Finance and Fat

This Year Ain’t Over – 2010 Weight Loss Update

Eden — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:27:58 +0000

And I’m back. August 4th seems like as good a day as any for the first progress update to my 2010 Weight Loss Goals, written way back on Saturday, January 16th, 2010. Boy, things sure were different back then. I had hope for the New Year! Now it’s just another New Year of Regret. I’m joking of course, I don’t regret things much—maybe I should? I see that I even created a fancy little Google Spreadsheet for tracking all of my amazing progress back then! Funny thing is, I forgot I had done that until today. I’ll see if I can update it, but I’m probably lacking most of the data points needed.

In case you can’t tell from the tone of the above paragraph, things haven’t gone well this year. In fact, as things stand today, I’m a big fat zero on the progress chart for 2010. Seven months later and I stand exactly where I did when I was full of optimism and hope for the New Year. Oh well, that’s pretty much standard operating procedure for me over the past few years (as you can see if you check any of the weight loss archives around here).

But it’s all in the past now. That’s the funny thing about me. I must be too dumb to give up because I’m always optimistic that I can turn things around and lose 50 pounds before the year is over. Well, 50 might be rough, but I’d be happy with 30. In fact, that is my new goal! Look, a shiny new goal! Surely everything will be better now.

Okay, so things probably won’t be better now, but I’m going to try. I really am. I learned a couple of things this year. Like when I was walking regularly and eating lots of vegetables my weight was going down. The one month I managed to do both at the same time, I had lost about nine pounds. So there is hope, and at least I have a simple way to get started. Just some vegetables and some walking…that shouldn’t be too hard, even for me. Only time will tell of course. Hopefully I’ll be back to update this in less than seven months.

This Year Ain’t Over – 2010 Weight Loss Update

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2010 Weight Loss Goals

Eden — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:43:45 +0000

It’s that time of year again! The time of year I pretend to turn over a new leaf and fool myself into thinking I can be productive and fix all the mistakes of the previous year. Of course, I still believe that I can really do it so maybe one year things will come together as planned (I’m hoping it’s this year!).

I’m starting 2010 at about 259 pounds. That’s 8 pounds less than I started 2009. Certainly not good progress, but it beats gaining 8 pounds so I’ll take it. My goal for 2010 is to get down to 219 pounds. That seems to be a long way from 259, and especially considering my poor efforts in 2009, but I believe I can do it.

Here’s my approach for 2010. I’m breaking my annual goal into quarterly goals. So the first milestone is weighing in at (or below) 249 pounds by April 1st. This works out to 10 pounds per quarter, figure about 12 weeks per quarter and I can reach my goals while losing less than 1 pound per week (about .83 pounds per week if I used the calculator properly).

We’re already a couple of weeks into January and my weight is basically unchanged, fluctuating up and down by 1-2 pounds each week so far. Not the most promising start, but these pounds should be the easiest to lose so I’m still confident I can reach the April 1st deadline. There’s probably some irony in choosing April 1st as my first milestone, but that’s just how it worked out so I’m going to go with it.

Look for more regular updates on my progress this year and probably even more frequent updates on Twitter (follow @financeandfat if you’re into that Twitter thing). By the way, I’ll be tracking my progress on a publicly visible Google Spreadsheet.

2010 Weight Loss Goals

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Monthly Weight Loss Report, August 2009

Eden — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:17:04 +0000

Regular readers may have noticed the weekly weight loss report has changed to monthly. On the other hand, the weekly reports haven’t happened much at all lately, so I’m not really missing out on anything here.

My weight loss efforts have been a total failure over the past few months. I weighed in at 265 pounds today, which is within two pounds of my all time high (where I started this year). I guess the silver lining is that I’m at least down two pounds for the year. But with so much weight to lose, I really need to be making faster progress than that.

My iPhone challenge hasn’t helped at all either. Frankly, I think it’s made me not even care about an iPhone anymore! I suppose that’s a good thing, but I’d feel better if it was motivating me to exercise more.

