I was stumbling around some personal finance blogs and happened upon an enlightening post by Mr. Cheap at Quest For Four Pillars.
So, Mr. Cheap read a book by John Walker called The Hacker's Diet. He applied the knowledge, lost weight, and has kept it off. And through doing so, he learned some parallels between personal finance and weight loss:
Is that my answer, or part of it? I started this little series of posts with the question of whether my ability to obsess and learn could be translated successfully to tackling my weight and smoking. And here's Mr. Cheap with direct observation of the similarities between weight loss and reforming personal finance.
I think I'll read this Hacker's Diet thing and see if it's got some truths I can glom onto.
And FYI, I dig Kevin Smith. We went to see him speak in Toronto a few years back, for a taping of what eventually became An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. I felt like dude went a bit overboard with the self-deprecating fat jokes, largely 'cuz I could feel where he was coming from. Long show, but good show. Maybe I oughta read that book, too.
Two years ago today I was reading Kevin Smith's "Silent Bob Speaks" and in one passage he wrote about always feeling like his weight was something "he'd deal with later when it got really serious". This startled me a little, as I felt exactly the same way (although I didn't see myself as being quite as big as Mr. Smith).
So, Mr. Cheap read a book by John Walker called The Hacker's Diet. He applied the knowledge, lost weight, and has kept it off. And through doing so, he learned some parallels between personal finance and weight loss:
Things like the value to knowing as much as possible about your weight (or networth) and the true quality of the food you're eating (or your investments). There are different ways to make changes, such as exercise (or earning more income) and diet (spending less money). If you only make one type of change, its very easy to sabotage yourself by the other (e.g. exercising and eating more or getting a raise and increasing your lifestyle spending). Both processes benefit from measuring your on-going process and making improvements as you see the opportunity to do so. Both are also hardest when you first start them (the first 3 days of a diet or a budget are going to be the hardest, they both get easier as you go).
Is that my answer, or part of it? I started this little series of posts with the question of whether my ability to obsess and learn could be translated successfully to tackling my weight and smoking. And here's Mr. Cheap with direct observation of the similarities between weight loss and reforming personal finance.
I think I'll read this Hacker's Diet thing and see if it's got some truths I can glom onto.
And FYI, I dig Kevin Smith. We went to see him speak in Toronto a few years back, for a taping of what eventually became An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. I felt like dude went a bit overboard with the self-deprecating fat jokes, largely 'cuz I could feel where he was coming from. Long show, but good show. Maybe I oughta read that book, too.
You know, mr. bigass, that if you spent as much time walking, or cycling, or just about any other physical activity as you do writing these posts you'd probably have lost the weight by now.
ReplyDeleteTry putting some physical energy into it rather than emotional and/or mental energy...you'd be surprised at how much you can achieve.
I am not saying that learning 'stuff' is bad for you (a little knowledge can go a long way for sure), but at some point the books and thinking about it have to be put on the shelf, and you have to make the changes that your body requires.
So put the books down, put the keyboard away, quit eating the things that you know are bad for you, get off the couch and get some vigorous cardio exercise (at least 3 times a week for a half hour or more).
Throw in some weight training to go with the cardio and within a month you won't need to convince yourself - everyone else will convince you you're on the right track with commentary rewards for your ego :)
Just my thoughts on the matter.
b
B
Hiya, thanks for the link! I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on the Hacker's Diet. B seems to think you'd be best served focusing on exercise, but I'm all about diet. I was kicking myself for not going to his Toronto talk.
ReplyDeleteB: That's rather harsh. All of us could probably focus more time in "productive work", but we're not drones. Its not like writing posts is a waste of his time.