138. How to Reward Yourself on Your Fitness Journey

But I remember studying about extrinsic and intrinsic rewards when I was studying to become a transformation specialist , which is kind of a twist off of my personal training certification . I need to be certified in different things and I love mindset all that kind of a twist off of my personal training certification .

I need to be certified in different things and I love mindset , all that kind of stuff . So this certification was right up my alley and this week I had a couple of my clients come to me and say , hey , I am really struggling because it just kept happening and I'm like I've got to talk about this .

But they're really struggling because , typically , when they rewarded themselves in the past , or when we reward ourselves right , when we go out and accomplish something or we become certified or we graduate , or we get a new job or we get anything right . Something big happens in our lives . We celebrate by going out to eat or going to get drinks , right .

And so I had one particular client she'll be listening to this , you know and she was like and this was kind of what made me think like , okay , I'm going to record this soon , I'm going to record this episode now , you know . She's like I've been really killing it , like I've been . I'm seeing results in my body .

I'm , you know , I've changed my habits , I changed my ways . I'm really doing all the things . I'm doing the workouts , I'm meal prepping and tracking . My mindset is right .

I'm drinking my water , I'm being much kinder to myself , I'm realizing old traits and old mindsets and where they came from family , the past , whatever and I'm like really doing a good job and I want to celebrate myself .

But typically I celebrate myself or celebrate things by going out to eat or having drinks , and I don't know how to do that and I thought , okay , well , I've had this come up a couple different times this week , so I need to talk about it and it's something that I think is a really good conversation , so there's not just one way to go about this , and what

I have learned is there are extrinsic rewards , which are tangible , external , physical rewards , and some people love that kind of reward . There are also intrinsic rewards , which are internal the more satisfying and fulfilling reward that comes within a person .

There's two different kinds , so there's not a right or wrong way to reward yourself or to think about this if you are different , because I had to learn this for myself and it's interesting , I was actually talking to a client also last week and I'm running a challenge right now inside of my Fit Club , inside of my app , and I am not a challenge person .

If someone challenges me to something , okay , every once in a while , sure , I'll be like , yeah , I'll take you up on that , I'll kick your ass , that's fine . But usually a challenge doesn't motivate me , a prize doesn't motivate me . I don't want to necessarily be rewarded , called out , celebrated . I am much more of an intrinsic reward person .

I love the sense of accomplishment . I like a good , you know , hey , good job . I love not to make it all about me , of course , but here we go . I love getting messages from you guys . All about me , of course , but here we go . I love getting messages from you guys saying that my podcast is helping you . That makes me feel so good .

That would make me feel so much . Those things make me feel so much better than if I were to get celebrated for something about the podcast , go up on a stage and given a plaque Now . Okay , sure , that's great and that's amazing . That would be amazing for me and the show and that would mean I help so many people .

I get that , but I'm not doing this job , this podcast , this work , saying these things , putting all this time and work in so that I can get a plaque or so that I can hit number one on the charts . That's not my goal for the podcast . So for me to get these messages saying that the podcast is helping you , that is an intrinsic reward for me .

That makes me feel internally happy and satisfied and fulfilled from within . It makes me feel like I'm doing something good Again . Sure , the other things are great . I've had many congratulations and a couple celebrations with my family and little things and I love that stuff . That's great , but that's not the why I'm doing it .

But a lot of people are not like me . I learned this when I started doing Beachbody and we would run a 30-day challenge every month and my goal per Beachbody was to get challengers . I was supposed to get three a month was your minimum to hit all these ranks and whatever .

So I have these challenge groups , we have challenge groups , we run them all the time , every 30 days , whatever and you want to get people in and we could have our own prizes . So we could run these challenge groups however we wanted and there was always a prize for first , second , third place . I could not believe because I'm not an extrinsic reward person .

I could not believe the amount of people motivated by winning a shaker bottle or anything right , because I couldn't understand it , because that's not how I'm wired , that's not how I'm built , that's not how I'm motivated , but some people are .

So I knew that going on in the Beachbody I was like man , I've got to , if I put something at stake here , a gift card . And that's what I'm doing inside of my current Fit Club challenge .

