Lose weight, save money, & it's not a pyramid scheme!

Continuing on with yesterday's theme of what we're spending our hard earned dollars on, I've come up with a new savings plan.  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time resisting cravings.  I guess that's not totally true because if I gave in to every craving I had I'd weigh 500 pounds.  Nevertheless, I know I have a tendency to spend more money than I should on food because I get a hankering for it after a hard day.  In an effort to combat this, I try to cook myself 2 main meals on Sunday that I can then eat during the week.  Saves time, money, AND thought, which I don't have a lof of after a brain frying 10 hours at work.

But I digress.  You don't care about my meal schedules, you saw the words "lose weight" and "save money" and that's why you're here.  So, what's my secret?  I'll tell you.

I've been on a Dove chocolate kick lately.  Something about the texture combined with the extra rich chocolatey-ness has been my drug of choice lately.  But do you know how much a bag of those things cost?  5 bucks and a whole lotta calories.  I'm an all or nothing type girl so if I'm going to indulge in some Dove, I'm going to eat so much I put myself into a sugar coma. This "keep a bag at your desk and allow yourself one candy a day" bullshit that Shape magazine is trying to sell me ain't happening.

The other morning I was doing some early morning mental wrestling with this craving and trying to rationalize to myself why it was a bad idea to go to the grocery store before work to arm myself with a blue bag of Dove.  Rational thought was losing to immediate gratification so I soon resorted to good old fashioned bribery.

Feed the pig, not your mouth.

I've got a big ticket item I'm saving up for to be disclosed at a later date.  (oooh, just what the blog needs: mystery!  intrigue!  What could I possibly have up my sleeve?!  I know, the suspense is killing me too.)  While thinking about how happy this big ticket item is going to make me I thought about what better use the 5 bucks I'd spend on Dove could be put to if I instead contributed it to my "big idea" fund.  And voila!  Suddenly rational thought won out and I was not only convinced not to buy the oh so seductive chocolate, I was downright excited not to be parting with $5 of my corporate slave wages!

When I got to work I immediately transferred 5 bucks from my checking to my savings account.  A little ridiculous?  Absolutely.  A lot gratifying?  Yup.

So go ahead and give it a shot, and if you think it's a bit ridiculous, you're right!  But you can think that from the bus stop while I'm patting myself on the back for my ingenuity as I drive by you in my new car.  Who's laughing now?

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Am I the only one who, as a child, was disappointed to find that the answer to this simple question was, "To get to the other side,"?  No?  OK, well, I was.  And why is that?  Because I like rewards.  Prizes.  Swag.  Call it what you will, I like it.

Reward yourself with this.....

I blame my childhood for this superficial aspect of my personality and I doubt that I'm alone in this.  How many of us were rewarded with things like ice cream when we got an A on a test?  A cupcake when we were the good citizen of the month?  Yes, childhood is filled with food rewards which can become problematic when we grow up.  Have a hard day at work?  Make yourself feel better with some chinese take out for dinner.  Get a promotion?  Go out to the trendy new tapas place and stuff your gullet.  And don't get me started on the holidays.

What does this have to do with your fitness?  Simple.  Stop making food a reward.  Make it to the gym 3 days this week?  No, calling Pizza Hut is NOT the way to celebrate your success.  Yet so many people fall into this trap.  What starts out as a cheat meal soon becomes a cheat day and then becomes a cheat weekend and next thing you know you're shocked that your pants still fit exactly the same.

....not that.

I learned this lesson many years ago and have a fabulous fitness wardrobe as a result.  One day I decided to stop rewarding myself with a creation from Coldstone as big as my head and instead, once I kept up my new fitness habit for 3 weeks, I treated myself to a new piece of workout wear from Lululemon.  Is it expensive?  Hell yes, absurdly so.  But I'll be damned if I wasn't more motivated to stick with it knowing there was a pretty new tank top to show off my strong looking lats if I hit my goal for the week.

I chose 3 weeks because I can't afford to shop Lulu every 7 days, but you can pick smaller items so that you can reward yourself weekly.  Want the new Nicholas Sparks novel?  Ugh, first, get some taste, but then, hey!  Can't have it til you eat protein with every meal from Monday to Friday.  Dying to download Adele's new album?  Go to spin class 3 times and it's yours.  You're still working towards a happy weekend treat only this one isn't going to leave you bloated and craving even more salt and sugar come Monday.

Try it out and give yourself a weekly fitness Christmas only without the stress and obnoxious relatives!