I’m a big fan of finding sensible ways to spend less but a recent tweet directed at Ramit Sethi from iwillteachyoutoberich.com got me thinking how much I hate “saving” money. I’m not talking about clipping coupons or buying things on sale you normally buy. I’m talking about all these tiny little everyday things you can change to “Save you hundreds if not thousands” per year.

Here’s the illustration I saw on Twitter today that inspired this post: http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance-tips/budgeting-basics/Budgeting-How-Small-Cutbacks-Lead-to-Great-Savings.html

While there are a few sensible tips that may cut down on your electricity bill or your water bill, most of these are the little things in our day that make the day bearable.

Sure, I don’t eat breakfast out every morning (I work from home so there’s that) and I don’t eat dinner out more than twice a week and when I do, it’s going to be something I enjoy and I don’t stress about it.

I also think most people already use energy saving lightbulbs. I’ve had the same bulb in my kitchen for like 2 years now; you know it’s one of those twisty incandescent deals.

There are two things in this illustration that anger me though.

First, the idea of cutting out all soda. I would advise switching to sugar-free soda if you drink the regular stuff because that will save your waistline more than anything but frequently we get 5 cases of what we drink for the price of 2 when they go on sale, so we just stock up and that lasts a while.

Could I “save” the $5 bucks i would spend on a case of soda? Sure, I could but would I really? At the end of the day would I sit down and figure out how much soda I should normally be drinking and then transfer that “saved” amount to my bank account? Not likely. We don’t think or act this way.

It isn’t a natural thing to divert every day spending money into an account that will actually earn money for us. Why? Because nobody wants to spend that much time and energy scrutinizing their expenses. After a long work day which most people have, the last thing they want to do is sit down and go over daily expenditures. If I’m gonna do that, I’ll hire an accountant and then all the money I’ve “saved” will end up going to her anyway so what’s the point?

Then there’s the Netflix argument. By getting rid of your cable, satellite or what have you, Netflix is only $20. They have an instant watch feature which is great and there’s also HULU which has some stuff. But if you like shows that HBO has you’re out of luck. Yeah, the library is FREE but the hassle of getting down there, actually finding something they have in stock (if you even have a decent library anymore) and then having to go down there again to return it…not for me, thanks. Plus, you can’t keep anything you get from the library for more than 2 weeks. With 2 kids in the house it’s just not reasonable. I’ll keep my satellite service and my DVR, thanks.

Get rid of your land line? That’s not a bad notion if you have a cell phone but since I work from home I need both so I’m not tying up my land line all the time.

So if you can’t out-frugal your way to riches what can you do? Well, that’s what Ramit Sethi talks about all the time at his blog I Will Teach You To Be Rich and his program Earn 1k.com. I’m not getting any money for mentioning these sites if that’s what you are wondering. They are great sites and if you’ve read his book I Will Teach You To Be Rich you know he’s got some great advice.

The key thing to having more money is to find a way to EARN MORE THAN YOU SPEND. Weird huh? Most people try to SPEND LESS THAN THEY MAKE.

Then by setting up automated bill payment and saving methods you don’t have to worry about spending money on $5 lattes, sodas and movie tickets.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s changed the way I look at not only the money I earn but how my ideas can make more money so that I can be happy and not stressed out because i’m going “overbudget” by seeing a movie or having a slice of pie.

So, are you one of these uber-frugal people? Do you actually put away the money you are “saving” by not buying these little things? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Now, watch this video to understand what I’m talking about.

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Every week, I get a newseltter from EvolvHealth called Evolver’s Weekly which has news and announcements and information about the business and I had to share this story that was in the newsletter this week.

Most testimonials I have read in this industry have to do with people and how those products have helped them professionally, personally in their health and their well being but this story is a little different. This isn’t about people, but rather about a beloved pet.

Enjoy.

“About 3 months ago we wereworried that we were going to have to PUT DOWN our 21 year old Lab Retriever cross (Harley) dog as he couldn’t get up off the floor!  His hind knees are basically worn out, the vet wasn’t sure what we could do for him anymore.  I thought since I had such a great response personally for my joints, that maybe it would help the dog, I took the information into the Vet on Evolv to make sure that it was okay for him as sometime dogs cannot consume the same things as us humans do, he let me know that there was nothing in Evolv that would hurt the dog.

