My Weight Loss Rewards List

I am a VERY oriented individual.  Every morning I wake up and create a to-do list: my goals for things to achieve by the end of the day.  I have goals for business, personal life, education, spiritual improvement, personal improvement, parenting, and, well, you get the idea.

With that in mind, it's no surprise that I also have goals for weight loss.  You know the ultimate goal: Reach the weight of 145 lbs.  But looking at that goal, and knowing I still need to lose 100+ more pounds can be daunting, to say the least.   So, I've broken it down into increments, then attached a non-food reward to go with each milestone.  Those that are starred have a personal significance to me, therefore they have a higher dollar value.


280 lbs:  New Running Shoes
275 lbs: Pedicure
270 lbs: Get my hair done - highlighted & cut
265 lbs: Go target shooting
260 lbs: Manicure
255 lbs: Write-In (leave for a weekend and work on my book!)
*250 lbs: Make-Over (Buy New Make up to go with my new face!)
240 lbs: Get my suburban detailed
230 lbs: Hire a Personal Trainer
220 lbs: Another Write-In
210 lbs: Take up Kickboxing or Karate
*200 lbs: Buy a road bike for doing triathlons
190 lbs: Go Zip Lining
*180 lbs: Vegas Baby!
170 lbs: Parachuting or Para sailing
160 lbs: Get a sprinkler system for my lawn
150 lbs: New Wardrobe :)
*145 lbs: Atlantis or Hawaii!!!

So, why are the starred weights so important? Well, 145 lbs for obvious reasons. I haven't been that weight for 21 years.

250 lbs is the weight I was when I got pregnant with my 4th child, 200 lbs is the weight I got pregnant with my 3rd child AND a major milestone anyway.  180 lbs is the weight I got pregnant with my second child (15 years ago).  So in essence, the starred numbers are the point in which I lose a child!!!! ;)  Yes, my goal is to 'lose my children'!  Bahahahaha!

How I survived a Weekend Out of Town Without Completely Trashing My Diet

OK, let's get one thing straight right off the bat.  I still gained weight. But, I'm not set back two  week's worth of dieting because of a weekend out of town. Meh.

But when the dust settled, and I weighed myself, I was only up 2.9 lbs, which in my estimation is friggin' FANTASTIC considering I had to eat out THREE MEALS per day, and couldn't work out. So let me tell you about my weekend.

My oldest son had a basketball camp in Montana, and we decided to go watch him play.  The weekend consisted of 6 hours of driving and 6+ games.  When we originally made the reservations for the hotel, we chose a basic hotel without a swimming pool with the understanding that just my husband would go and I'd stay home with the little kids.  At the last minute, Nate expressed interest in having me come support him and I willingly agreed.

So, off we went on a little family trip to watch big brother play basketball.  When we walked into the hotel room, we discovered that not only was there no pool, but there was no mini-fridge or microwave. There was no means of food prep or fresh food storage.  Ugh! Time to get creative.

In the past, the whole trip would be a catastrophe from the moment we got in the car. Snacks would be junk food and pop, consumed on the go until we stopped for fast-food along the way.  This time around, I had a bottle of water and a couple handfuls of trail mix.

Dinner was a grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's and anther bottle of water. It was the best option considering the circumstances.

We stopped by the grocery store for food when we got to town, but what are your options when there's no fridge or microwave?  So I picked up a case of bottled water and some grapes for myself, juice for the kiddos.

To spare you the boring list of foods I ate, I'll just say that some choices were good and some choices were bad (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have gained weight!).  But, it was progress from past trips, and I managed to consume almost zero soda pop, which is huge for me!

 I have several weekends this summer that will require me being out of town.  And now I have a baseline. The goal will be to make each trip better than the last until it no longer affects my weight and I can make the best possible food choices even when I'm away from home.

So tell me, what do you do to stay on track when you go out of town?  I'd love to know so I can use them for myself next time!