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!

Susan's Epic Weight Loss: Up 2 lbs. Thanks Aunt Flo!!

Yep, It's official.  I hate periods.  I weight myself today and I'm up 2 lbs.  I know. I KNOW.  I'm not supposed to weigh every day because there are usually fluctuations.  But I'm not that kind of girl.  When I weigh myself and see the numbers go up, I will instinctively work harder, or watch my portions more religiously.  And that's a good thing, right?

So, when I saw the 2 pound weight gain, even though I know it's probably from water retention due to Aunt Flo, I upped my water to 12 glasses, hit the treadmill, watched my food portions (no dessert, or garlic bread), and generally stayed out of trouble.  And according to MyfitnessPal, I've only consumed 1350 calories, which to a normal person would be fine, but for someone my size is darned near starvation - especially when the program says I burned 500 calories exercising/walking today.

I was only able to walk a mile and put in 18:39 minutes of walking before the lower back pain was unbearable - kind of like the sciatic nerve running down the butt and legs, but I'm determined to add more time each day.  Plus I upped my speed and resistance a bit to offset the lack of time I could put in.  If I can only work out 20 minutes, by golly I'm gonna sweat every stinkin' second of it!

It's frustrating to be at such a low starting point.  There was a time when I was doing 10 miles a day, or biking 20 miles, and working out 3 hours.  But that was before the two little ones came along.  One day I will be back there again.  This weight loss journey is a marathon, not a sprint.  I'm in it for the long haul.

Until next time....