Following a high quality diet in order to lose body fat is not easy to those who have never eaten nutritious food before. Initially there are a number of obstacles to overcomes, the most difficult being the habit of consuming Western food that taste highly palatable and which is considered psychologically and physically addictive. When following a high quality diet, there is a certain requirement to become highly organised in terms of food planning and food preparation. Such organisation and forethought can be disconcerting at first to the neophyte. In this regard goal setting is highly important, as goals will help create clear objectives that can increase focus, and this is important as it is easy to become distracted by extraneous information and opinion. However, it is important to acknowledge that certain goal have been reached, and in this way rewards should be available when particularly important goals are achieved. The rewards should be created at the same time as the goals so that they are incorporated into any plan.
Breakfast is the feedback of champions, and rewarding success is highly important. Rewarding success is inherent in sport and other athletic arenas where sportsmen receive accolades for their performance. In work too, rewards in the form of higher remuneration or promotions to more senior positions often follow success. Rewarding achieving your fat loss goals are therefore important psychologically, as this will provide motivation to continue down this path. This then increases the chance that the ultimate goal of achieving your desired body composition will be met. However, it is important that the rewards are proportionate to the goal achieved. Small milestones should be rewarded with something that is proportional to the effort required to reach those goals. Large milestones should be rewarded or even celebrated to show that something special has been achieved. This reward process is highly subjective, and people will choose different rewards based on their personalities.
Achieving goals should trigger rewards. However, make the rewards proportional to the effort expended in achieving the goal, and avoid rewards that are based on low quality foods.
One caveat regarding rewards is that they should in no way involve the consumption of low quality foods. Rewarding good eating behaviour and the achievement of body composition improvements with poor quality foods is damaging for a number of reasons. The most obvious problem is that it may encourage further consumption of these foods or overconsumption of them. It is very hard to restrict addictive foods such as those that contain high amounts of fat and sugar, and so using them as a reward runs the risk of limiting further progress. Additionally these low quality foods may cause further metabolic damage even if consumed in small amounts, and those with existing insulin resistance cannot afford to sacrifice gains in insulin sensitivity with the consumption of poor quality foods. In addition, it is psychologically damaging to go back to old ways of eating when embarking on a high quality eating programme. However make the rewards desirable, or there is a risk that motivation to succeed will wane
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