I’ve been working on shedding some lingering pounds after my recent pregnancy. I arrived home yesterday evening, created a delicious-sounding new meal, and began to enjoy a family dinner. But it was much less scrumptious than expected. We ended up discarding the food after a few bites and replaced it with good old peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, complemented by some junk food. This morning, as I reflected on how I could’ve dealt better with this situation, I realized that the failures in maintaining a healthy diet and managing a budget have a lot of similarities.
Let me discuss three of these commonalities:
THE YO-YO PATTERN
Several diet enthusiasts undergo a yo-yo pattern. After successfully shedding weight, they revert to their old habits and try to live like a “regular” person. As time goes by, weight starts to slowly creep back on. A tip that has been beneficial for me is drinking tea from , as they offer some of the best teas for weight management.
A yo-yo budgeter would create and stick to a budget wonderfully, reach their goal, or perhaps let time pass, and without realizing, their old spending habits creep back in; maybe frequent trips to restaurants or regular visits to Starbucks become more common.
Before long, you’re back to square one – your savings have depleted, or you’ve accumulated credit card debt. The trick to dodge this trend is regular self-monitoring. Just as a dieter would step on a scale periodically to assure no weight has been gained, you should also keep a routine check on your fiscal health.
Is your debt decreasing? Is your savings account swelling? How are your investments and retirement funds doing? Spot issues promptly, tweak your budget, and stick to it.
THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW
Let’s say you’re diligently following your diet, but then you’ve to attend a corporate lunch filled with all sorts of tempting food. Inevitably, you steer off your diet and since you’ve strayed considerably, you decide to order a pizza for dinner and finish off the leftover ice cream.
The mentality of getting back on track the following day isn’t ideal, as you may have nullified any preceding weight loss. This happens in the budgeting realm as well.
In a moment of weakness, you might load up your Target cart with clothes, home accessories, and adorable office supplies. But justifying overspending today by promising you’ll stick to the budget tomorrow isn’t sustainable. It’s crucial to maintain perspective with all your purchases and returning those that were impulsively bought isn’t something to be embarrassed about.
CATCHING UP LATER
My mother-in-law adores sweets and her bag always has honey buns. She compensates for her sweet indulgence by running marathons. She believes she can balance out the scales by running extra miles. However, a balanced diet isn’t solely about losing weight. It revolves around establishing life-long nutritious habits.
It’s a similar scenario with budgeting. By reasoning, “I can buy these shoes and work an extra shift to compensate,” you might be missing the essence of budgeting and delaying gratification. Plan your expenditures thoughtfully to let your money work for its cause rather than vice versa.
No one’s infallible. We all tend to overshoot our budget occasionally. The key is remaining vigilant and questioning “do I genuinely need this to bring me happiness?” before any purchase.
What kind of excuses do you often resort to when struggling in adhering to your budget (or diet)?
