Budgeting for weight loss
Think back to a time that you wanted something really badly, but you didn’t have enough money. It may have even been something that prompted you to get your first job. You had a goal of how much money you needed, and you started saving. Finally, you had enough, and you were able to get your item one day.
It may have been a few months or maybe even years, but you had a goal and you saw it through. This same approach to saving and budgeting can be applied to losing weight and eating healthier.
The Budget Model
Just like you would calculate your monthly, weekly, and daily budget you can do the same with calories and macronutrients. Calculating how many calories your body needs on a daily basis can be viewed as how much money you earn daily.
For example, if your metabolic rate is about 2,000 calories per day, this can be thought as your daily income.
Eating can be viewed the same as spending money. Think of calories as money. When you eat you are spending your daily calories. If you were to spend all the calories, you are budgeted for in one day you would not gain or lose weight. In the case of money, if you spent what you earned daily you would never save money or go into debt.
Applying it to weight loss
Now that we can view your metabolic rate as your daily income and eating food (calories) as spending money we can look at applying this model to losing weight.
Before we jump more into this, you have to view your savings account as your intended weight to lose. If you plan on losing 50 pounds, this is your goal savings amount. 1 pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories so your goal savings would have to be 175,000 calories.
When you decide to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than your body needs on a daily basis. A good place to start is to reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 calories from your calculated metabolic rate. Returning to the previous example of 2,000 calories, you would now have to consume less than 1,500 calories each day to lose weight.
This can be viewed the same as saving money. You are now eating 1,500 calories each day and are saving 500 of your total 2,000 calorie budget. Those saved 500 calories go toward that savings amount of 175,000 calories.
There may be days that you may feel like eating more or crave some high calorie foods. You may be good about avoiding them at first and sticking with your calorie budget but at one point you may cave and dig in.
This also happens when we try to save money. We are bombarded with ads and marketing on a daily basis. Not a day goes by that we aren’t shown something that we may want to buy. Just like when you cave in and eat that dessert, you cave in and buy that t-shirt, TV, or newest outdoor gear.
An occasional purchase will not break your savings account, but too many purchases add up and you can quickly go from having savings to being in debt.
The same can be applied to eating. When you allow yourself to eat an occasional treat that puts you above your daily calorie budget, you add to your debt. When your debt exceeds your daily calorie budget more often than you stay under it, you start to gain weight.
Applying this budget concept to your weight loss plan will allow you to take more control over what is worth eating. When you have a budget of 1,500 calories per day and you already consumed 1,000 calories at breakfast, there’s not much left for the rest of the day.
This may cause you to rethink the value of that donut and extra-large caramel latte you had on the way to work.
The Takeaway
Applying the same concepts of making a budget and creating a plan to save money can be utilized for weight loss and maintaining weight. Apply these concepts towards planning your weight loss budget plan:
Your metabolic rate is your daily income
The weight you want to lose is your planned savings amount
The calculated calorie intake to lose weight is your daily budget
Gaining weight is the same as going into debt
If you exceed your daily calorie budget too often, you will stop losing weight or start to gain weight
Make a daily calorie budget plan to help plan out your day and prevent overspending
If you would like help applying the budget method to achieve your weight loss goal, contact me at adamskowyra@dietitian2go.net or schedule your free consultation to get started today!
Written by: Adam Skowyra MPPD, RDN, LD
