To lose is my gain

Since about July 24th, I have been on a diet. I have had a few days where I did not keep to it but for the most part I have been very good about sticking to it. The Ketogenic Diet. On the surface it seems easy enough. But there are some things you don't expect when you go on it. Let me attempt to sum up the diet quickly. It is basically a way to get your body to run on fat instead of carbohydrates. You lower the amount of carbohydrates you take in per day to an amount MOST people are not used to (I do 20 net carbs). You avoid sugar as much as possible. You keep the amount of protein that you consume to a minimal level (unless you are doing considerable weight lifting). Here is this part that is different, you make up for all these by increasing the amount of fat you consume in your food. This will help you to feel full. Sounds easy enough.

The problem is that we as a country have been hooked on sugar for a long time. It is so ingrained in the way we eat overall that you probably don't even realize how much sugar is in everything you consume. When you start looking at how many carbs are in the foods we take for granted, you start to see how it would be easy to gain weight or have a problem with sugar. I try to stay under 20 net carbs a day. A 12oz can of soda; 36 carbs. Things like this blew my mind. So if you drink a 24 oz soda, you would have 3 days worth of carbs on this diet. How full are you after drinking a bottle of soda?  It is crazy. What makes it harder, for me at least, is that I enjoy the foods with carbs. I enjoy a soda. Even though it is bad for me. I was fortunate because I gave up soda about a month before I started the Keto diet. I feel that would have been the biggest hurtle for me. Not to mention that I have a sweet tooth (much like others in my family). It makes it hard to go into a store when you are bombarded with choices that are filled to the brim with high fructose corn syrup or some other form of sweetener.

However, let me say that this diet DOES work. In the time that I write this, I have dropped 2 pants sizes and the current one is very loose on me. I am in the market for a new belt (or about to make new holes because I ran our of holes to tighten). I'm about half a size away from the next size down on my pants. I have had to pull clothes that I had planned to donate because they were too small so I would have some clothes that fit better. I do not sit hungry throughout the day (as with a lot of other diets). I do get hungry but I can go longer between meals. One day I had to work a lot of hours and visit sick relatives and I only ate at 7:00am not eating again until 1:00am the next night (about 18 hours) and only had water to drink. From what I have read, this diet will work even faster if I increased the amount of activity that I am able to do. This has been tricky due to taking the time not being very convenient.

So the next step in my improvement will be to increase my activity. I had attempted to run in the mornings at the end of the summer. This was working until I overdid it and hurt my foot. This got me out of the habit and caused me to not get started again. I have put together some things to make my own "backyard weight room"; a sledge hammer, a couple 5 gallon water jugs. I need to get some heavy chains and an old tractor tire which will give me plenty of stuff to work with. If you know where someone might acquire those for little to no money, please let me know. 

Old wisdom, new goals

I have began reading all kinds of books on finance and investing in an effort to educate myself about how money works and how are economy works. I am currently reading a book called The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. He gives a lot of information on things. Different chapters talking about different ways to save money or invest money. So far the most profound word of wisdom is also one of the oldest. I had always hear people quote "A penny saved is a penny earned." It was not until hearing an explanation of that statement in this book that it really hit home for me.

The example goes something like this. We will use easy figures just to make it easy to follow. Let's say you work and earn $100 before taxes. Then let's imagine that you only have to pay a 10% tax (without any deductions). So for the work you did you actually only earned $90 dollars when all is said and done. However, if you manage to save $100 dollars, then you have earned $100 tax free. That seems simple but I don't think we think about it. The book also talked about how Americans used to save 10% on average in the 70's were as 30 years later the were saving as little as 2%. That increased slightly during the Recession in 2008.

This information and common sense wisdom is something I want to try to adopt and apply more intentionally in my life. The blog that I am reading about this, Millennium Money, recommends trying to get the point where you are saving 20% or your after tax income. My first goal is to try to save up an "emergency" fund. I am trying to get to the 20% mark so that this account will grow faster and I can start investing beyond just a savings account. Trying to cut your spending by 20% is not an easy chore but that is my goal. Both the blog that I am reading about money as well as everything I know about changing and maintaining positive behaviors is that it has to be constant and gradual. I am hoping that my gradual and initially small changes will begin to add up over time.

Wish me luck! 

So we begin...

I am considered a millennial; my wife and me. We are on the very beginning of what is considered millennials. We are trying to do our best in when often it feels that we were not quite prepared for "REAL LIFE" as we thought and hoped to be. This is due in part to the fact that the time in which we are living has so many changes and differences, it is hard to predict what will be effective and since we live in a rural area of the world, many of our elders were not equipped to prepare us for an age were we are more connected and dependent on a global scale due to the new digital age. I have decided that I want to try to strive to do better in my lifestyle. I'm talking about a complete revitalization of mind, body, and interaction. I want to improve every way that I can. I want better relationships, better professional life, better spiritual practices, better physical well-being, as well and an improved financial situation. I am beginning this blog as a sort of journal to record my experience in the hopes that I can share and perhaps inspire others to do so as well. I am a 32 year-old working in an entry level job in the IT industry. I am working entry level because I just recently switched from human services job where I had been working with limited prospects of advancing. I also changed due to the strain on mental health which was also taking a physical toll on me. I am married and have one child currently. My wife teaches agriculture education.

I hope to share all the things we are doing, thinking, and trying to improve ourselves. If you have any ideas you think might help, feel free to send them to me in an email. I would love to hear about others who are looking to improve themselves in some way. The old saying goes, "Nobody is perfect." Accepting that truth does not mean we cannot continue to improve ourselves.