I'm giving away gift cards , cash , whatever , like pretty big prizes , like $100 first prize , $50 second prize , $25 , third prize , like you know , okay , pretty good for a month challenge and people are loving it and I love that for them . I love being that source of motivation and pushing people like that . Some people really , really need that .

I do not If I lose a challenge , I do not care , and I'm sure there's other people in my fit club that are like , yeah , I have no interest in doing that because that's not how they are motivated . So first thing that you should do when you're thinking about how to reward yourself , how to motivate yourself , how can I celebrate myself , my wins ?

Think about am I an extrinsic rewards lover or do I prefer intrinsic rewards ? Do I just want to feel the sense of accomplishment ? And how can I notice that ? Can I notice that ?

So , taking that into account there , you know , if you don't want to go out and reward yourself by going out to eat and having drinks , things like that , I was kind of just putting together a little list myself of things that you could do and ways that you could celebrate yourself without it having to be food , because obviously in your fitness journey , like

especially in my world , we're trying to count macros , trying to be okay , trying to be good and better and all that kind of stuff . So sometimes you're not .

I'm at a place right now where , yeah , I could go out and celebrate with food , but a lot of people are winning right now in their fitness journey by tracking and staying on track , and so to go out to eat is something that they're like I don't really feel comfortable with , or I quite frankly , don't want to do that right .

I'm okay with , like , spending money on something tangible , but I don't want it to be food and drinks , because that's just going to throw me off . Maybe that'll throw me into a downward spiral or I'll feel like shit . I just I want to stay on track . So a few things that I came up with were to celebrate with a day off .

I would love to take a day off of work , maybe take a day off of my workout , whatever , and go get a massage , go get a facial , have a little spa day , maybe have a night out with friends , maybe going to the movies , maybe just doing a little shopping . Find things that maybe you need to put Right now .

For example , I'm wanting to decorate my house for Christmas . So maybe I'm like , okay , I'm going to take a day , I'm going to go out and buy a couple new things for Christmas , to decorate and celebrate , and that's going to be me , you know , maybe I'll get up , I'll go to Starbucks and treat myself . I know that's food , but it's not .

It's not a whole meal , right , bear with me , but that's something I could see myself doing .

So , as far as reaching a milestone , and if you lost a certain amount of weight , that you hit your goal , if you lost a certain amount of inches , if your clothes are fitting better , if you have more energy , if your sleep has improved , if you are sticking to your habits , like a lot of my clients have been saying , I want to celebrate the fact that I'm

sticking to my habits , because maybe the scale is stuck , but they're building muscle and they're losing fat and so they're like I'm doing all these habits . I need to reward myself . You could , let's say , these are my clients , right , so they're doing Fit Club already , so they already have a personal trainer quote unquote .

You could invest in more like more coaching . That would be great . If you are someone who is doing this on your own , you could invest in a personal trainer , or maybe invest in a gym membership if you're working out at home , or invest in a personalized workout plan Maybe just have someone create some workouts for you or a nutrition plan .

You could meal prep , maybe , or even get a meal prep service for a while . Use the money that you would use on going out to eat and getting drinks because , let's be honest , that's not cheap and you're probably not going by yourself . So let's say it's you and your significant other , or you and your family .

You're going to spend 50 to 100 bucks easily if you're getting food and drinks for you and your significant other . So take that and get a meal planning service , meal prepping service for the month . Or go out and buy a new pair of shoes to work out in . Go buy a new workout sports bra or some shorts , things like that .

So think of things that you like that maybe revolve around you , your self-care , your body . Go get your hair done . Go buy some new makeup , something like for yourself physically or for your workouts . Like I said , get some new cute socks . If you don't want to spend that much money , go to Marshalls and get some skincare , get a sports bra , things like that .

So those are a couple of things that I just thought of . For myself , I should have compiled a list of things from Instagram , so feel free to shoot me messages on Instagram letting me know if there's things that you've done or that you think I can always share them on my Instagram . I think that would be great .

