How much would you pay to lose 10 pounds (about 4.5 kilograms)?

This question has come to my mind, as I am trying get in better shape. I’m noticing that what was once easy – getting back in shape and losing weight quickly while keeping it off – is a bit harder as I knock on the doorstep of 40 years old.

We all know that there aren’t any shortcuts to getting in shape.  You need to eat well, and you need to exercise. It doesn’t require extreme behavior, such as eating zero restaurant meals for 12 months, or exercising 2 hours a day, 7 days a week for months on end. It does, however, require a certain level of persistent effort and discipline over a given period of time to make a lasting impact. Losing 10 pounds

That persistent effort and discipline I just mentioned would probably mean behavioral changes, if someone is trying to get in shape. After all, it’s likely that some less than optimal behaviors contributed to getting out of shape in the first place, right?

Those behavior changes aren’t always simple to undertake. There can be inertia and resistance to change. We may like our existing behaviors, even though we know we could make better choices.

That’s where my question comes in. Taking all of this into consideration: How much would you pay to lose 10 pounds?

I’m not talking about losing it over time. Rather, I’m talking about  purely hypothetical scenario where you could – presto! – instantly get into get into better shape.Lose the 10 pounds, and get all the associated positive effects that the exercise would have provided to you: more energy, improved cardiovascular endurance, improved muscle strength, etc.

This type of deal doesn’t exist. But if it did, how much would you pay right now to make that happen? Keep in mind: once you pay, you get the benefits instantly.

Once you have answered that question, please consider this follow-up question: If you found out that you were going to instantly gain 10 pounds – the reverse of the previous example – how much would you pay to avoid that? In this case, keep in mind that if you didn’t pay, you would instantly and unavoidably gain weight and get out of shape.

Do your answers to the two questions differ?

It’s interesting to think about this in the context of how important our health is to us, and how we would trade money for better health. To me, it’s a way of demonstrating how ultimately, no matter how much money we accumulate, it loses some value if we don’t have the other important things in life – such as our health.

This week marks the 13th anniversary of the bite felt around the world. In 1997, Mike Tyson - while doing battle with Evander Holyfield in a heavyweight championship boxing match - apparently decided to do more than punch. He opened his mouth, and bit his opponent’s ear. Ouch.

Now, in honor of taking a big bite out of things in a different, how about taking a big bite out of your expenses?

One great way to do that is to watch what you bite and chew. Really.

Sure, you could get free food at work, or food via paid market research studies. But what I’m getting at is the idea of eating homemade meals vs food prepared outside.  Buying groceries and cooking at home or taking food to work can save a lot of money over eating a restaurant meal, or lunch from your workplace cafeteria.

Here’s an example:

For breakfast, I had previously eaten on the go while driving to work, or purchased food in my company’s cafeteria. Eating on the go, I would typically get a bagel and cream cheese. I recall this costing somewhere around $1.50 at the time. Or, I would buy oatmeal from the company cafeteria. I recall this being sold for approximately $0.70.

Let’s assume that I got a bagel 3 times per week, and oatmeal at work 2 times per week. That’s $5.90 per work week for breakfast. With the bagel and cream cheese, it’s not the most nutritious either.

Now, let’s assume that I ate oatmeal at home, or filled a bowl with hot water at work. This cost me just $0.09. When multiplied by 5, it results in a weekly cost of $0.45. Now, if I loaded it with extra nutrition by adding a banana, flaxseed, and blueberries, the cost would be $0.74 per day. That’s just $3.70 per work week for a frugal and healthy breakfast.

$5.90 vs. $3.70 – it’s an easy choice, especially when the latter option is a better way to start the day. That’s a $2.20 per week impact – totaling $105.60 assuming 48 working weeks per year.

That’s $105.60 saved by 9:00am, and we haven’t even talked about:

• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snacks
• Drinks

It just takes a few different choices to be made, and the savings add up. There is much power in substitution, especially when it comes to food.

On top of this, we can consider the long-term benefits that a healthy diet will provide by putting you in a position to spend less on medical issues.

All told, you could save your family thousands per year by making smart food choices. Not a bad way to bite into your expenses, and grow that income minus expense gap!

Have you made any changes to your food consumption that have resulted in savings? If not, do you know where you could be saving – but just haven’t done it yet?

This article was included in the Festival of Frugality at Funny About Money

Do you ever skip breakfast?

If so, congratulations! You’re eating the ultimate frugal breakfast: a breakfast of nothing!

Of course, while that might be a nice frugal victory, we all know that we shouldn’t skip breakfast. It’s very often described as the most important meal of the day. When you eat breakfast, you’re literally breaking the “fast” that took place while you were sleeping. You consumed no nutrients since the prior day, so your body needs to be nourished to get a new day started on the right foot.

