Manage your money and your weight this year

Author Angie Hollerich says many of the principals of handling money apply to weight management. In her book The Weight and Wealth Factors, she lists 12 factors shared by both: environment, budget, family, motivation, habits, attitude, education, goals, time, age, needs vs. wants, and risk. Here is how she advises you to apply some of them:

Control your environment

If you are trying to save money, always have food in your house so you are not running out to a restaurant each time you get hungry. In the same way, if you are always surrounded by sweets and other unhealthy snacks at your work place, bring in fruit or other healthy snacks.

Budget your food

Figure out how much you need to eat to achieve your weight goal and stick with that “calorie budget.”

Enlist your family

Everyone in a family has to respect a household budget or it won’t work. The same is true with weight control: Ask people close to you for support and make them aware when they are sabotaging your efforts.

Analyse your eating and exercise habits

Identify areas in which you can improve.

Adjust your attitude

As with saving money, Hollerich says you have to want to lose weight, have realistic motivations and goals and realise the consequences if you don’t.