I need to preface this article with an important note: Your situation is different the next. Sure, there are some general guidelines that help anyone be in better shape or be in a better place financially. But we all come from different backgrounds. All of our current situations are vastly different.
Don’t compare where you are to the next person. Do the best you can with the cards you are currently dealt (with fitness, finances, anything). That’s all you can control.
Now, let’s get into the article talking about a very taboo subjection (money/finances) and compare it to an area where most people struggle with (fitness & getting/staying in shape). Sounds fun right?
Two big problem areas that complicate an individual’s life are:
Money & Finances
Health & Being over (or under) weight.
But when you break them down to their most simple form, they are both extremely similar when it comes to making progress.
To start this conversation, let’s talk about money & finances.
Say you have $2,000 coming into your bank account every month.
And your necessary expenses are $1,400.
You have some decisions to make with your extra $600.:
Go on a trip?
Save it?
Go spend it at the bar?
Invest into a business venture?
You have to figure out what’s important to you.
If you spend exactly $2,000 every month, you aren’t making any progress with your finances.
You’re living, but you’re staying in the same place.
If you spend less than $2,000 per month, and save it, you’re going to start accumulating money.
Financial progress is being made.
The problem can be when people spend more than the $2,000 they have coming in every month.
AKA going into debt.
Sometimes debt is good.
It can help fund a new business or provide some happiness like a family trip.
But most of the time, debt is something you want to avoid.
When it comes to people making progress with their finances, it comes down to a harsh reality.
People either overspend or don’t make enough money.
Sure, you can make more money.
But it’s normally easier, especially in the short term, to be in control of your spending than it is start miraculously stacking more dollars.
So….How does this relate to losing/gaining weight?
I got you.
The key to finances are simple. It’s about budgeting and prioritizing your money.
Similarly, the key to fitness is simple. It’s about budgeting and prioritizing your calories.
The calories you take in (through food or drinks), along with the calories you burn, will determine whether you lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same.
Time for an example.
Let’s say you can eat 2,000 calories per day and you stay at the same weight
(Disclaimer: This is an arbitrary number. Every human is different)
This is known as your maintenance calories.
You could eat around 2,000 calories per day and never lose/gain a pound.
Now, if you want to lose weight…
All you have to do is eat less than 2,000 calories per day.
Like literally any amount less than that and you will start to lose weight.
If you start eating 1,950 calories per day, you’re going to lose weight (albeit very slowly).
If you start eating 1,300 calories per day, you’ll lose weight quickly but it’s going to be hard to maintain because you won’t be eating much food.
And we like food. We don’t like being hangry (angry because of your hunger).
This would be like saving every dollar that isn’t going to your necessary expenses.
You can do it, but your quality of life goes down.
Somewhere between those two examples (like 1700 calories per day) normally works the best to make progress.
Now, if you “go into debt” with your calories…
AKA if you eat more than your maintenance amount of calories (more than 2,000 calories)…
Then you start to gain weight. This is known as a calorie surplus.
Similar to finances, not all debt is bad.
Like going into debt to start a business, which could end up being a way to make more money & increase your budget.
You can build a lot more muscle and strength if you are taking in more calories.
The more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll be able to consume without gaining fat. And in that way, it can be beneficial.
However, most people are not productive when they take in excess calories or spend excess money.
With the fitness side of things, people are either not working out that much OR they’re wayyy overeating which causes them to gain a lot of unwanted fat.
Orrrrr both.
This brings us back to the ultimate reason people lose or gain weight….
Total calories.
Those calories could come from anything - burgers, pizza, apples, veggies, egg whites.
If you eat too many calories from any food, you will gain weight.
If you eat pizza but your total calories for the day are still less than your ‘maintenance’ amount, you will lose weight.
Now….The First Step to Success With Your Finances orrr Fitness Goals?
Becoming Aware.
Just like when you want to get your finances in order, the first step to take with nutrition is becoming more aware.
With finances, you want to become more aware of your spending. When you know where your money goes each week, you figure out what adjustments to make.
Similarly, with nutrition, you want to become more aware of the total calories you’re normally having per day. From there, you can also make adjustments.
There are apps (like MyFitnessPal or MyPlate) that make it easy for you to enter your meals and track calories. From there, changes can be made with nutrition.
Also…. Tracking calories on a regular basis doesn’t have to be scary.
It gets a bad reputation. But even if you go with a specific type of diet to lose weight (paleo, keto, low carb, etc, etc)...The reason you lose weight is because of the total calories.
You don’t lose weight because one type of diet is “the best” or one type of food is “the worst”. It’s from the changes you made to the amount of calories you were taking in.
Tracking your calories is the only objective way to know if you are going to make progress or not.
It would be like trying to get your finances in order but you never actually look at the amount of money you make, your expenses, or how much money you have in your bank account.
It doesn’t work out too well.
It’s not sexy. And it can be a harsh reality at times.
But if you’re not making the progress you want with your weight loss (or weight gaining) journey, it’s because you’re not budgeting & prioritizing your food/drinks correctly and taking in too many (or too few) calories.