I consider micro-rewards to be a professional mani/pedi, downtime to stream a cool show, or to give myself an afternoon to snoop through my favorite thrift store.

The Beauty of Micro-Rewards in Reverse

And sometimes I even use micro-rewards in reverse. Let’s say, I have to deal with a difficult person at work who’s upset because her project isn’t going well. As I’m dealing with her, I keep score re: how many times she pushes my buttons. Two button pushes means I’ll give myself extra time tonight to read. Five button pushes and I’m buying that bracelet I spotted in the boutique last month.

But here’s the trick to a reverse micro-reward: if the other person is pushing our buttons we have to respond calmly and logically. We don’t go off the deep-end. We only get a micro-reward when we respond (but don’t react).

The Key to Creating Micro-Rewards

If you’re not sure that micro-rewards would work for you, look to what you love the most when creating tiny inspirations. Example: I love clothes so I often use a new shirt as a micro-reward. Or your hobby might be hitting up garage sales and a definite garage sale trek could be a great micro-reward.

The key to micro-rewards is that you create “high-value” inspirations that’ll motivate you. If clothes and time to read motivate me, but mean nothing to you, you need a stronger micro-reward.

And let’s be totally honest: if I’ve pulled off something truly amazing and huge, it’s time to micro-reward myself with a new perfume. (I love a pretty scent.)

What micro-rewards are you planning to cheer yourself onto the next level?

Have a fantastic week, everyone. And remember that it’s not your imagination: health is hard.

♥, Wendy

P.s. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea to you right away!

You know the scoop: I am an Amazon affiliate so if you buy something through a link at this site, I may receive a small commission that won’t impact your price at all.

I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥

“We are bleeding money.”

Over the last four years my husband and I had been — 24/7 — diapering, feeding and caring for twin infants slash toddlers. Now that my boys were semi-functional, I was raring to take my two to Lake Tahoe, the beach, various Children’s Museums and so forth.

In short, I wanted our family to travel.

“We can afford to drive around the corner,” my husband said. “Call me when you arrive.”

Thanks to the ’08 crash, the planet was reeling. Money problems everywhere, houses not selling, belts tightening.

That said, Oh, the Places I Wanted to Go.

After my husband announced, “not a chance”, I didn’t argue or suggest ways we could “rob Peter to pay Paul,” or call my best friend crying about the dumb choice I’d made in a husband (jk).

I said to myself alone, My. Kids. Will. Travel. I felt those words into my very marrow. I had no idea how we’d find the bucks for travel, I only knew that – contrary to all of the evidence around me – we were going places.

And we did.

Here’s how it went down.

After a few false starts, I asked an editor-friend who produced a local parenting magazine if she’d be interested in a travel column.

She jumped at the idea and — with that email to Barb — I’d created a small job for myself. My family and I traveled plenty and after each trip, I’d write about our experiences for Barbara’s mag. (We had a blast and, I was getting paid — not a ton — but still.)

Was it a fluke?

Back then, I didn’t have the vocab to talk about why my travel-determination worked, but I knew something – outside of the ordinary – had taken place and I wanted to figure out out what it was, so that I could replicate my results.

Here’s what I learned.

Turns out, those in the coaching world – people like Tony Robbins — call what I stumbled upon “massive action.” Tony Robbins didn’t invent massive action any more than Ben Franklin invented electricity, but they both noticed a reality and pointed it out to the world.

To me, massive action is feeling — into the very fiber of my being — that something I want will happen (come hell or high water).

Before I knew the term “massive action,” I called it “leaving no stone unturned.” Quick example: Long before I had kids, I had to pass a licensing exam and I used “no stone unturned” to study for the big, scary test. I did everything conceivable to pass, and I figured, if I didn’t pass then it must be due to something outside of my control.

But I passed. (And trust me, every stone was turned.)

How massive action works.

Massive action is happening when you throw everything you can possibly think of at a project or a problem until the door swings open.

It’s when you’re at your most determined.