I started him on Evolv in March ( 1 bottle a day) and within a few days he was getting up on his own, he didn’t need our assistance at all to help him off the floor,  and now Harley, the 21 year old dog, and our  3 year old dog, are playing again..  My husband and I cannot believe the difference in Harley!

“I am sure that if he could tell us he is very grateful for Evolv as it has turned back time for him!”
-Dana St. Pierre

Are you ready to change your life and other’s lives? Get started today! http://ShopEvolv.com

To answer those requests, John has decided to reopen Blog Profit
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Add it all up and the bonuses that you get for free cost more than
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must registered before midnight tonight.

Blog Profit Camp is covered by a 30 day money back guarantee.
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I think this time I really have and i’ll tell you why.

First of all, the founder, Trey White is a self made billionaire. He doesn’t build small companies. In 1999 he built Homestore.com (later to be bought by realtor.com) with a market cap of $10 billion.

He then created an extremely profitable Ethanol business that wasn’t based on corn and changed the way Ethanol distribution works.

Now, he’s created EvolvHealth, LLC.

In just 8 months EvolvHealth already has $10 million in sales. This is the fastest growing Network Marketing company in the world right now and the opportunity is only available in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Soon operations will be expanding to Mexico.

There is also a $1 million prize being offered to one lucky Evolv member that is actively participating in the business that qualifies for the finals in November. This is a first in my experience. Add to that, a top notch wealth management team to help you invest the money, a health insurance plan in the works and a product that has absolutely NO competition and you’ve got yourself a winning combination.

I had the pleasure of meeting Trey and let me tell you, he’s the real deal. He’s passionate about this company and his vision of where it’s heading is amazing. Now is the right time to start your own Evolv business. Why?

Take a look at another Network Marketing company called Amway and you’ll understand. In 1967, Amway hit $50 million in sales, 1968 saw $65 million and 1969 saw $85 million. As of 2009, Amway Global has over $8 billion in sales annually.

Evolv is going to be the next billion dollar company. Don’t you want a piece of that?

Find out more information about the company and the opportunity at http://ShopEvolv.com.

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No doubt you already know who John Chow is. If you don’t then you probably aren’t reading this post anyway.

John didn’t start his blog with the intention to make money, it just sort of turned out that way and once he started making real money with it he never looked back. Now, 3 books later, he’s one of the most successful bloggers in the world.

To learn how he got there, I recommend picking up Make Money Online: Roadmap of a dot com mogul where John lays out how he got started, what steps he took, how he got slapped by Google and how that recovery made him independently wealthy.

If you want to learn how you can do this yourself, I have good news for you. John just released his newest eBook titled Ultimate Blog Profit Model which you can download for FREE! That’s right, John is giving away all his secrets in this new book. If you want to make money online, there’s only one guy who really spells it out and that’s John Chow.

What I like most about these books is the casual and concise style they are written in. John doesn’t mince words and tells you exactly what he did and still does to make over $40,000.00 a month from his blog!

As I write this, I’ve been implementing John’s ideas into my own blogs and so far the results are fantastic. Download Ultimate Blog Profit Model and John’s other FREE eBook and get on the fast track to making money from your blog or website.

Trey White, founder of EvolvHealth is giving away 1.1 million dollars to one lucky Evolv-er. No matter when you get involved in owning your own Evolv business you’ll automatically be entered to win this amazing prize until August 31st. I know of no other direct marketing business that has done this for their distributors. The winner will be drawn at random in November.

This is an opportunity you can’t afford to pass up! Not only will you be getting involved on the ground floor of the next billion dollar company but you’ll have the chance to truly change your life and your future if you win this prize. I’m so excited about this I can barely contain myself!

Check out the video below for all the details.

Find out more information by going to http://ShopEvolv.com and read through the 4 steps then fill out the form and get started! This is the easiest business I have had the pleasure to be involved with and it’s about to get even more exciting.

I also wanted to let everyone know about the June Regional Events happening around the nation. I’ll be attending the San Francisco June Regional Conference and you can be my guest for FREE. If you will be in the San Francisco Bay Area June 26th I’m inviting you to be my guest. The conference is going to be like nothing you’ve experienced before.

So what are you waiting for? Go to http://blog.evolvhealth.com/events/ and get more information. If you have questions or to contact me and reserve your spot, email info @ shopevolv.com. To keep up to speed with all the goings on in my Evolv business, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShopEvolv. You never know what you might win!

