[JosephEL]

I ran into this idea the other day and thought it would be fantastic for someone just starting a diet or in the middle of it.

It's called Motivation Marbles. Essentially, you create two jars - one for pounds to go and one for pounds lost. You purchase marbles or decorative stones for the total number of pounds you want to lose. As you drop weight, you move the appropriate number of marbles from the "Pounds to Go" jar to the "Pounds Lost" jar.

The idea is something similar to what we did to help potty train my granddaughter. She had two jars. In the beginning, she'd start with a certain number of marbles in the treat jar. Each time she went to the potty and stayed dry, she got another marble. If she had an accident, a marble was removed. When her treat marbles got to a certain total, she got to take them to the store and trade them for a toy of small value. Each time they'd start with less marbles in the beginning, so she'd have to work at it to get her treat earned.

Anyway, I like the ideas of the motivation marble jars, because it makes our goals and progress very tangible. We easily get lost in the day to day battle of pounds or tenths of a pound or gains. We then lose sight of where we started and how far we've come. I had to chuckle at the thought of putting 349 marbles in some sort of container (the highest I ever weighed) and removing 218 of them to represent the total pounds I have lost from highest to lowest. It really is sobering and uplifting.

I found some examples of jars people have made so I'm going to give credit where credit is due

Motivation-Marbles.jpg071-001.jpg

The first one is from http://hotmessprincess.com/2012/01/motivation-marbles/
The second is from http://thatmomblog.com/2012/02/13/we...ional-marbles/

[refdhbgtd]

Great idea! It's nice to have something so visual to help keep you motivated. When I was younger my parents did something similar only we used nickels. It worked well and I got to spend the nickels that I had in the end.

[PoideAdelereX]

bump

[psbiuigw]

I'm a very visual person. I like to go down the baking isle in the grocery store and lift a 5 lb bag of flour or 2, then imagine carrying 11 of those around on my body. Always gives me a boost. A 50 lb bag of dog food works too.

I like the marble idea too. I think it could work for maintenance too. As in, if you gain, the marbles move back to the other jar. Maybe that will help me keep those stubborn last 10 lbs off !

[Tilmbeinymn]

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.

[harriettvanders]

Great idea!

[Enalsebeerkawl]

Maybe I will try this. I often feel as though I'm missing some of my marbles...

[Ufkkrxcq]

Maybe I will try this. I often feel as though I'm missing some of my marbles...

LoL!!

[fashikn]

Very cool! This would help me with motivation!

[mXr8icOB]

love this!