I’ve wanted to lose 10 pounds (~6% of physique weight) ever since I began Monetary Samurai in 2009. I’ve come shut, dropping 5 to 6 kilos in some years, however by no means fairly hitting the double digit objective. In consequence, for greater than 16 years, I failed to perform one thing that ought to have been easy, particularly for a supposedly rational economist and private finance nerd.
There have been even moments once I thought-about deliberately gaining a whole lot of weight simply to make shedding 10 kilos simpler. The thought felt much like racking up a ton of bank card debt to enjoy life to the fullest, then celebrating as soon as it was all paid off. I noticed individuals do that on-line and get praised like heroes.
As a substitute of intentionally gaining weight, I finally determined it was more healthy to simply shed pounds. And surprisingly, all it took was lastly making use of two financial rules: discount and substitution. As soon as I did, the burden got here off in six months.
The Fundamental Financial Precept of Discount
As the worth of a great rises, the amount consumed tends to fall. This relationship is clearly illustrated by the basic supply-and-demand curve.
If every meal prices $25 and I’ve $100 to spend on meals, I should purchase 4 meals. If the worth per meal rises to $33.34, that very same $100 solely buys three meals. With a set price range, the rational shopper should scale back consumption by about 25–30 %.
The place we get into bother financially is ignoring this precept. As a substitute of adjusting habits, we pay $134 for 4 meals, take in the upper value, after which complain about meals inflation.
A extra constructive response is to make use of greater costs as a forcing operate to eat much less. Fewer meals out will help us keep inside price range and, in lots of circumstances, enhance our well being as properly. Decrease spending and higher self-discipline is a win-win final result.
Sure, combatting inflation is straightforward however not straightforward. As traders, we have been capable of make good-looking returns in recent times, thereby making it simpler to splurge on meals. Nevertheless, as a rational economist, you modify your habits if you wish to change your final result.
We Ought to Have Consumed Much less Meals Throughout The Pandemic
Primarily based on the easy financial precept that greater costs ought to scale back consumption, I ought to have misplaced a ton of weight through the pandemic.
As a substitute, beginning in 2020, our meals spending climbed quickly as we ordered extra supply. On the time, it made sense. Supply saved time and lowered publicity threat, particularly since our daughter was born in December 2019 and had a still-fragile immune system.
The issue is that meals supply usually prices about 20% greater than selecting up the identical meal and roughly 50% greater than cooking at residence. With a new child and a three-and-a-half-year-old, we justified the premium as a needed time saver.
5 years later, we had been nonetheless ordering supply repeatedly. Not solely is it costly, however restaurant meals can also be usually much less wholesome, with greater ranges of added sugar and salt.
The Catalyst To Lastly Begin Dropping Weight: Much less Cash
To shed pounds, it helps to have a catalyst. Mine was spending five weeks with my parents in July 2025. My dad, who’s about six toes tall and weighs roughly 155 kilos, referred to as me chubby. Thanks dad. I fired again that he ought to placed on some weight and muscle.
However deep down, I knew I may stand to lose some weight. On the time, I used to be 5 foot ten and weighed 172 kilos. There’s nothing like going to Hawaii and having to take your shirt off on the seashore to make you confront extra weight. If you’re now not attempting to draw a mate, the pure tendency is to let your self go as a result of you have already got one.
As a result of we stayed with my dad and mom, we saved no less than $20,000 in lodging prices. Initially, I solely had meals and transportation bills to fret about. That modified as soon as I made a decision to remodel my parents in law unit. What I assumed would value $25,000 ended up costing $41,000. It was essentially the most cash I had spent in a four-week interval since reworking a previous residence from 2019 to 2022.
As I watched the payments pile up, I turned aware of each value round me. When bills rise, money move out there for every part else shrinks. And one of many few really versatile bills left was meals.
In consequence, I deliberately determined to spend much less on meals to enhance money move. For instance, as an alternative of spending $25 for an additional container of poke from Recent Catch, we made due with much less. The humorous factor is, in the long run, my dad and mom ended up footing 85% of the transform invoice. I simply did not count on them to, which is why I lowered my bills.
Associated: Everything Is Rational – The Answer To All Things Irrational
A Cautious Inspection Of Our Meals Finances
After we returned from Hawaii, I lastly examined our meals spending carefully and was surprised. We had been spending round $3,500 a month on meals for a household of 4.
Though I manage our investments and generate supplemental retirement earnings by way of this website and guide writing, I don’t actively handle our family bills.
In my head, I believed we had been spending round $2,500 a month on meals. Inflation that accelerated after 2021 modified every part. Although headline inflation has moderated, our meals prices are nonetheless roughly 40 % greater than they had been 5 years in the past.
Mentally, I used to be caught in a a lot earlier pricing period till I confronted the precise numbers. Inflation has a good way of sneaking up on us.
Including Substitution To Lose Weight
Anchoring to outdated worth reminiscences is why all of us ought to conduct a deep financial review at least once a year. What we keep in mind is commonly disconnected from current actuality.