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Before I get into how to win this copy, let me explain why I’m giving it away. You see, I already bought myself a copy for two reason. First, I was too excited about this book coming out to wait to find out if I won a copy and second, if you follow John Chow on twitter, you would know he’s also giving away an apple iPad. If you bought his book and sent in a picture, you have a chance to win the iPad.

I’m hoping I win the iPad and to pass along a good thing, I’m giving away this signed copy of Make Money Online: Roadmap of a Dot Com Mogul.

To enter all you have to do is follow me on Twitter and give me a shout out using @shopevolv. That’s it. On June 1st I’ll pick a winner from all qualified entries. Here’s the good news, only 1 person has entered so far so your chances of winning are really good!

Good Luck to all who enter. See you on Twitter!

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What I didn’t go over in the first part was nutrition. I’ve found that most people that aren’t already focused on their diet and health really don’t know the facts about what’s actually good for you.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a licensed nutritionist, nor am I any kind of doctor. However, I speak from a point of experience both recently and in my past. In my youth I was an amateur bike racer and devoured every bit of nutritional nuggets I could find back then as to how they related to my (I hoped) would-be profession. Then things changed. I went to college, met my future wife and got busy with a job and ten years later, guess what? I got fat.

Yep, it’s the classic story. Skinny guy gives up his dream of being a pro because of a girl.

Anyway, my point here is I’m speaking from experience.

Dispelling the Myths of the Food Pyramid

I’ll tell you right now the Food Pyramid we’ve all come to know is extremely confusing. I mean just look at this thing: http://www.mypyramid.gov/ and you’ll see how absolutely confusing it is.

It has however, changed slightly from when I was a kid but regardless it’s still confusing. If I had to use their website to figure out what to eat everyday I would probably starve because it would take me the bulk of each day just to figure out what combination of foods to eat and in what amount. It really doesn’t have to be this difficult.

Some things I do agree on. Whole grains are better than refined grains. Think Whole Wheat bread instead of White bread. Buckwheat pasta instead of spaghetti. Even Sourdough bread is actually better for you than White or Cracked Wheat bread because it registers lower on the Glycemic Index. I mention this index because controlling blood sugar levels is one of the keys to not only losing weight but maintaining satiety during the day.

I also agree that green vegetables are better for you than others but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat other vegetables and fruits. You also shouldn’t be too concerned about the amount of sugar in fruit.

Fructose (which is the sugar naturally found in fruits) has many health benefits especially if you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle or a combination of both (which I highly recommend). Fructose is absorbed in the liver and not delivered to muscle tissue. Ever had just a banana and tried to do a workout when about halfway through you realized you are exhausted and starving? That’s because the sugars (carbohydrates) from the banana never made it to your muscles for fuel and were instead processed by your liver. Fructose signals your body to remain in an anabolic state and also tells your brain you are full so it’s a good idea to mix in some fruits with your protein shakes or your salad because it will help you feel full longer and thus tell your brain to stop eating. Let’s face it, you never got fat because you ate too much fruit and too many vegetables!

Protein

One of the most misunderstood parts of losing weight is protein. Protein is a vital component in rebuilding muscle even if you aren’t weight training. All exercise burns calories and if you work hard enough your body will switch from using fat to using carbohydrates (if any are to be found). If your carbohydrate stores are drained, guess where the next source of energy is? That’s right, it’s your muscles. Endurance athletes like runners have a lot of lean muscle tissue because during long periods of exercise most sources of energy are depleted and what’s left are proteins (in the form of your body’s muscle tissue). Therefore, to rebuild muscles, a protein source should be consumed immediately post-workout. I recommend whey protein because it has 100% bio-availability. That is to say, it is 100% absorbed by your system and put to work by the body to rebuild lost muscle tissue. Unlike other protein sources such as egg or chicken which only have about 70-80% bio-avilibility.

Carbohydrates and Fats

Contrary to popular belief, a low carbohydrate diet isn’t the best way to lose weight unless you are cutting out the right kinds of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are sugars simply put. They are the complex blocks of sugar our body uses primarily for energy. Unused carbohydrates store in the body in the form of fat which is why a lot of people think that cutting out carbs forces the body to use fat instead but as I explained earlier it doesn’t work out that way. The body prefers to use carbs for energy first but if they aren’t available then it uses fat as much as it can. This is one reason I recommend working out in the morning if you are trying to lose fat because you haven’t eaten for 7-8 hours or more and your body’s stores of glycogen will have been used up during sleep to repair muscles.