It’s not all bad news though. I actually went out for a run today. I’m running a 5K in December and I finally started training today. I’m doing the Couch to 5K Running Plan. The plan is intended to get a sedentary person off the couch and ready to run a 5K in nine weeks. I’m happy with day one. It was challenging, but not too tough that I felt like I couldn’t finish it. Today’s workout consisted of a five minute walking warmup, followed by intervals of sixty seconds of jogging and ninety seconds of walking. The intervals last for twenty minutes and finish off with a five minute walking cool down.

As usual, I feel great after finally getting myself off the couch and actually doing some exercise. If only I could remember that I would feel this good when I’m making excuses to avoid exercise. Hopefully the race in December and this training plan will help me to stay on top of things this time around.

Lessons Learned:

I feel better after exercising. Maybe this should be obvious, but apparently it’s not because I always forget.

There are no tricks or shortcuts. I have to choose to exercise and stop making excuses.

Tracking progress helps. I’m using Daily Burn to track my calories and exercise. It can be a bit cumbersome at times, and adding exercise is not always intuitive, but overall it’s a nice application and I’ve found it to be helpful (it’s free by the way). I really like the stat tracking. It helps me to see my progress built up and charted over time. It makes it seem worthwhile to go for a walk even if I only have ten minutes. Little efforts do add up!

I’m not happy that it is almost the end of August and I’ve only lost two pounds this year. On the other hand, there are still four months left in the year, so it’s far from too late to give up. I can still easily finish the year down twenty pounds or so. I think the 5K will help a lot. Even though my marathon plans turned into a complete and utter failure last year, I did reach my lowest weight of the past several years when I was in the early stages of training for it. I have a marathon in mind for the end of 2010, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself yet. We will see how the 5K goes this year.

Monthly Weight Loss Report, August 2009

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Weekly Web Favorites and 3,000 Calories

Eden — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:32:17 +0000

I started using a new fitness and nutrition tracking website this week (Daily Burn) and was quite shocked when I found I had consumed 3,200 calories one day. To be honest, I know I’ve been eating horribly lately. Trying to treat my stress with fat and sugar apparently. But I had no idea my diet had gone that far out of control. I guess that’s why it’s good to keep a food journal. It would be even better to not eat 3,000 calories in the first place, but now I know what I need to work on.

Favorite Quote:

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. Better to assume you are a moron and occasionally surprise yourself.” Funny Quotes by Quotes for Idiots

Favorite Links:

The Source of Frugal Misery [from The Simple Dollar] When you spend money, spend it on things you value. Spend as little as possible on the things you don’t value.
How to Network With Busy People – Part 11 [from Steve Pavlina dot com] Don’t begin your first contact with an apology (like ’sorry to bother you’). Just because someone is busy doesn’t mean you’re not an equal.
On the Proper Use of ‘Me’ and ‘I’ [from Foldedspace] It may be something simple, but this is a nice overview and good for reference in case you forget.
Planning Fallacy [from Less Wrong] Great read if you’re a project manager or if you make plans for the future…yeah, that should be everyone. It’s an important concept to understand.
Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy by Moving to Remote Village [from The Onion] This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen for a while (it’s a video by the way). Of course it’s just a parody, but it’s not really that great a stretch to imagine this in our future.

*As always, you can find all of my ‘weekly web favorites’ and many more links on my StumbleUpon page and my Delicious Bookmarks.

Weekly Web Favorites and 3,000 Calories

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Debt is Slavery Book Review

Eden — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:42:46 +0000

Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money, by Michael Mihalik. This book is short, to the point, and packed with lots of great advice. I’ve read it three times and I would put this in my top five personal finance books, possibly at number one. I think for someone just getting started with figuring out their debt and finances this is probably the first book to read. It’s short enough to get through very quickly and find some immediate advice and inspiration to get your finances under control.

The book offers this definition of slavery: “The state of being bound in servitude as an instrument of labor” [pg. 23]. Do you ever wake up in the morning and not want to go to work that day? Do you go anyway? Do you go because you really love your job that much or do you go because you owe money to someone (probably many people) and even though you may have a choice of how you’ll earn your money, ultimately you have no choice but to go to work and get that money. Lately, I’ve been dreading Monday mornings as early as Saturday night. I feel trapped and bound to this service by my debts.

