I often hear of dieters “tricking” themselves into healthier lifestyles, with tactics such as choosing sugar-free options when available, or snacking on carrots when you need a crunch rather than potato chips. While these strategies may work for some people, I don’t believe in sugar-free anything*, and I’m sorry, until you throw in a little butter and brown sugar, my mouth does not salivate at the thought of carrots.
For me, delicious food is a luxury experience, a pampering of sorts. I live in San Francisco – a foodie’s heaven, where delectable delights from every corner of the earth span the streets of the small city – and it’s common place to order in or eat out on a regular basis, spending anywhere from $10 to $50 for a meal on a fairly regular basis. If I am going to give up the buttery Secret Breakfast ice cream from Humphrey Slocombe’s, or say “Keep on moving” to the infamous bacon-wrapped hot dog cart in the Mission district, I better have some kind of great personal reward waiting for me. The light at the end of the tunnel, if you will.
With all of the money that I save on abstaining from my usual favorite fancy cocktails and gourmet delicacies, I’m taking my ultimate goal of “Looking and feeling my best” to the next level, and throwing in a new, highly effective trick to sticking to my newfound healthy lifestyle: I’m saving money on food, and spending it on facials.
For every ten pounds I lose (and don’t ask me how long I can say that), I will treat myself to a facial treatment at my favorite local spa, Tru Spa. I figured out that while I have spent an average of $50-60 on a weekend of drinking and late-night calorie seeking in the past (two activities which always seem to go together in my social outings), I could opt for soda water, skip the greasy post-drinking fried fare, and reward myself with a luxurious spa treatment. It’s win-win, isn’t it? By the time I’ve lost 10 lbs, I’ve saved enough money to treat myself to something I really love: being pampered.
The last time I did this, I went for a treatment that I had never tried before, a glycolic acid peel, and came out with the glowing skin of a teenager.
I know a spa treatment isn’t a financially viable, or even properly motivating option for everyone, but if you really want to get somewhere with weight loss (especially during those times when you feel your motivation begin to slip at the sight of chocolate cake), try making a list of things that you love (besides food, obviously), and see if dangling your own personal “carrot” in front of you doesn’t help kick start your personal journey towards a better self.
*Many artificial sweeteners have not only been shown in some studies to increase cravings for other unhealthy or sugary foods, but they also carry certain potential health risks, and have even been linked to flare-ups in certain auto-immune diseases.
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