That being said, it’s important to distinguish between “good” carbs and “bad” carbs.

You’ve probably heard this a lot already but I will reiterate here. Good carbohydrate sources come from whole grains, vegetables and fruits. Bad carbohydrates are those that are refined like white flour, white rice, pastas made from these refined sources of grains and bleached wheat. When possible, you should choose the whole grain versions instead and eat as many vegetables as you like. Some of my favorites are Asparagus, Broccoli, Kale, Romaine Lettuce, Mixed leafy greens, Green Beans. The list goes on.

In terms of good carbohydrates you want to stay away from the starchier ones if you can. An example is a baked potato or french fries. Sure, a baked potato has a lot of nutrients in the skin but the rest is basically a bunch of starchy calories that may taste great but in terms of how they get used in the body, may not be as beneficial as the other green veggies. French Fries of course are everyone’s favorite and even in school lunch programs are actually considered a vegetable but come on! They are DEEP FRIED in FAT! There’s more fat left in those fries than actual vegetable so I’m sorry but you need to cross fries off your list. A couple times a month, sure they are fine but often your cravings will get the best of you. My advice is to avoid them for 2 weeks and then see where your cravings are at then.

Now for fats.

I think fats are the most misunderstood part of a diet. I often hear “eating fat makes me fat right?”. Wrong.

Fat is an essential part of the inner workings of our bodies. Without fat, similar to machines that require oil (oh yeah, oil is a fat!) our vital functions will fail. Now don’t misunderstand me here, not all fats are created equal and there are some you should avoid whenever possible. If you ever take a look at a nutrition label and see something called Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil or Hydrogenated Soybean Oil etc, guess what? It’s basically fat that has been chemically altered and combined with hydrogen to change an unsaturated (good fat) to a saturated (bad fat).

The worse part of this process is something called partially hydrogenated oil. Partially hydrogenating fat turns it into a trans-fat. These trans-fats can be found in nearly every packaged and processed food in your local store shelves. It’s cheap and has been widely used for years. The problem is, trans-fats are not essential for our bodies so they provide no nutritional value whatsoever. From wikipedia:

The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease^[2] by raising levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of “good” HDL cholesterol.^[3] Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are more harmful than naturally occurring oils.^[4]

Trans-fat consumption has skyrocketed in recent years and can lead to coronary disease, alzheimers, cancer, diabetes, obesity and other serious health problems. Read your nutrition labels and don’t buy anything that has trans-fatty-acids in them. Simple.

Good fats, though, these are the ones you want to keep on hand. Olive oil, olives, avocados, almonds, peanut butter, peanuts. These are all good sources of good fats that provide essential oils our bodies need. Almonds provide oils and proteins as well and are a great snack to grab a handful of mid-day when you feel a little hunger coming on.

So in a nutshell (no pun intended), stick with good fats, good carbohydrates and lean sources of proteins and you won’t have to count calories. Eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day and you won’t be hungry. 3 meals a day just doesn’t keep your body at optimum level.

Here’s an example of a typical day for me:
Try having your biggest meal at breakfast (2 eggs, sourdough toast and a slice of canadian bacon). Then about 2 hours later have a handful of almonds and an orange. For lunch, grab a can of tuna, a tbsp of mayo, 1/4 of an avocado, some dill relish and a whole wheat hoagie roll and make a sandwich. Then for an afternoon snack try 1/2 cup of nonfat or lowfat yogurt (any flavor) and a banana. For dinner you can chop up 1/2 a small or medium onion, 1/2 red bell pepper, 3 oz of roast beef and sautee this up in a pan with a tsp of olive oil. Toast up a slice of sourdough bread, shovel the heated mixture onto the bread and add 1/4 cup of your favorite shredded cheese. Then if you need a late night snack, grab a stick of string cheese. It’ll keep you satisfied until morning.

Not only are you eating really good tasting food, but it’s all healthy and at the end of the day you’ll feel pretty good and you won’t have eating a bunch of junk. These recipes and more can be found in The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life – from the editor of Men’s Health Magazine

In part 3 of this series, I’ll talk about weight training and cardio exercise in more detail and shatter some myths you’ve probably heard.