“Too many people hate their jobs but are afraid to leave, because they wouldn’t be able to pay their mortgage, credit card bills, car loans, or boat loans. Debt can turn a free, happy person into a bitter human being. Debt can turn you into a slave.” [pg 25].

It’s possible for debt to be good, but debt is still slavery. A mortgage can usually be thought of as good debt, but you still must make sure you can afford the mortgage you are signing up for.

“The word ‘mortgage’ is derived from the Latin word ‘mort,’ which means ‘death’, and the Germanic word ‘gage’, which means ‘pledge’. So ‘mortgage’ means ‘death pledge’. What does that tell you?” [pg 30]

When we spend money, we are really trading our time for the things we buy. We make this even worse when we go into debt to buy things. We are now committing our time in the future to work to earn money to pay for the things we bought in the past. This becomes even more painful if you don’t like your job.

‘Stuff’ ads busywork and stress to our lives. So much stuff we buy we don’t even need. Eliminating unwanted stuff from our lives is an important part of getting control of our finances and getting out of debt.

Experiences are more valuable than stuff. Don’t find happiness only in buying things. You won’t look back on your life when you’re older and fondly remember the stuff you accumulated.

It will be easier to stop buying stuff if we avoid advertising and understand that we are constantly being marketed to and a lot of money is being spent to convince us to buy things.

Make a goal of saving 50% of your income. If you do this, you would have the ability to take a month off from work for every month you work (assuming you’re earning an income from a job and not passive sources). Don’t spend more money when you get a raise. If you keep your expenses the same as before, you can increase your savings exponentially, even as your income may not be increasing at such a high rate.

Money doesn’t buy happiness, it buys freedom. This is my greatest motivator for making more money and getting out of debt right now. I want to be free again.

This book is packed with solid advice, expertly fit into a short, easy to read format. If you’re just getting started with fixing a financial mess in your life, I would buy this book immediately. If you need a little extra motivation and a better understanding of the mistakes of the ‘normal’ American way when it comes to money and work, read this book. I had planned to give away my copy after reading it, but I decided this is one I want to keep on my bookshelf so I have it available to read again when I see bad habits creeping back into my life.

Debt is Slavery Book Review

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Weekly Web Favorites: Losing Weight is Hard Edition

Eden — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:07:54 +0000

I’m really struggling with my diet and exercise lately. I’ve realized that I first turn to food when I’m feeling stressed or depressed. The only healthy replacement I can think of is exercise so I’m going to work on making exercise a priority, even when I don’t feel like it.

Favorite Quote:

“One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure. Unless you’re a raccoon. Then it’s basically all one category.” – Funny Quotes by Quotes for Idiots

Favorite Links:

I have two favorites from Early Retirement Extreme: Survival Preparedness – a great starting point for emergency preparation and Extreme Early Retirement vs. Friends and Relatives offers a look at the issues you’ll face with friends and family when trying to save money to the extreme.
What We Wish We Knew When We Were Younger [from Get Rich Slowly] – a great look at things we wish we had known before, since I knew virtually nothing about money these all apply to me and many more too I’m sure.
The Short Term and the Long Term Choice [from The Simple Dollar] – Ask yourself where you’ll be in the future when making a decision, this is great advice and something I’m trying to put into practice in my life now. I have far too much of a short term focus.

Carnivals

I was fortunate enough to be included in the Carnival of Personal Finance: Famous money quotes edition, hosted by Christian Personal Finance and the Festival of Frugality #189, Extreme Heat Edition, hosted by Modern Tightwad. Many thanks to the carnival hosts for the hard work they put this week!

*As always, you can find all of my ‘weekly web favorites’ and many more links on my StumbleUpon page.

Weekly Web Favorites: Losing Weight is Hard Edition

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Weekly Web Favorites – Quotes for Idiots Edition

Eden — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:05:01 +0000

I have a little side project going, called Quotes for Idiots. The idea behind it is humorous takes on the usual, boring quotes we hear all the time, as well as some wacky stuff that someone crazy comes up with. Traffic to Quotes for Idiots has recently taken off so I want to start working harder at promoting it. I’ll be including some quotes in my weekly web favorites post from now on. Enjoy!

