Earning Your Rewards

My cousin Darla has another blog and yesterday she mentioned her kids not needing to eat breakfast since they were getting donuts. I told her I was going to let that comment pass. She assured me that the kids, and not the adults, get donuts at Sunday School on the first Sunday of the month.

Still gonna let it go since they are kids and all kids love donuts, but eating habits are formed in the young.

Anyway, it brought to mind my own childhood. My mom and dad taught my 5th grade Sunday School class. Actually, Mom taught and Dad was "crowd control". He was kind of a big man and could be pretty intimidating to rowdy 10 and 11 year olds. My mom used donuts as a reward for learning the books of the Bible. You got a donut hole if you like 5 or 10 straight, a donut if you did a whole Testament and a Texas donut if you could name all the books of Bible in order without a mistake.

Texas donuts were the size of dinner plates.

Have I mentioned that I am an overachiever?

Food is often used as a reward. While I'm not necessarily against that in principle, you do have to watch it if your goal is to lose weight. Having a bowl of ice cream or a piece of cake or an extra slice of pizza because you dropped a few pounds or ran an extra mile or rode your bike today really can be counterproductive. Not in an individual case so much as the pattern you are establishing.

The opposite is true also. Food shouldn't be used when things are going well. You can't allow yourself to let up just because you've hit a wall. You can't just give up and say one of this won't hurt I'm not losing any weight anyway.

Food is the fuel for our bodies. No more no less. We can still enjoy it and have celebrations with it but you can't give it a power that it doesn't possess. It is what it is.

So look at non-food rewards for those milestones. New clothes or shoes or a massage or whatever. And when you hit the wall or a slump, as I have right now, then change something up. Add a new exercise, or push your comfort level a little on an existing routine. Surprising your body is usually the best way to get to wake up and respond.

Now go have a great day! (Hopefully easy on the donuts)