Starting a diet and exercise plan can be challenging. Sticking to it is even harder. When you're overweight, it's hard to get moving. When you're used to comforting yourself with food, it's hard to stop. There's a long span of time between the point where you make the decision to start dieting and exercising, and the point where you start to feel the benefits. Rewarding yourself along the way can help make this period easier, so that you're more likely to stick with the plan.
Exercise Setting
If you haven't been exercising at all, the first few weeks or months of an exercise program can feel like torture. You can barely do anything and you're lugging along a lot of extra weight. One way to make it easier is to exercise in a nice setting. If you can walk outdoors, in a park or on a beach, you'll have the immediate reward of enjoying the peace, quiet and beauty of nature.
Going Uphill
As you get fitter, it'll become easier for you to do more strenuous exercise. But long before you can climb a tall mountain, you can reward yourself by enjoying progressively harder hikes--often with better views. Challenging yourself to get to a higher point every few weeks will give you a sense of accomplishment. If you look at a hiking book, you can choose routes you've always wanted to do but couldn't, and slowly work up to more difficult ones. Then you can sit at the top of the mountain and feel great about yourself. If you live in a flat area, use a pedometer, and note how you are gradually increasing the number of steps you take. Seeing a high number on that screen is very rewarding.
Dietary Rewards
The real reward of dieting comes after you've lost most of the weight you set out to lose. You'll feel much better and look better. But till you get to that point, you can reward yourself in several ways. Specialized food stores are filled with foods you've never tried. Instead of eating a large amount of calorie-heavy unhealthy food, you can reward yourself by tasting small amounts of new and interesting foods. If you like cheese, for example, many stores carry a wide selection of interesting cheeses from around the world. They're meant to be nibbled at, not devoured. Discovering new spices is a great way to reward your palate without endangering your diet. It's best to avoid the calorie-rich, often sweet, foods you used to like, because you can easily fall into the trap of eating too much.
Other Rewards
As you shift to healthy eating, and eat less, your food budget should decrease. Take the money you're saving and put it in a jar. Once it accumulates, buy yourself something nice. A book, an electronic item or best of all, something that you can use for your new healthy lifestyle. It could be a basketball hoop for the courtyard, a piece of camping equipment, or a tennis or surfing lesson. It could be a nice expensive cosmetic item. Clothes would be a bad idea, if you're not yet at your goal, but anything else would help you realize how much money you've wasted on not being happy.
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