The Food Budget

I used to think a budget was only a good financial tool. We would know what money was coming in and then spend it on paper as Ramsey says. We knew which months were more expensive and which months less money was coming in and we'd budget accordingly. Early on we used credit cards to get us through those pinches but today we've gotten better at budgeting so we don't need the credit cards (though the pinches sometimes still come!). When the money ran out, it ran out.

Well, you'd think I'd translate that same thinking to my diet, but I didn't. I love food. And drink. And food and drink. And for years I didn't have to pay too much attention to what I ate or drink because it didn't matter. I don't mean that flipantly- it really didn't matter- I could pretty much eat and drink whatever I wanted and not pay too much attention and as long as I was moderately active, I didn't gain weight and felt pretty good.

Well, that's changed. Blame the kids, blame me being stuck in the middle of my 30s, blame whatever, but my lack of a budget caught up with me. Clothes not fitting ok, energy sapping a bit, you get the idea. So I realized that just like I can't spend whatever I want, I also can't eat whatever I want. Brilliant, hunh?!? I've begun a food budget with the help of an online tool. It tracks my calories, has access to almost everything I eat, counts my excercise, and measures my progress. Again, brilliant. Doing this has done a couple things:

1. Counting my calories make me conscious of how much food 'costs' me. For example, I love both sweets and pop, but can't do both if I want to drop a few lbs, so I've cut out pop (and almost every other beverage except water and black coffee) because it's too expensive.


2. Logging in each day keeps me accountable. Sure, I blew off of my birthday and a daywith the fam up in Fargo, but I was able to do that because I had been pretty conscious leading up to and after those events.

Interesting, but I would think that similar thinking would apply to other areas, whether money, food, spiritual life, etc.