The Battle of the Bulge - for your wallet AND your waistline

One of the aspects of our lives that most of us struggle with as much as our health, is our bank account. We want the opposite things for our wallets as we do for our tummies, we want them bulging, spilling over, stuffed to the brim, and only growing larger. We want higher numbers in our ING and lower numbers on the scale. But we want the same thing in the end from both: results.

Unfortunately, obviously, its more difficult to achieve larger numbers in savings with this miserable economy. This is why I, like many, have been soaking up as many tips as I can find for saving more, spending less - just as I try and eat less and exercise more. Sometimes it helps me to thing of these concepts in similar terms so...

-I figure I have a certain number of calories in a day, so when I am deciding on whether or not I can 'afford' to eat something, I make sure I check to see how many calories I have left in the bank. If I'm going for broke with a milkshake I skip it, or have only a few sips. If I'm making a small withdrawal that fits into my daily budget, I go for it.

-I also make a list of all the things I eat in a day, much like we're told to make a list of what we spend in a week, down to the last $4 latte or $1.50 pack of gum. This way, we can take a look back over our lists and see where small changes can be made. I could have stayed within my calories today if I hadn't mindlessly munched on those M&Ms in the break room, that's easy enough to cut out tomorrow. Or wow, I spent $20 on coffee this week, I'd better only buy coffee out once a week.

-The major finance experts say to pay yourself first; as soon as you receive a paycheck or pocket some money, immediately put some in savings and forget about it. This is the surest way to ensure that you will save and the money that's left over after your bills and rent are paid is what you have to play with. If it's not much, well at least you've got some money in the bank for tomorrow when your car breaks down, or the washer ruins all of your nice work clothes.

I think of exercise with the same concept. Exercise to me is like putting calories in the bank, to be used in an emergency. This ensures me that if I do happen to go over on my eating one day, I have some freebies stocked up since I've already burned them off with exercise. Then, if I stick to my allotted calorie amount every day, my 'extra' calories will build up and give me 'interest,' in that I'll be losing more weight. I'm investing in myself with exercise, just as I invest in myself with a 401K. When I'm having a difficult time convincing myself to get to the gym, thinking in these terms helps me because even if I go for just ten minutes, it's still that many extra calories I've earned for myself.

With a lifetime of thinking, analyzing, wishing and praying about weight loss, it can help to think of it in new terms, with a different type of outcome. If saving money doesn't obsess your mind as it does mine, perhaps there's another parallel you can draw from calories consumed vs. calories spent - whatever it takes to make those investments in yourself that will yield high interest benefits and improve the security of your future.