What does budgeting have to do with dieting? For me, everything!

This past week, I’ve been counting my calories, and not only have I not struggled with reducing my calorie intake, last night I actually ate an evening snack when I wasn’t truly hungry just to increase my total caloric intake for the day. According to a calorie counter, I typically took in 2300 calories per day, so I was aiming for 1800 or less, so that I could lose about a pound per week. If I could get down to 1300 calories per day (which seemed so far-fetched), then I’d lose about two pounds per week. Well, just by counting my calories and thinking what I was eating, I have eaten about 1300 calories per day, plus I’ve exercised more than typical (one video per day), and have lost about 3 pounds this week!

There’s something about stopping before eating and really thinking, “I have only 1300 calories every day to eat, so if I eat these cookies that are 300 calories, that just leaves me 1000 calories for everything else–breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any other snack.” For me, that’s just not worth it! Before, I wouldn’t have thought twice–it looked good, it smelled good, or I knew it tasted good and wanted to try it again, and I would have just eaten it.

It’s like trying to live within your income–if after you pay all of your necessary expenses (food, shelter, utilities, transportation) and other bills, you have $100 per month to live on, should you really buy a Nintendo Wii for $500, just because you want it? If you don’t have the money, you’ll have to put it on the credit card and pay for it later. That’s like what I’ve done with my weight–I didn’t have the calories in my diet but I ate it anyway, and I gained weight. I’m paying for it now. Now I have to live on fewer calories, because I’m working off my “debt”–my weight. And just as with money, you can either make more or spend less (or both), so with your weight–you can eat less or exercise more (or both). But change will not come just by wishing for it.