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I wanted to write about my strategy because I think it will be useful for others that are struggling with weight loss. A week before starting the contest I weighed 246 pounds. I was quite surprised because looking at me you wouldn’t think it. Let’s just say it wouldn’t get me kicked off a Southwest flight.

I’ve lost 4.83% of my body fat which equals about 12 lbs. That might not seem like a lot over 10 weeks but let’s look at how difficult losing weight is.

To lose one pound requires about 3500 calories burned either through exercise or diet or a combination of both. So the first thing you need to understand is how many calories your body needs just to maintain your current weight. This is called your “basal metabolic rate” or BMR. Calculating your BMR is easy.

You can use a BMR calculator here: http://www.internetfitness.com/calculators/bmr.htm

This also lets you input the amount of physical activity you do on a daily basis which will change your BMR accordingly. The more work you do in a day, the more calories your body requires to keep going.

If you are trying to lose body fat like I am (I started the contest at 240.2 lbs; 108.9kg for you Europeans; 17.15 stone for you old school Europeans!) then you can figure out your calorie deficit to lose weight.

Since it takes 3500 calories to lose 1 pound, eliminating just 500 calories from your BMR means over 7 days you’ll lose 1 pound. Eliminate 1000 calories and you’ll lose 2 pounds and so on. However, you have to be very careful here. Eating a diet with too few calories is going to have the exact opposite effect. Your body will actually trigger a preservation mechanism in which the brain tells the cells in your body to begin storing fat, slowing your metabolism and basically ensuring that you aren’t going to die from lack of food.

So the basics of BMR and weight loss are pretty easy to understand, it’s eliminating the right kinds of foods that is the more difficult part.

As you grow older, two things happen that affect your weight. The first is that your metabolism slows down significantly. The second is that you actually require more protein and fewer overall calories (mainly as a result of the slowed metabolism). You’ve probably heard people talk about how teenagers constantly eat yet the ones who are fairly active never gain weight. These teens have not only an active lifestyle but an incredible metabolism because they are still growing. Adults don’t have this luxury because we are full grown. However, you can change this. You can fire up your metabolism through diet and exercise. Simple, right? It’s actually not as difficult as it sounds. Just walking 60 minutes a day will increase your metabolism, get your heart rate up and believe it or not you’ll feel better (and just a bit tired) after.

To jump start my exercise program I started walking about 30 minutes a day which was difficult at 240 lbs. My shins would burn, i would be breathing pretty hard and by the end of the 30 minutes, sweating a lot. Just 7 days later though, I was walking 5 miles in about an hour and 20 minutes. Some days my shins would burn a lot and others would be fine. I also noticed my pace was increasing and now I can walk about 4-4.5 miles an hour without too much effort. It’s surprising that just walking can burn calories as much as it can. About 500-600 calories are burned in an hour at my pace. Using our math from before that means Just walking 1 hour a day I can lose 1 pound. If I am already on a 1000 calorie deficit that means 3 pounds a week should be melting off me.

You’d think that at the end of 10 weeks I’d be down 30 pounds but unfortunately your body tends to constantly adjust to changes you make. See, your body is happy to stay at the status quo because it doesn’t require effort and it doesn’t have to adjust to changes. This is why it’s so easy to put on weight, but so difficult to lose it. Want to gain a pound, just eat a Double Whopper, Large Fries and a Shake twice a day for a couple days a week. The real key to losing weight permanently is to change your diet and start eating the right kinds of foods in the right amounts.

I’ll post again about diet changes and exercise in more detail. For now, I hope this post has been helpful in getting you to understand how your body stores fat, how you can identify the amount of calories you’ll need to lose weight and an introduction to exercise that anyone can do regardless of monetary situation, age or weight.

Two things that have helped me immeasurably:

Evolv – I drink 2 to 3 bottles a day.
The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life – from the editor of Men’s Health Magazine

Hopefully you are also getting a refund. I try to make it even throughout the year just so I don’ t have to worry about anything come tax time but it’s kind of nice getting that check from the man at the start of a new year.

This time around you can actually benefit in more ways than one. Money Crashers is giving away an Apple iPad to one lucky taxpayer this year.

There are a bunch of ways to enter which you will find here: http://bit.ly/c8iKSU

You get extra entries for spreading the word via social networking tasks such as tweeting out a custom message.

I love entering these kinds of contests because it’s easy, fun and I know that I’m helping someone grow their readership and user base.

Have fun entering this contest and good luck!