When you go massive action on something that matters deeply to you, it’s almost as if the Universe says, “Oh, brother. This mom in California will not stop knocking at the door. Just give her travel so we can get onto other things.”

Writing is your portal.

To know what’s going on in your heart and head, write.  Writing is free therapy and is always there for you. Free-write every morning. Free-write like nobody is going to read it (because they won’t). Free-write to discover what makes you tick.

Every morning, ask yourself these questions and see what your super sophisticated brain spills forth:

• What do I want for my future-self in six months?
• What are five things that matter most to me in life?
• If I had a life mission what would it be? (Give three life mission answers.)
• What is something that matters to me that the rest of our culture tends to overlook?

Consciously using massive action.

Once I heard the term “massive action,” I was far more successful in wielding its power. Through the last ten or so years, here’s how I’ve added to my life using massive action:

• My sister and I – who, at one-time, couldn’t talk on the phone for twenty-minutes without both of us becoming enraged – are currently going on four years of a loving, argument-free relationship.
• I added a recumbent trike to my life that was “too pricey to afford,” but thanks to massive action, I bought a demo model that wiped $1500 off the price tag (plus it came with a bunch of upgrades and I didn’t pay shipping).
• I massive actioned us into a gorgeous home in Atlanta just eight-minutes from my husband’s job (a commute practically unheard of in Atlanta).

Your challenge:

Think massive action is too woo-woo for your life and probably doesn’t work anyway? Okay, then try this challenge: choose one thing you’d like to have in your life that’s just a tad out of reach. (Let’s start slow.)

Then apply massive action to your project:

One

Begin by writing about your project. What will you feel when you’ve brought home the new item/lifestyle? (Write about ten feelings you’ll experience when you lose twenty pounds, slide that new kayak into the river, or hand over $1,000 to your favorite charity.)

Two

Free-write ten common sense actions you can take to attain your item/lifestyle.

Three

Now free-write ten insane, totally wild actions you can take to attain your goal. (As in, “I could steal a kayak, I could build my own” and so forth. The crazier, the better.) As Prince said, “Let’s go crazy.”

Four

Now, take action from your list, all the while telling yourself that stopping is not an option. Just keep on keeping on:

• If it takes longer than you’d assumed, keep going.
• If it’s much harder than you’d imagined, also keep going. (Your mantra: we can do hard things.)
• If the December holidays, your birthday, rain, snow, a hot summer, a bad cold etc creates more of an obstacle than you’d anticipated, keep going: no excuse to stop.

The main directive: don’t stop writing, experiencing your feelings, and engaging in action until that kayak is under your butt in the river.

That said, here’s one wrinkle in the massive action story:

• Let’s say, I want to walk into my garage and find a gorgeous, fire-engine red Jeep waiting for me. But – and this is key – I don’t want the Jeep to the exclusion of my sons’ (pricey) lessons like theater, piano, and Krav Maga.
• Or say I love the ocean and want to live near it, but uprooting my kids from Atlanta is a deal-killer. (The boys would be horrified to leave friends, infrastructure and so forth.)
• And say I need a weekly bathroom cleaner. (Don’t we all?) But at $100 a week (or more), it’s a no-go currently because of the boys’ many lessons.

You see, I only go massive action on an item or lifestyle if I know — from my free-writing — that I won’t let a single thing stop me from achieving that change in my life. Sure, I could go all massive action and put a gorgeous red Jeep in my garage, but I know that other goals that also truly matter to me would go sideways.

Massive action can only happen if nothing will stand in our way of getting what we want like – in my case — family travel, or getting along with my sister, or buying a recumbent trike.

I only go massive action on something that matters to me – as long as the item/lifestyle doesn’t threaten other aspects of my life that are also high priorities (like my family and animals).

I’d love to hear a time you’ve gone “massive action” on something — even though you might not have known the name for it — that matters to you!!

♥, Wendy

Fine china, fabulous presentation, fireworks. Infusing fun into our smart eating lifestyle is so important.

