It’s hard work trying to lose weight.  You need to be diligent with your diet and have the will power to keep up on your workout routines, ensuring that you challenge yourself enough to see results.  If you’ve been hard at work on your diet plan and the results are showing, it’s time to celebrate!  There are plenty of ways to reward yourself without slipping on your diet or skipping a workout.  Many people treat themselves to a spa day, a new outfit, or hang up printable certificates of their achievements on the refrigerator.  Here’s just a few ways that you can reward yourself without getting off track

Reward your body without food

When you hit a weight loss milestone it’s hard not to reward yourself with that chocolate cake that you’ve been craving.  Stay away from rewarding yourself with food and give your body a treat.  Start with a makeover.  Reward yourself with a much-needed manicure and pedicure followed by getting your makeup done professionally.  Document your milestone by getting a professional photo shoot.  Seeing the improvement will encourage you to keep striving for your end goal.

Giving a gift to yourself

Perhaps there’s an outfit that you’re dying to have, or a piece of jewelry that jumped out at you at the mall.  Whatever that extravagant gift is, make it a point to say to yourself, “I won’t buy it unless I loose this much weight”.  When you’ve reached your weight loss goal, give yourself the present that you’ve been wanting.  It reinforces that you’ve done something good for yourself and encourages you to keep going.

When rewarding yourself for reaching your weight loss goals, it’s important not to allow your body to go back into unhealthy habits such as eating something that is not healthy, or not exercising.  With these types of rewards, you will not only feel good about reaching your milestone, but you will also stay on track to leading a healthy lifestyle.

You just got back from a workout at the gym. You’re hot, you’re sweaty, you’re smelly; oh what you wouldn’t give for a good hot shower or nice steaming soak in the tub to relax those already aching muscles.

How Inviting Is Your Bathroom?

Do you have to close your eyes when you walk into your bathroom because it’s just so repulsive you can barely stand it? I’m not talking repulsive dirty I’m talking repulsive small, cramped, ugly and inefficient. The last thing you need after busting your butt at the gym is to set that poor sore butt on a cracked toilet seat that moves around like a carnival ride. Now picture yourself coming home from the gym and walking into your Zen themed Japanese bath. It’s almost relaxing just to say it—try it with me, slowly now: “Zen themed Japanese bath”. I’m not big on Asian themed décor, but I’ve seen a Japanese bath and let me tell you; I was sold immediately. The peaceful and relaxing feeling I got just from looking at a picture of this bathroom was enough to get me thinking about what I could possibly do to my little closet of a bathroom to enhance it.

Designing Designs

A countertop basin in place of an old, chipped sunken sink with fixtures coming directly out of the wall rather than installed in the counter top is a good step toward dressing up your bathroom. Tearing out the old, moldy caulk and stained grouting tiled walls and floor are going to make an indescribable difference. Replacing them with a simple ‘one piece’ tub enclosure and/or specially treated and sealed hardwood laminate for the flooring can be done either by yourself or through a contractor-depending on your talents and your budget. Figure on setting aside about four weeks for the project and if you spend more than $12,000 on this renovation you should definitely talk to your insurance agent to make sure that all of the improvements are covered under your homeowner’s insurance policy.

You’re going to be working awfully hard on this if you decide to do it yourself so you might want to take a break from the gym. Then again, you might need to keep your muscles in tiptop condition so that you can work on that bathroom during your downtime.