I can make a post out of them or something if you have things that you've done . So those are a lot of different ways that you can celebrate yourself . You can go out and buy a new journal , you could hire a therapist for a few weeks , you can get some books .

You can get some books on self-growth or fitness or nutrition , so you could kind of read up on things and maybe get inspired that way . So there's a lot of other things that you can do to go do something , to purchase something , to feel something physical in a way that makes you feel proud of yourself . Also , I would advise planning ahead for this .

So for my next milestone , the next time I want to go celebrate , what's my goal going to be ? Right , maybe you .

I love Nike Metcons , so I would keep my eye on these Metcons for a while and be like , okay , when I feel like I'm in a place to do a little more walking or whatever , like when I hit this next goal of mine , I'm going to go buy these shoes .

I'm not just going to buy them right now because I don't need them and I maybe don't feel so proud of myself at the moment , or whatever it is . But if I can do the things that I say I'm going to do , I can go out and buy these .

The next time I'm here , when I hit this goal of being consistent for 30 days or whatever , I can go buy these shoes and I'll feel really freaking proud of myself and every time I look at them I'll think , oh my God , I got these because of that goal . That can be really , really fun and honestly for me , something like that .

I don't love the extrinsic rewards of things like buying things , whatever . But for me , working hard for something that I want like seeing , like oh my God , I love that sports bra , but I can't really justify spending 50 bucks on it right now . Oh my God , I love that sports bra , but I can't really justify spending 50 bucks on it right now .

But if I work my ass off for 30 or 60 days and I'm consistent , I grow X amount of muscle and then I feel like I've worked for it and I have it in the back of my mind and then I can go grab it . So think ahead of things like that . Then I want to talk about intrinsic rewards .

So , if you are someone who because I think this is important to think about if you are someone who doesn't like buying things or rewarding yourself with external rewards this is me I used to think like something wrong with me , like I don't want to celebrate that , or like I don't need to celebrate that , or that's not something , that's on my love language or

you know . However you want to think of it , of it , right , you're just like I . I don't need to go out to eat to celebrate the fact that I lost 10 pounds . Like I get that that's a thing and people like to do that , but like I don't want to do that . So what's wrong with me ?

Nothing intrinsic people are is that like a and this is not at all facts but like I'm , I'm an empath and I'm introverted . I'm extroverted around the right people and in settings that I feel very comfortable in , but I am an introvert . Like I love to stay home , I love it quiet , I love to be by myself . So maybe that's , maybe there's a correlation there .

I don't know , that could be totally inaccurate , but I think people , if you're like me , we love the sense of accomplishment , like just me knowing I don't need anyone to know that I worked out that day .

I don't need to check it off a list , I don't need to post it everywhere , I don't need an accountability partner , and a lot of my clients it's about half and half Half of my clients are like this . They're like I don't need you to hold me accountable , I need you to just give me a plan and I'll freaking do it myself .

But when I feel accomplished and I feel proud and I feel like , oh my God , I did that , I'm inspired to keep getting up day after day after day and keep doing it right . Some other things are just like mastering something .

If you're like , okay , I didn't know how to lift weights and now I do and now I feel so good at it , that's something to be proud of . Learning something new is something to be proud of . To be proud of Learning something new is something to be proud of . Growing and healing and bettering yourself that's something to be proud of .

So it doesn't have to be something physical all the time , like I gained so much muscle mass or I lost weight , or it's something physical Again if you just learned something new , if you're feeling more confident in your clothes , if you are growing . If you're just feeling like you're becoming a better person for me , I'm just like that's better for me , right ?

Or if you are trying something new . If you started going to a gym when you felt really uncomfortable going to a gym , that's something to be like . God damn , I'm so proud of myself .

You can go buy yourself something if you want to celebrate like that , but if not , it's okay to just feel like God , I'm really growing and I'm changing and I'm becoming the person that I wanted to be , right , taking on more responsibility at your job or at home , or like keeping up on housework , or it can be so many things that you're just like noticing in

yourself . This is what I'm getting at is noticing that for yourself and saying I'm really becoming a different person . I'm really trying hard , I'm putting in the work . You know I have new habits . That is something to be celebrated .

