Celebrating Your Fitness Success

What’s the point of hard work if you don’t celebrate success once your goal is accomplished? After you set your fitness goals, don’t forget to determine how you will celebrate success in hitting a specific milestone. Your rewards can be tangible or intangible, but just remember to keep them healthy, too! 

Rewarding yourself

Whether your goal is simple, such as doing 150 minutes-per-week of recommended activity or more complex, such as finishing your first triathlon, write down a meaningful reward before beginning your fitness journey. And make sure you follow through and reward yourself when you reach your goal. 

DO give yourself tangible rewards. Tangible rewards are things you can hold in your hands or feel immediately, such as new clothes or a vacation. Some other examples include:

• Concert tickets
• A night out with friends
• Spa day
• Relaxing time alone
• Going to a movie

DO celebrate your health wins. These come with achieving physical activity goals. It’s important to celebrate these less tangible, but very important rewards, because they serve as additional reminders of your success. A simple screening before and after your program will show you the progress you’ve made. You can measure these health rewards at your health care professional’s office or at a worksite wellness fair. They might include: 

• Healthier weight
• Lower blood pressure
• More-stable blood sugar
• Better cholesterol numbers
• Quality sleep
• Improved muscle tone 

DON’T give yourself food rewards. These can reinforce unhealthy eating habits. If you have worked so hard to get active and possibly lose weight, but then reward yourself with a high-fat meal or treat, you may undermine some of the healthy habits you have worked so hard to create!