Year 2 Week 26 Day 1

What a difference a week makes.

The new plan is in effect, the mix of diet focus and money concerns combine for a more frugal overall outlook.

I also looked at the live blog and altered the format slightly.

As a final motivator, I have photos of me at 310 lbs that I will post if I don't manage to get to 250 by Year 3 Week 25 so let's all hope I make it because no one wants those photos in public.

Here are the numbers:

Weights and Measures:
	Weight	Blood P.	Hips	Gut	Chest	Neck	Pulse
End Goal	200.00	110/70	38.00	36.00	42.00	16.00	60.00
Last Week	310.60	137/87	48.00	53.75	55.50	19.00	77.00
This Week	300.40	142/95	47.25	53.50	54.75	18.50	77.00
Change	(10.20)	+5/+8	(0.75)	(0.25)	(0.75)	(0.50)	-
To Goal:	(100.40)	-32/-25	(9.25)	(17.50)	(12.75)	(2.50)	(17.00)

Big drop this week in pounds, still a little over a hundred to lose in two years and fifty one weeks. The goal for next week is 299.4 lbs. Not thrilled with the BP but I'll blame it on the weather. Trimmed back the measures because other than me, I don't think most people notice wrist or ankle widths. Everybody loves hips, gut and chest though and neck is still favored over number of chins.

Some of these results can be explained by:

Exercise:

Pass

Mon.

Tues.

Weds.

Thurs.

Fri.

Sat.

Sun.

Goal

Actual

Fail

Bike-AM

x

x

x

5

3

Fail

Weights

x

x

x

x

x

5

5

Pass

Pilates

3

0

Fail

Bike-PM

x

3

1

Fail

Walk-PM

3

0

Fail

 

I'm going to change the Bike to just 5 with no AM/PM distinctions, but otherwise a positive trend. It's been HOT so walking to the mailbox after work is crazy. Gotta try harder to walk on a Sat and Sun morning though. I've gotten all the way to the intro scenes on the Pilates DVD so I am close to actually trying it.

I'll save the financials for next week but the debt went up a little bit because the credit cards closed and posted finance charges but most of the payments aren't due until next month. The actual to budget for June will be bad because most of the changes won't be felt until July's results are run.

Otherwise I have been trying to convince myself that I can afford to keep cable, but the numbers just aren't there.

So focus for the week is getting in the aerobics and checking the automatic payments to correct for credit cards that are being closed. It's going to be a tight two weeks.

Later,

Year 2 Week 25 Day 1

Plan 2.0

So the one year anniversary comes and this has been rough.

I want to whine about my Dad being dead over this first Father's Day since his coma to death Spring/Summer of last year and how pure brutal it was to watch all the advertising for Father's Day gifts all over the place. I just wasn't in a good place.

So the straight number is 310.6 and holy guacamole that is 6.6 POUNDS heavier than last week.

But we are resetting and getting a whole new back on track.

First of all, I've revamped the basic concept. No more Monday to Friday measures. Everything happens on Mondays now.

Second of all, no more just the weight focusing measurements. This is a life change so we'll be doing life tracking.

Third, I felt the old system was spending too much time looking at where I was. That led to a lot of "Well, at least I am still better than I was at 350.0" and that isn't beneficial. The new focus is on the future and always looking to the goals.

So here is the new guide to where I am and where I want to go.