“He who hesitates is lost. Unless he hesitates before walking in front of a moving bus, that might save his life.” – funny quotes by Quotes for Idiots

Favorite Posts:

The Big Question: Are You Better Than Yesterday? – From The Blog of Tim Ferriss and it was written by Chad Fowler, CTO of InfoEther, Inc. – I really enjoyed this post. One great takeaway is when you are working on something long-term, like losing weight, don’t let the lack of immediate results discourage you. Just try to do better than you did the day before and give your results time.
Are Budgets Dead? [Ask The Reader] – From Saving for Serenity – Great conversation on the importance of budgeting and whether a budget is really necessary.
Six Words That Saved Me $17,893 – And Can Save You Even More – From Frugal Dad, written by Neal Frankle of Wealth Pilgrim – Read this post and remember “What is the purpose of this?”.
Frugality Vs. “Big Wins” – Why You Shouldn’t Care About Either – From Man vs. Debt – Big wins or frugality is always a popular personal finance discussion. I think paying attention to both is important.

Carnivals

I was fortunate enough to be included in the Carnival of Personal Finance: House of Rose Edition, hosted by Good Financial Cents and Carnival of Pecuniary Delights #18, hosted by My Life ROI. Many thanks to the carnival hosts for the hard work they put this week!

*As always, you can find all of my ‘weekly web favorites’ and many more links on my StumbleUpon page.

Weekly Web Favorites – Quotes for Idiots Edition

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5 Frugal Golf Tips to Make the Game Affordable Again

Eden — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:07:29 +0000

Golf is an expensive hobby. Of course, expensive is a relative term. You can easily spend a *lot* of money on golf, but you can just as easily enjoy the game with a frugal approach. I gave up on golf almost entirely when I started working on getting out of debt. However, I really missed the game and I finally came to the conclusion that cutting out something I enjoy to save money isn’t a wise thing to do (assuming it wasn’t financially impossible for me to keep playing, which it wasn’t).

I’m happy to say I’ve started playing golf again over the past month or two, but I’m doing so with a budget and I’m making an effort to stretch my golf dollars farther and to find good value. I no longer need to avoid golf. Though I may have to avoid the expensive courses, I can definitely play an adequate number of rounds and practice my game each month.

If you’re interested in the details, I’m starting with a budget of $50 per month. This is enough for about two to three (inexpensive) rounds of golf per month and some practice time.

Practice your short game more than the long game.
According to Dr. Bob Rotella, “If you’re not spending 70 percent of your practice time on shots from 120 yards in, you’re not trying to become the best golfer you can be.” [Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, pg 88]. Not only will practicing the short game save you money, but it’s better for your game. If I’m going to practice three days in a week, I’ll buy range balls one day and work on my long game, but I’ll only work on my short game the other two days. The trick to this is finding a course with good short game facilities. I’m fortunate to have two courses about twenty minutes from my home that have separate chipping and putting greens and one even has a separate pitching area for shots in the 70 – 100 yard range. I take advantage of these short game areas as much as I can. This is much easier if you have a ‘shag bag‘ and a collection of old (but still decent) balls. I don’t find my long game to be lacking at all and I’m definitely saving more and more shots around the greens.

Use old balls found on the course for practice balls.
During any normal round you’re going to come across lost balls. If I’m certain no one around has played the ball and it’s not badly damaged I’ll pick up as many as I can. I don’t use these balls to play, but I save them for the shag bag and use them on the practice greens. This is a great way to keep your supply of practice balls replenished (they will get lost and damaged over time) without spending any extra money.

Buy a ball retriever.
I used to think ball retrievers were a bit silly, but with many balls costing $3 – $4 each, it can quickly pay for itself. The best part is, a ball lost in the water may have only been hit once so you’ll often find balls that are essentially brand new. I also find that the golfers playing the most expensive balls are the least likely to bother to retrieve them from a lake. The better the course you play, the higher quality you’ll tend to find.

Check for tee times on GolfNow.com, but give the course a call too.
Golf Now is sort of like an Expedia or Travelocity for golf. It acts as the middleman in helping golf courses sell open tee times and you benefit by getting a reduced rate. I find rates are almost always cheaper on Golf Now, but not 100% of the time. To be really sure you’re getting the best deal, you might want to give the course a call before you book on Golf Now, just to be sure you’re getting the best deal possible.