It was a hot summer evening in Atlanta. A friend and I were doing our weekly meet-up at the dog park.

I arrived first, grabbed the shaded picnic table and waited for Mel. I saw her car pull in and watched her walk quickly with her pup into the dog park.

She made her way to the picnic table, and announced, “I’m starving!”

At that, she pulled out a full block of raw tofu.

And block in hand, she began eating chunks of it.

Raw. Tofu.

Keep in mind that Mel is on a forever quest to lose weight, and reign in her unhelpful eating habits. But like so many of us, she veers wildly from double-cheese pizza to a block of raw tofu which is the perfect way to tank at smart eating.

Mel’s Three Stumbles

Let’s deconstruct the stumbles Mel made (no judgement, of course, everyone stumbles):

• That morning, Mel did not set herself up for success when she neglected to create a smart eating plan for her day.
• In the evening, she left her home feeling hungry. Once at the park, she was super hungry. On a scale of one (stuffed) to ten (famished), Mel was likely at a five when she left her house and a six by the time she sat down at the picnic table. (Keeping hunger to a three to five is a reliable way to have our own back.)
• Mel brought incredibly boring — actually tasteless — food for dinner (I’m a huge fan of tofu, but I don’t eat it raw).

The number three stumble is what we’ll focus on here. I’m a believer in using exciting eating strategies as an important tool for weight loss and forever maintenance.

What Do I Mean By Exciting Eating?

When the food you’re having brings a smile to your face or makes you feel pleased inside, you’re in the zone of exciting eating. I’m always on the look-out for ways to bring some pizzazz to my food.

Topping my first coffee in the morning with whipped cream and sprinkles!

Maintaining a “clean” kitchen by keeping my smart eating “tools” at the ready. I prioritize keeping Costco favorites on hand like plant-based protein powder and their bag of frozen veggies.

Additionally I eat seasonally meaning I keep my favorite fuel-foods on hand depending on the season: spring is asparagus, summer all kinds of fruits (watermelon!!), fall is butternut squash soup from Trader Joes, and winter is a vegetarian chili recipe.

Note that I don’t say anything about raw tofu. Boring eating is not your friend. In fact, it’s one of the best ways to create yo-yo eating.

Scoring Exciting Food at Trader Joe’s

Trader Joes is stocked in fun products that are healthy (i.e. low in trans fat and calories). I love their vegan chicken, a tasty no-gluten bread, polenta, coffee beans, hummus, French Macarons (center freezer aisle), super dark chocolate and so much more.

And Check Out Costco’s Treasures

I struggled forever to eat daily veggies because I hadn’t found a way to make them interesting. One afternoon at Costco, I watched a woman load three giant bags of Sweet Kale into her cart.

I asked, “why so many?” and she explained that she eats two handfuls of the Sweet Kale for dinner every evening. But — and here’s her trick — she doesn’t prepare the kit as sold (way too many bad fats).

Keeping her example in mind here’s what I do: I buy two giant bags of Sweet Kale each week (you’ll find the huge bags in Costco’s walk-in freezer). Kroger and Publix sell Sweet Kale too, but the packages aren’t Costco-size.

Around noon most days,  I prep the salad because, as the woman explained, these ingredients need one to six hours to marinate.

It’s All in the Layering

I put 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into the bottom of a large bowl and throw a handful of Sweet Kale onto the oil and vinegar mix.

I then drizzle another 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of vinegar on top of the kale. Then I toss a second handful of kale onto the first one and pour another 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and vinegar onto that handful. (Olive oil is a super healthy fat.)

It sounds convoluted, but once you’re in the habit, layering the ingredients is quick.

Next I sprinkle a little of the dried cranberries and seeds — that come in the Sweet Kale package — on top. Finally I chop a bunch of cucumber and add it too with a handful of baby carrots (also in Costco’s freezer section).