This is a really big reason that a lot of my clients who are more introverted and who do like this more intrinsic reward style to have a coach be there for you is huge , because I am standing here saying good job in a way that they feel seen right .

I'm noticing their habits and their attitude and their mindset and their self-talk and their confidence and their being a better mom or dad or friend , or they're showing up for themselves . I'm noticing those things that they actually care about . Like , yeah , you lost weight and you got , you know , you have more muscle and you look freaking amazing .

But a lot of my clients come to me and they're like I want to do the physical things , but I actually want to become a better mom , I want to become a better person . I want to understand this journey . I want to show up for my fucking self . I want to figure out how to stop self-sabotaging .

Those aren't tangible things that a lot of people notice about you . They're not like , oh my God , you're being such a good mom . Or oh my God , you're being so consistent . People don't celebrate that . They're like oh my God , you look so great , you've lost weight , you've gained muscle , you look strong , you look great .

But people aren't noticing oh my gosh , you're getting up in the morning and spending time on yourself and again being a good mom , being a good wife , being a good husband , being more consistent , you look so confident . No one's saying that . No one's noticing those things . So for us who are really proud of those things .

It's nice to have a coach or someone in your corner saying , wow , you're doing a really good fucking job at these little things that no one's noticing . I love that for you , good job . And you don't even need anything tangible , that alone is enough . So that's . I have a lot of clients that are like no , you're my therapist .

You're kind of like a therapist to me more than a personal trainer and I'm like yeah , because a lot therapist , you're kind of like a therapist to me more than a personal trainer . And I'm like , yeah , because a lot of this is mental , and I know that about myself .

That if someone were to just say like , hey , you're really trying hard or you are very consistent , you look confident , something about myself and my efforts , not just like , oh , you look so strong , you look so great , you look great , awesome , I love that . But also I'm trying so hard on other things .

So , yeah , that's just something that I wanted to talk about too is like you have all the permission in the world to celebrate the shit out of yourself just being a better person and just trying hard and just showing up right , and if you don't need something physical to feel good about that , that's fine , because that's exactly how I am and we are just fine

and that's okay too . So I hope that helped you think of things that if you are an extrinsic reward person and you are like I don't wanna always go out to eat and get drinks , there are so many other things that you can do and celebrate . And , yeah , just be very , very creative and think about things like what have I been wanting to do ?

Have I been wanting to go to a concert ? Do I want to go see a certain team ? Do I want to go to a movie ? What is something that I want to do but I wouldn't really usually do for myself ? Go do that thing , go buy those little things , go spend time on yourself , go walk , go walk around Target with your best friend .

I did that a couple of days ago and it was so relaxing . Just go do something like that for yourself . Clear your mind , get some alone time , whatever it is yourself .

Clear your mind , get some alone time , whatever it is , and I think you'll be surprised at the amount of things that you think of and it'll make you even kind of think about like , yeah , what do I like other than food and drinks ? Right , like what would I like ? That always alarmed me too , sometimes , like , do I not like anything ?

Like do I have no hobbies , do I have no interests ? That I can't think of one thing to go buy for myself . But anyways , there are things I feel like sometimes we just don't know ourselves in the way that would make us think of something .

I think a lot of times we think of oh , so-and-so would love this and so-and-so would like that , but what are we like ? That's a whole another topic , a whole another podcast episode . But I hope this was really , really helpful . We are all so different and there's not one right or wrong answer .

I will never get on this podcast and tell you that there is one specific way to do something , because there's not . And if anyone ever does tell you that , run in the opposite direction because they're lying to you and they don't know what they're talking about .

But to kind of circle back to the beginning , we're all worthy and we're all special in our own way and we're all different . So if somebody says something and you're like , yeah , that's not gonna work for me , it's because it's not meant for you .

And however you wanna celebrate yourself and however you wanna celebrate your wins , and whatever your wins look like they're amazing and you should celebrate the shit out of yourself . All right , I will talk to you next week . Thanks for listening to today's show .

Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and , of course , follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes . And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at ChristyCastilloFit . I will see you next time .