Save Money And Lose Weight Today
Undoubtedly, many folk’s New Year’s resolutions this year will involve one of two things: losing those unwanted pounds or saving money to help payoff debt. What if I told you I had a good way that you could do both things at the same time?
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – The Background
This idea all started with my wife and I trying to lose some weight. I created a New Year’s resolution to try and get a six-pack and my wife has been talking about trying to lose weight for a while now. We had previously done P90X
Well, with two careers, young kids involved in activities, attending MBA classes, and running this blog, we didn’t feel like we had time to give P90X our 100% commitment for another go-round. That’s when I ran across the book The 4-Hour Body
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – What Were We Missing?
One section in The 4-Hour Body discusses the “slow carb” diet. In it, Tim talks about the key to getting a six-pack is reducing your % body fat, not really working out your abs! He also discusses that for some people, they can work out for hours a day and not really see results in terms of weight loss. This fit my wife’s description almost exactly. She could do 30-45 minutes a day on the stationary exercise bike and not really see much in the way of results. The trick was that we needed to adjust our diet.
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – The Slow Carb Diet
The slow carb diet presented in The 4-Hour Body basically consists of eating minimal/no carbs, sugars, etc. for six days a week. Only foods high in protein, vegetables, beans, and nuts are allowed. Then, on the seventh day, you can eat literally whatever you want and as much as you want. That’s about it… it isn’t very complicated, but sticking to it at first was a bit of a challenge for both of us.
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – The Results
We’ve been on the slow carb diet for a little more than two months and we’re really starting to see great results. My wife has lost about 6 lbs and looks healthier than ever. I don’t have a six-pack yet, but I am looking more trim and feeling better every day. I can definitely see how this type of diet will get us both where we’d like to be.
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – What About Saving Money?
Oh yeah, I almost forgot 🙂 One of the best parts about the whole change in our diet is that we’re saving a ton of money at the same time!!! Because our diet consists mostly of chicken, fish, beans, vegetables, nuts, and eggs, our grocery bills are way less than in the past. The slow carb diet has also helped to keep our eating out at restaurants expense much lower each month. Because you know you’re on a diet six days a week, we’re less inclined to “waste” money going out to eat when we know that most restaurants won’t have good choices that will work for us. This limits the days we can go out to eat to only four a month! So, savings are basically engineered into our lives!
Save Money and Lose Weight Today – Final Thoughts
What’s not to love about this slow card diet? We’re eating more healthy, losing weight, and saving money all at the same time. If you haven’t heard of this diet before and it sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out The 4-Hour Body today or head over to Tim’s webiste: www.fourhourbody.com
Genius! It’s so cool to read that you and your wife are in this together 🙂 I decided to go vegetarian about 2 years into dating my now-husband. He was a trooper! Now, the only time he’s not vegetarian is when he’s eating meals without me (which isn’t a whole lot of time!)
We are strong advocates of eating healthy – and our grocery bill, with juicing vegetables and our meals – are A LOT CHEAPER! 🙂
I will pick up the book to get extra tips we can use in our daily lives – we’re very open to all ideas to get healthier and save more money! Cheers!!
Anneli @thefrugalweds recently posted…7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t be Churning Credit Cards
Anneli,
Thanks for stopping by! I think having a partner going through the same challenges as you definitely makes it easier to keep motivated. My biggest win so far is rediscovering eggs. They are great for protein, and they are really cheap 🙂
I’ve also found it a bit easier to eat healthier and lose some weight when you do it with a partner – especially your significant other. If you eat together, having only one person trying to make changes doesn’t work very well. If you’re looking to lose some weight, diet is more effective than exercising – after all you can’t out exercise bad eating habits. But total health does require both. wishing both of you continued success and looking forward to an update in the future!
Brock @cleverdude recently posted…Starting My Investment Portfolio Using Fee Free Loyal3
Brock,
So true, and thanks for the words of encouragement. I’m trying to do a little exercise also vs. just eating better 🙂
Hi Derek, I also read this book and a lot of Tim Ferriss’ stuff. I love the way that he is always looking at things differently from conventional wisdom.
I’ve used the slow-carb diet myself for about 5 months and have had a lot of success. I think the concept of “cheat days” helps get over the mental hurdles of removing things like white carbs and sugar. It gives you something to look forward to while still staying committed.
Good luck to you and your wife on this. I think you’ll be happy with the results!
Michael@Save-Invest-Grow recently posted…Defining What Financial Independence Means to You
Michael,
Thanks for stopping by! We’ve been at it about 3 months now and we’re definitely seeing results. I love the cheat days too, but I always feel really bad at the end of the day when I’m stuffed 🙂 Thanks for the kind wishes!!
It’s great that the slow-carb diet is working for you both and saving some money in your pockets! We eat pretty healthy when we eat at home, but our main struggle has been eating out. Since we are being more strict with our budget and curbing the eating out, it has made a big difference in our financial and health goals as well.
Sher@KNSFinancial recently posted…7 Ways to Become a Saver – Even if You’ve Never Been One Before
Sher,
Awesome! We are getting the same results, but in reverse 🙂 The healthier diet mindset is causing us to eat out less, whereas eating out less is causing you to be more healthy. As you pointed out, the best part is we’re both saving money!
Thanks for this awesome tips! I badly needed to trim down and remove some fats. I tried to eat more vegetables and less meat especially pork.
Clarisse,
No problem – good luck on your journey to eat more healthy foods. We generally try to stick with chicken and fish for our “meat.” Thanks for stopping by!
I love doing free activities to lose weight.. particularly running. Now that the snow is finally melting here (I’m in Canada) my legs are ITCHING to get out and run off all the weight I put on over winter (particularly over the holidays!)
I’ll check out the 4hr body.. sounds like my style!
Bridget recently posted…Frugal Find: The Fault In Our Stars
Bridget,
Thanks for stopping by! That 4 hour Body book is pretty good, but there are a couple of very strange topics that it covers. You’ll see what I mean when you check it out 🙂
I save money by cooking meals and eating healthy.
Great to hear Grace! Cooking you own meals does save a ton of money over the long run!