Last, handfuls of baby spinach go on top as the final layer. Finally I drizzle — barely — a bit of the poppy-seed dressing (also in the Sweet Kale pack) onto the baby spinach.

Not only am I delivering a huge serving of nutrition to my bod, but I’m also getting my crunching needs met. (I’m a cruncher.)

Does it take an eternity to eat this giant salad? Funny you should ask because yes, it does take forever. But it’s a habit you’ll love incorporating into your life.

You Say Potato, I Say Pizza

When it comes to exciting food, you might want a glass of Merlot at the end of the day, I might prefer a narrow slice of pizza, while a friend wants a handful of Jelly Bellies.

Incorporating food that you love into your daily Smart Eating Plan (in small portions) is key to losing weight and maintaining for the long haul. That said, steer clear of trigger-foods. If Jelly Bellies send you on the quest for more sugar, don’t do Jelly Bellies.

With total confidence I can tell you that infusing interesting food is vital to being successful in losing and maintaining for the long run.

I’d love it if you’d share smart ways you bring fun into your daily eating plan.

♥, Wendy

Having the right food in the house when we’re losing or maintaining after 50 isn’t just nice, it’s essential to smart eating versus chowing like a hungry toddler-gone-wild.

I tend to reach for something sugary every evening (update: this was pre-ditching my evening sugar habit, read more about how I did it here). It took time, but I now get that embracing my sweet-tooth is the only tactic that’s worked.

I taste-tested and reviewed a bunch of “friendly” summer desserts, and rated them from not-so-much to awesome:

One

Two

Three

Angel food cake!!!

Love, love, love angel food cake, especially chunked up with strawberries and whipped cream. I mean, come on! So good. That said the grocery store prices are frightening — I haven’t yet adjusted to our new normal — so rather than buy a pre-made angel food cake: get a box mix or make angel food from scratch. The star of the angel food cake show is about 12 egg whites.

Four

Sugar-free chockablock pudding with whipped cream. Delish. This is my go-to when I “need” something fun that looks decadent.

Five

Creamy Coconut Popsicles.

Have you seen the popsicles by Outshine made for adults? If coconut isn’t your thing, they also come in strawberry, mango, peach, tangerine, strawberry-lemonade and more. Really tasty.

Six

Trader Joe’s Macaron cookies!

These three macarons with a good coffee makes me feel fancy.

Seven

When I’m craving something fun that’s not part of my clean eating plan (like, I made birthday cake for my boys), I’ll skip dinner all together and only have dessert.

And btw, I learned this strategy from “naturally thin” who eat what they want and aren’t limited by what dinner is “supposed to be.”

Having dessert for dinner gets all 5 stars because the scale will never be the wiser come morning (if you don’t go wild of course).

Eight

Voortman Sugar Free Vanilla Wafer Cookies.

Five stars. These wafer cookies are so fun. They come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate with no high-fructose corn syrup plus 30 percent less carbs than the regular wafers.

Be still your heart because this company also makes sugar-free cookies in oatmeal, short bread, key lime pie, lemon, and chocolate chip.

I can’t be trusted with oatmeal cookies — I know my limits — but I can stop at a (sane) portion size with every other flavor.

Nine

Baby watermelons are my healthiest addiction.

I love everything about a ripe watermelon, but I’m terrible at picking huge melons well; I tend to pick mushy or overripe ones every time. I’ve had more luck with the small guys.

When I really need a huge, ripe watermelon, I ask the store’s fruit guy or the serious senior citizen — thumping melons a foot away — for assistance. (It’s never failed, people love to be helpful.)

Ten

My favorite is saved for last: top fresh strawberries with a whipped cream hat.

Berries are a perfect dessert because they’re beautiful, delicious, nutritious and don’t propel you into eating everything sugar in the kitchen. Five stars.

I love hearing your ideas! How do you keep your sweet-tooth from wrecking your clean eating days?

♥, Wendy

P.s. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea to you right away!

You know the scoop. Some links might be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. Of course you incur no additional cost and I’ll always be totally upfront with you.