Life Results:
Three Year Plan
Weights and Measures:
	Weight	Blood P.	Ankle	Calf	Thigh	Hips	Gut	Chest	Bicep	Wrist	Neck	Pulse
End Goal	200.00	110/70	9.00	20.00	27.00	38.00	36.00	42.00	18.00	7.00	16.00	60.00
Last Week	304.00	138/89	10.25	18.25	29.00	46.75	53.50	54.00	16.50	7.75	18.25	76.00
This Week	310.60	137/87	10.50	18.75	29.50	48.00	53.75	55.50	16.50	8.00	19.00	77.00
Change	6.60	-1/-2	0.25	0.50	0.50	1.25	0.25	1.50	-	0.25	0.75	1.00
To Goal:	(110.60)	-27/-17	(1.50)	1.25	(2.50)	(10.00)	(17.75)	(13.50)	1.50	(1.00)	(3.00)	(17.00)
Exercise:										Pass
	Mon.	Tues.	Weds.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.	Goal	Actual	\Fail
Bike-AM	x							5	0	Fail
Weights	x							5	0	Fail
Pilates								5	0	Fail
Bike-PM								5	0	Fail
Walk-PM								5	0	Fail
Finances:
	Last Week			Goal
Debt	(50,673.10)			-
Assets	38,617.47			50,000.00
Net Worth	(12,055.63)			50,000.00
(Italics are cumulative expenses to be banked and spent as needed)
(Red are goals, the rest are average monthly costs divided into weekly amounts)
Weekly Expenses:		Budget		Actual		Var.
Automobile Expense		73.32		-		(73.32)
Bank Fees		99.00		-		(99.00)
CC Payment		226.01		-		(226.01)
Clothing Expense		12.00		-		(12.00)
Entertainment Expense		25.00		-		(25.00)
Food Expense		100.00		-		(100.00)
Gift Expense		11.66		-		(11.66)
Home Expense		40.00		-		(40.00)
Tax Expense		0.93		-		(0.93)
Travel Expense		37.16		-		(37.16)
Utilities Expense		107.99		-		(107.99)
Total	733.07			-		(733.07)
Income		757.07		757.07		-
Overage		24.00		757.07		733.07
Savings for Home:
DownPay	Goal			Actual
250,000 Cost	50,000.00			-
Personal:	Time Line
CPA Exam	18 mo
CMA Exam	24 mo
MBA?	30 mo
Dating	TBD
Volunteering	?

So that is a ton of information…Let's review by sections…

Weights and Measures are pretty straight forward. The short term goal is still "One Week One Pound" even though that hasn't really been working the last few months. We'll give it another year. So for next week, the goal weight is 309.6 lbs. I am assuming the measures will follow the weight and also the exercise. Speaking of that…

Exercise is now laid out in a by the day format so that I can check off as I go. This Monday doesn't count in the results this week but will be in next week's numbers under Actual. I think I made that more complicated than it should be. Shown above is the fact that I did no exercises in the week before and the exes are for the stuff I did this morning so I am 1 1 0 0 0 on the goals for this week so far. Got it?

Now we look at the "Stressers" for most people and me in particular.

Debt! I think I am still paying for a sleeping bag I bought in New York in 1991. It was $45.00 and I have paid about $764.39 for it so far. According to Clark Howard and others "Debt is a Disease" and it eats away at all the parts of life. Debt problems keep you from getting good credit ratings (check), and that leads to problems getting your own home (check) which flows into having no equity in the entire universe (check). That last part might have been over the top. Debt is a cancer that grows when you don't treat it. You'll have trouble seeing it but the Net Worth number and the CC Payments will eventual tell if I am making headway or not in the this fight.

Speaking of weekly expenses I should note that before altering the budget my average expenses are about $300 more a week than I make. I technically covered this with bonuses and expense reimbursements but even then it leaves me just short of break-even. Now I am actively working to do better than break-even.

The last two areas are longer term but ultimately quality of life is the only reason for any of this. If you don't care about your life than your physical well-being and your financial well-being don't mean anything. So I will start an account in the next year to sock away cash for a down payment on a house. The theoretical cost of said home is $250,000 with a 20% payment getting me to the goal of $50,000. Given the time line, I'll have to figure out a way to put $1,000 a month into that account.

Then it gets esoteric on me. I'd like to get CPA and CMA certifications in the next two years and look into adding a legit MBA to my Masters in Professional Accountancy degree. Even more theoretically I'd like to see if there is a person I can stand spending time with who can stand spending time with me. Finally, I got to find a way to spend nights and weekends that isn't at home on the computer playing WoW. So I have volunteering as an idea, but I might be looking at a weekend job to help pay the bills and reach of few of these goals in the 36 months. Big question mark on that one.

The now Mantra might have to be "One Week, One Pound, One Hundred Dollars"

There's a book deal if this thing works out.

Later,