In 2005, I lost 30 pounds. I’ve kept the weight off for about 13 years now. Some of you who’ve known me only as the “After” picture may be surprised by this. I would post a “Before” picture, but let’s go easy on young me—people were not always nice to her.
Why do I tell you this? I tell you this because growing up, I did not think I would ever be a normal weight person, let alone a thin person. I was a chubby baby, a chubby kid, and a chubby adolescent. I was a chubby young adult. If you would’ve told me that I would spend my first dollar of lottery winnings on rejoining my gym, I would’ve laughed so hard, I probably would’ve choked on my doughnut.
If your current money situation seems hopeless and intractable, I promise you it’s not. You are more capable than you know. You just need to commit and take the first step.
There is a surprising amount of overlap between managing your finances and managing your weight. I know—I’ve done both. One big thing the two have in common is that you can’t quit either of them cold turkey … despite the prevalence of juice fasts and money fasts. Think about it. With other behaviors that you want to modify or stop—say, smoking—you can just stop. It may be unpleasant, but you’ll survive. Eating and spending money? Not so much.
Apparently, losing weight and keeping it off puts me in the solid minority of dieters. And in a country where 70% of American adults are either overweight or obese, the behavior of these “successful losers” has been studied and shared, primarily by the National Weight Control Registry … what do you think the employee break room is like there? The Registry’s website lists its findings over the last 24 years, and they are fascinating (granted, I am an odd duck).
They are not interesting because my weight maintenance tips are similar to other losers’. They are interesting because most of them are good principles for money maintenance, too.
45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own, and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program. Some people learn how to manage money on their own and some people read awesome blogs.
98% of registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight. A calorie budget? What does that sound like? Just like dieting works by eating less vs. burning more (with exercise or building muscle mass), living beneath your means starts with spending less vs. making more (at least in the short term).
78% eat breakfast every day → routine is key to money maintenance
75% weigh themselves at least once a week → regular check-ins on your financial progress (Net Worth, anyone?) keep you on track
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week → or, probably, they watch fewer commercials telling them to eat this and buy this
We’ll talk more about these behaviors in upcoming posts. You probably didn’t think I could write about something more tedious than personal finance, but I did.