One day, I was talking to a woman in my office about her weight. I congratulated her because she had not gained weight since her last visit. And since the last visit, she's been on vacation. But she wasn't in a very good mood, and didn't seem happy with any of my comments. She was only able to focus on a number she had seen on the scale, a number that hadn't moved down (and she couldn't be happy that it hadn't moved up!) Then she said "there were so many nice clothes-I can't wait until I lose another 20 pounds so I can buy myself something new."

Sadly, all I did was sit there and not say anything. I suppose since I had already congratulated her on not gaining weight I simply did not feel I could add anything to the conversation. I didn't want to sound redundant, although in retrospect, perhaps it would have been helpful to remind her that her weight maintenance was an amazing accomplishment for someone who had been on a cruise. So instead we discussed goals for her next visit, including continuing her activity, maybe increasing her walking, planning for her son's Bar Mitzvah, and then she left.

Afterwards, I started to wonder-why do we wait until we see a number of a scale in order to think we deserve a reward? Why do we feel the scale has to show a certain number before we are allowed to go to a nice store and get something pretty and comfortable? Why do we have this need to punish ourselves? Why do we feel we have to walk around in clothes that don't feel right, are too tight, and make us feel unattractive?

And suddenly I realized-we don't.

I have decided the next time this woman comes in to see me for nutrition counseling, and talks about what she is going to buy AFTER she loses more weight-, I am going to tell her to "buy it now.I want to make sure she hears me tell her she absolutely deserves something new, something she likes. She has three full time jobs-as a mother, a wife, and a school teacher! In my book, that alone entitles her to a buying spree.

Buy something NOW-buy something you like, that is comfortable and makes you feel good-right NOW.

When you are feeling good about yourself, you treat yourself so much better. There are too many times in my past when I turned to food when I didn't feel good about myself, almost as a punishment. I felt undeserving of any type of attention, any type of reward. I was overweight and that made me unworthy of trusting myself to treat myself with anything besides food. It's as if I was saying "see, I told you so, you can't take care of yourself.In reality, I am doing the best I can. Some days are more difficult than others, but I do my best. We all do.

So don't wait to buy that dress, those pants, that skirt. Buy it now.