Category Archives: Health

Getting Paid To Lose Weight

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Working Out

Many companies are starting to encourage their employees to improve their health.  First they restricted smoking in the office and now many are focusing on the overweight crowd.  Where I work, I’m excited to say that I’m going to get paid to lose weight!  Bonus!

While it’s only a few hundred dollars, it’s perfect for me because I wanted to lose weight anyway.  The thought process by employers is that a healthy employee is a more productive employee!  They are more productive because they are sick less and think better when they are in shape!  I know that this is true in my particular case!

So since I’m now getting paid to lose weight, I decided to create a diet and exercise journal that I will post every Friday.  After a shopping run for the needed foods for my diet and a quick design of the journal spreadsheet, next Friday, I’ll post my results.

Okay, One Problem!

When people go on a diet or start to workout, they usually spend more than if they weren’t on a diet.  For example, both Weight Watchers and a gym memberships add to the cost of getting healthy.  My goal during this process is not only to lose weight, but also to spend less money than I would if I weren’t trying to lose weight!

An alternative goal of mine is to make money off of this diet/exercise process by spending less on food.  This is another way that I will indirectly get paid to lose weight.  I expect that I’ll save more money by spending less on food than what my company will pay me if I meet my weight loss goal.

My Process

Basically it’s a simple routine!  I’m going to eat food like eggs, brocolli, beans, oatmeal and other cheap but healthy foods.  As for working out, I’m going to start out with just situps, pushups, and a leg exercise.

My Current Weight

As of today, I’m 5′ 10″ and I weight 247 lbs.

I think it should be pretty interesting seeing my progress on the amount I save in food expenses vs my regular spending.

-MR

Get Healthy!

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After going to a high school football game with my family, I now realize that I need to get healthy!

Why?  Because I noticed that many of the other parents were both thinner and healthier than I was, so right there and then, I decided to “Get Healthy“! 

Actually the reasons I want to “get healthy” are more complex that the one above, but it is the one that broke the camel’s back!  Other stronger reasons include: wanting to be around for when my kids grow up, living a more fulfilling lifestyle, looking better so my kids get older they won’t be ebarrassed to be see out in public with me (lol) and the list goes on and on.  So there are really many reasons I want to lose weight!

Getting Healthy doesn’t really require a formalized, overly complex plan.  In fact, one way to get healthy is just to stop eating as much!  It doesn’t get much simpler than that!  I know a peer at work that loved to cook, he lost over 100 pound by eating all the great things that he cooked, but he just ate less in quantity!

So as a financial blogger, what is my frugal plan to “Get Healthy”?

I’m going to start by going on a low carb diet!  From experience, I know that by going on such a diet, I can lose somewhere between 10 to 20 pounds in the first 2 weeks, just by cutting out the carbs (carbs are foods with a high carbohydrate number; like sugar, breads, pasta, etc.)!

After the first 2 weeks have passed, then I can add additional elements into the mix to “get healthy“.  Below is a list the changing steps:

  • Week 3 and week 4:  Add some carb friendly vegetables (brocoli, and greens) to the diet.
  • Next 12 to 24 months:  All of the above, plus the addition of walking and other light workout activities for a total workout time of 20 to 30 minutes a day.
  • Time after 2 years:  All of the above, but trying to make the workout even more entertaining!  Go hiking, swimming, bike riding, jogging, walking at the mall and parks (it’s not just for the very old), etc…  You are only restricted by your own imagination here!

The key is to make the workout activities as entertaining as possible.  So if you are working out with weights, listen to some motivating music to help get your blood pumping.  If you are walking, listen to music on a mp3 player or better yet, listen to an audiobook while you walk.  I’m betting that if you listen to a good audiobook that, you may even walk, ride a bike or go hiking for an even longer time frame!

Conclusion:

The plan I’m going to follow above is a guideline.  It doesn’t have to be perfect!  The most important thing from this post is that you need to start right now!  No more procrastinating on this because start tomorrow might extent to weeks, months, years and until never!  Never is way too late!!!

Can you think of any additional ways to make losing weight both fun and rewarding?

-MR

Money Drain – Beware of Small Town Dentists

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My family thought we found the perfect dentist! 

His office was really a Victorian home that was converted into a dentist office.  It was a clean office with new equipment that looked great!  During the visits, he was nice and would always talk to his assistant and me talking about his trip to other countries or other fun vacations like Disney.  The dentists hygienists all were friendly and attractive.

Sound like the perfect dentist?  Well he wasn’t, and here’s why:

  • My city (it’s just a little bigger than a town) is small, much to small to afford the lifestyle of this dentist.
  • He was taking way to many vacations for a small city dentist.
  • Every checkup it seemed that I needed to scheduled to have some type of work done for the next visit.
  • He kept trying to convince me to get crowns for some of my teeth.
  • He tried to get my wife to do crowns too, and her were molars.
  • He wanted to do major work on our kids, while they had their baby teeth still in.

My wife took the kids to a different dentist, and he said they didn’t need the work, and especially now at such a young age.  The new dentist also said that my wife didn’t really need a crown.  I stayed with my this dentist…  big mistake!

The turning point for me was when my dentist removed all of my old filling in a tooth, but not actually fixing the slow cavity on the side of the tooth.  The way in which he fixed my tooth was brutual, I actually saw pieces flying out of my mouth!  The integrity of the tooth is now very poor, I have problems eating peanuts and many food now…

Learn from my mistakes, and don’t be afraid to ask your dentist questions!  Since my experience, I’ve talked to other people that have had similar experiences with the dentist that I previously went to.  I have one buddy at work that went to him and my old dentist was pushing for him to get a crown for a molar too.

If you suspect a dentist is using you as a cash cow, ask him to show you why he wants to do what he claims!  After all, it’s your teeth in addition to your money!

-MR