Play during off-peak hours.
For me, playing in Tucson, AZ, off-season is about May – September and the cheapest tee times are to be had in the afternoon. Of course, that means playing in 100 – 110 degree heat, but as they like to say, ‘it’s a dry heat’. As long as I stay hydrated and wear sunscreen, I really don’t have much problem playing in the heat here at all. I’ve suffered much more playing golf in the summer in San Antonio, TX (think 90 degrees with 90% humidity). If you’re willing to be less comfortable and play more golf when other people aren’t playing, you can save a lot of money. I played a course a couple of weeks ago that can cost as much as $170 per round during peak season for only $35. The course is still as beautiful and challenging as ever, I just had to suffer through the heat to enjoy it.

In summary, don’t make the mistake that I made and give up on golf (or whatever your favorite hobby may be) because of the cost, if it’s something you truly enjoy. It’s possible to find a middle ground and approach your hobby in a wise and frugal manner. Value can be found, you just have to work a little harder to find it. In the end, I’m much happier to be out playing golf again and my budget will be just fine.

5 Frugal Golf Tips to Make the Game Affordable Again

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You Just Realized You’re Spending More Than You Earn: 4 Things To Do Today

Eden — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:03:15 +0000

My financial turnaround began when I realized I was spending more than I earned each and every month. That’s pretty much the only way you can pile up more than $25,000 of credit card debt in a year (that’s about the rate I was going). For me, it came down to stupidity and lack of attention really.

If that sounds like you right now, here are four things you can do TODAY to stop the bleeding and begin to gain control of your financial life.

Stop using credit cards – Those little plastic jerks are ruining your life and you know it. Chop ‘em up! They aren’t cool, you don’t NEED them, and what good have they done for you so far? Life is possible without credit cards. I haven’t had one for more than a year now and I never miss them.

Make a budget – Honestly, making a budget is like getting a raise. It’s amazing what a little detail work can do for your finances. It’s hard work though. It takes time and practice to successfully budget. Don’t give up after your first try and don’t expect to get it right in the beginning. Just trust that it will work and give it a chance. This step alone will dramatically change your financial life.

Sell some of the stuff you bought that you knew couldn’t afford anyway – Video games, DVDs, golf clubs, whatever unnecessary junk you bought that you don’t need. Face it, almost nothing that we buy is truly a NEED. Be ruthless. Start listing some stuff on Craigslist or Ebay. It can be a pain, but consider the hassle to be part of your therapy. This will put some cash in your pocket quickly and give you some small victories on the road to turning your cash flow positive again.

Create more income – This could be overtime at your current job, finding a part-time job, or my personal favorite- finding some freelance work of some kind. Anything that allows you to use your existing skills to provide a valuable service for someone is your best bet for some quick side money. This is the best choice because you’ll start to get a taste of how to create your own path to income in your life.

These are just a few tips and there is more you can do, but you have to start somewhere and this is as good a start as any. You need to dedicate extra time to working right now, but don’t neglect education. Read some blogs, and read some books. Start talking to your friends and see if any of them are trying to change their financial lives too (you might be surprised, this is more common than you probably think). Try listening to the free Dave Ramsey Show podcast (or his radio show if it’s on in your area). The podcast is only 40 minutes long, it’s free, and it’s a great way to get a daily boost of inspiration and keep fighting the battle with debt.

Even if you can only do one thing today, it’s a start (if I had to pick one, I’d start with budgeting). The most important part is realizing there is a problem and starting to take action as soon as possible. Once you get the ball rolling, this will get easier. Good luck!

You Just Realized You’re Spending More Than You Earn: 4 Things To Do Today

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For Bloggers: Blogroll Link Exchange

Eden — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:33:50 +0000

For bloggers (and other website owners), let me know if you would like to exchange links. I’m adding links to other sites in my blogroll, as long as the content is not spammy, objectionable, and is related to the topics on Finance and Fat. I added a link exchange page with all the details. Contact me if you are interested.

For Bloggers: Blogroll Link Exchange

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