consider what is more important. Do you opt for very brief short-term enjoyment followed by a bad feeling or do you go for your long-term goals resulting in a lasting good feeling?

Stuff yourself and stay overweight or persevere and soon reach your goal and be fit and healthy again and be able to wear all the nice clothes you didn't fit into all those years?!

What can also sometimes be a good incentive is to stick a picture of yourself on the inside of the cupboard where you keep your biscuits and sweets that you think is really terrible.

An unflattering photo that clearly shows you are overweight. Every time you want to grab a biscuit or sweet you are confronted with this picture.

Do you still feel the need to snack then? Or would you rather choose a nice fresh, sweet, juicy piece of fruit? Or a handful of fresh nuts? Or a bowl of low-fat yoghurt with fresh strawberries? Come on, a piece of dark chocolate will do! Cup of milk with it, delicious!

Reward

Of course, you don't have to wait until you have lost 10 or 20 kilos (depending on what your target weight is) before you can start buying something nice for yourself.

Personally, I think every five kilos you lose is a milestone, because: five kilos of weight loss is a whole dress size!

Besides, it is better to try to lose five kilos at a time than twenty kilos all at once! That is almost impossible to oversee. Five kilos is. And when you have lost five kilos, you continue with the next five kilos. Suddenly that's already ten kilos!

So I think it's okay to reward ourselves after every five kilos of weight loss. Reward yourself, however not with (wrong) eating. A reward should also actually good are for you, contribute to your good self-image. A fatty snack, though tasty in its time, is not a good reward in my opinion. That's more of a tasty 'sin' in between.

Write down for yourself what you would like to have as a reward when you have managed to lose five kilos. And what if you lose another five kilos! Write down your rewards in the following way in your own notebook.

You already have a lot to look forward to, and losing five kilos is actually not that difficult at all. I've managed it many times, only I kept eating them off afterwards. Now the trick is to persevere!

Just start by losing five kilos and when that has succeeded you just do it again. And again. Just until you reach your target weight!

The above text previously appeared in the Balance book. The book is now sold out, but may still be available to order second-hand via the link below.

The Balance Book

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