It has been shown that people who skip breakfast, and make up for it later in the day, tend to consume more food later when they eat. Additionally, when hungry, they tend to be more likely to eat higher-calorie, less-nutritious food as well.  Furthermore, without breakfast, we just don’t have the right energy in the morning to optimize our health and attitude as we get the day going.

Ok, so we know that we must eat breakfast. But how can we do it cheaply, and nutritiously?

For me, the choice is oatmeal. Now, I have to say that I never grew up eating oatmeal. I ate more of the processed, sugary cereals that line supermarket shelves than I probably should have. Let’s chalk that up to the ways of the 1970′s and 1980′s (I just can’t blame my Mom and Dad!). 

These days, however, it’s almost like a habit to start the day with oatmeal. While I occasionally have a homemade, nutritious smoothie, it’s oatmeal that’s usually for breakfast.

Why oatmeal? Well, besides tasting good (at least to many of us), oatmeal has the following 3 big benefits:

1) Helps you lose weight by controlling cravings

2) Helps reduce LDL cholesterol

3) Is good for diabetics, as it slows the digestion of starch

4) Provides a good source of protein, fiber, and nutrients

And here’s the part that’s exciting to the frugally-oriented:  it’s very inexpensive.

I recently bought a canister of quick oats, in a non-name brand version, and paid $0.99 for 16 ounces. This comes out to about 11 servings of 1/2 dry cup of oats, which represents exactly how much I have in the morning.

Basic math tells me that I paid $0.09 for my morning serving of oatmeal. That’s it. Nine cents!

Now, I do like to doctor up the oatmeal a bit, and supercharge it with additional nutrients. I usually, depending on the day, add one, two, or all three of the following:

• 1/2 tbsp flaxseed – cost $0.04
• 3 strawberries – cost $0.40
• 1 banana – cost $0.20
• Sprinkle of cinnamon – cost $0.01

The total cost of this breakfast ranges from $0.09 for the basic version to $0.74 for the fully-loaded version.

It’s been a great way to start the day for me, as I’m getting nutrition and doing it at a reasonable cost – without too much prep time.

What about you? Do you have any breakfast favorites that are both quick and relatively nutritious, that would appeal to the frugally-oriented among us?

This article was included in Festival of Frugality #233 at Learn Save Invest

Most people who grew up in the US have heard the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Good advice, as apples are certainly healthy! More importantly, if you are hungry and want a snack, an apple is better than a bag of potato chips. It’s a healthier substitute.

Here is the nutritional comparison:

Apple (medium, 5.5oz): 90 calories, 0 grams of fat, 2 mg sodium, 5 grams of fiber
Chips (1 oz bag): 150 calories, 10 grams of fat, 180mg sodium, 1 gram of fiber

So, if you make your daily snack an apple instead of a bag of chips, you will consume 60 fewer calories per day. This is despite the apple being a more dense food, at 5.5oz vs. 1.0oz for the chips. Over the course of one year, that’s 21,900 calories saved. If you estimate 3500 calories = 1 pound, you could lose about 6.25 pounds over the course of the year by eating an apple instead of a bag of chips as your daily snack (holding everything else constant, of course).

What about applying this “apple a day” principle to the realm of personal finance? Well, lets take a look at an apple vs. a bag of potato chips based on direct costs. Assume supermarket purchase for the apple and convenience store purchase for the chips:

Apple (medium, 5.5oz): about $0.35 each
Chips (1 oz bag): about $0.75 each

So, if you make your daily snack an apple instead of a bag of chips, you will save 40 cents per day. Again, this despite the apple being a more dense food as well as more nutritious. Over the course of the one year, that’s $146 saved.

In my opinion, that’s a lot of money for a simple choice that’s better for you anyway. More importantly, it speaks to the savings one can generate from making a simple substitution. Just one of these a day could make a nice impact on your checkbook. What’s great is that so many of these substitutions involve bringing in a new choice that’s either a) not materially different from the alternative, or b) much better for you in terms of your health. When you add up all the accumulated benefits from these

Here are some examples of substitution choices in various purchase categories, and their cost savings:

These 10 substitutions, not out of the realm of possibility for a middle-class American family, can save sizeable dollars individually and in aggregate. These are simply examples. Each of us has a different life, and different choices which provide different substitution opportunities. The point is that we all have the opportunity to save quite a bit if we just apply discipline in a few decisions here and there that don’t have a tremendous impact on our overall lives.

Going back to this example, if you take $3,691.25 and multiply it by 20 to get your 20 year savings, you get $73,825. This could pay off a home loan or get your kid through college, avoiding student debt. All for making a few simple, relatively painless substitutions.

And as we know from the HWR framework, the quality of each of our lives is impacted by the health, wealth, and relationship working together and influencing each other. Besides, as I mentioned, an apple a day can keep the doctor away, so some of these substitutions are actually helpful to your life!

This post was included at Money Hacks Carnival #114 at Nerd Wallet.