This is similar anchoring mistake many older generations make once they say issues had been low-cost again of their day and that working more durable was all it took. They underestimate the compounding influence of inflation relative to wages.
As soon as I understood our true spending, my spouse and I created a month-to-month meals plan. Our goal was to return to $2,500 a month and save $1,000 a month whereas consuming more healthy. That meant consuming much less, but in addition substituting.
The largest substitution: going from meals supply to extra home-cooked meals.
Dwelling in San Francisco, a prime three meals metropolis within the nation, makes this more durable. We construct the know-how that makes meals supply handy. We’re additionally surrounded by lots of of fantastic eating places throughout each delicacies conceivable, all deliverable inside an hour.
In truth, I just lately found a restaurant referred to as Khao Tiew that serves the very best khao soi I’ve ever had. Sadly, when you add boneless beef quick rib and tax, the dish runs about $28 for pickup. So for now, I’ve changed it with $1.49 immediate ramen noodles and name it a lesson in self-discipline. Substitution child!
Write Out Your Causes For Wanting To Lose Weight
After operating by way of your price range and deciding how a lot to scale back and what to substitute, it is lastly time to put in writing out the explanation why you wish to shed pounds. As a result of after getting a why, you are able to do nearly something.
My causes are:
- Enhance money move by $1,000 a month as I put together for tougher times ahead due to AI.
- Cut back whole ldl cholesterol by 50 factors earlier than my subsequent bodily in six months.
- Keep trim like my dad so I can reside to age 80+ and have my youngsters go to me with hugs and kisses like once they had been younger.
- Cut back influence on my knees and joints when enjoying helps with the intention to really feel higher every single day.
- Proceed becoming into the identical garments I’ve worn for the previous 25 years, saving cash and sparing myself the time and annoyance of buying new ones.
The Closing Monetary Kick within the Rear to Lose Weight
By mid-October, three months in, my weight dropped from 173 kilos to 168 kilos. I felt good concerning the progress as a result of I used to be now not simply shedding water weight. It felt actual.
Then Business Insider got here by to interview me about saving cash whereas elevating a household. Once I noticed myself on digital camera, I felt newly motivated to maintain dropping pounds. The saying is true: the digital camera actually does add 10 kilos.
After the video got here out, I may immediately empathize with actors and celebrities who obsess over health, weight-loss medicine, beauty procedures, and excessive diets. When your picture impacts your livelihood and future alternatives, the strain to look your finest is intense and comprehensible.
The expertise additionally bolstered my need to not pursue video to not fall into the lure of exterior validation. So it’s again to writing and podcasting for me, the place the main target is on concepts fairly than appearances. However if you need motivation to shed pounds, movie your self and watch it.
Thank Goodness For Greater Meals Costs
If meals costs had been falling, meals consumption would logically rise. Good meals is tough to withstand. However once I watched my favourite steak on the grocery store go from $28 a pound to $32 after which $39, I finished shopping for it. First I substituted with $12 cheeseburgers. Then I started decreasing the consumption of meat altogether.
As supply charges and menu costs climbed, opting out altogether turned easier. Meals that after value beneath $85 for our household of 4 now routinely exceed $140. At that time, rice porridge with rooster and cabbage for $15 protecting two days sounded nice.
Now that I’m used to a flatter abdomen, I’ve no need to return. My endurance on the court docket has improved and I really feel fitter general. As Steven Tyler as soon as mentioned, “nothing tastes nearly as good as skinny feels.”
Though paying extra for meals is disagreeable, I’m oddly grateful. For too lengthy, I lived comfortably with out scrutinizing my meals spending and ate no matter I wished. That is the issue with residing in America given there may be an abundance of every part.
By consuming much less, I not solely misplaced weight but in addition improved my monetary self-discipline. Possibly I’ll even attain 155 kilos in the future, like I used to be in highschool, and reside to 80 like my dad.
Who am I kidding? 155 kilos is simply too gentle. I’m glad staying round 165 kilos, plus or minus two, for the remainder of my life. Combat on!
Readers, have you ever adjusted your consumption or substituted away from greater priced meals as costs surged? How have your habits modified for the reason that pandemic? Are you a rational economist and PF nerd who adjusts habits to costs?
Options For A Higher Life
Finally, the objective of dropping pounds is to really feel more healthy and reside longer. Whether or not you succeed or not, you possibly can no less than defend your loved ones with an reasonably priced life insurance coverage coverage by way of Policygenius. My spouse and I each secured matching 20 yr time period life insurance coverage insurance policies through the pandemic to guard our two younger kids, and as soon as we did, an amazing quantity of economic fear disappeared.
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For background, I used to be an Economics main at The Faculty of William and Mary and have all the time beloved the topic. If I had not gone into equities, I seemingly would have pursued fastened earnings as an alternative. The one most necessary financial indicator I observe is the ten yr bond yield. The danger free charge tells us an infinite quantity about development, inflation expectations, and threat.
