In my December 2019 post about my goals for 2020 I stated that the only goal I was setting at that time was to save $10,000 in the first four months of 2020. A goal that I felt would be difficult, but achievable. I’m happy to say that I was able to achieve that goal.
I surpassed my goal of saving $10,000 and managed to save $12,384 in the first four months of 2020. The savings broke down as follows. I added $4397 of cash to my savings accounts. I added $778 to my doc review job 401k. I added $1217 to my tax job 401k. I added $4000 to my traditional IRA and $1992 to my Roth IRA.
The goal wasn’t as easy to achieve as it may look like from the results. I benefited greatly from two months out of the four months I was saving being months with five paydays. That isn’t usually the case. The $1200 stimulus check also provided a surprise boost to my savings. Without those two unexpected boosts I would have barely been able to save the $10,000. If I hadn’t set a goal of saving $10k in the first four months of the year I doubt I would have saved as much money as I did. This goal was successful in getting me to save more money.
In my previous goals post I stated that sometime in 2020 I’d set goals for losing weight and increasing my blog income. Now is the time that I’m setting my 2020 weight loss goal. The blog income goal will have to wait a little while longer since I think it is best for me to focus on one goal at a time.
Losing weight is a common goal of mine. It occurred to me the other day that I’ve been dealing with my weight for almost 25 years. In 1997 I lost 30 pounds in three months while living in Guatemala. Whenever, I’m living outside of the U.S., I find it easy to lose weight without even trying. The combination of walking more and not having access to all of the junk food and fast food I have in the U.S. leads to weight loss. After returning to the U.S. from Guatemala, I managed to keep the weight off for over six months. Then I started working as a blackjack dealer on the graveyard shift (3am to 11am) and quickly regained all the weight I lost plus some.
I’ve repeated that pattern a few times over the years. I will lose 20-30 pounds and then quickly regain the weight. Usually, when I’m losing weight it is due to special circumstances such as living in another country or hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Once I go back to my normal life I stop losing weight and start gaining weight. I’ve got to stop that cycle and learn how to lose weight and maintain my weight while living my normal life. I’m not sure how to do that yet.
To start on my weight loss goal I’ve made several bets with DietBet. Money has proven to be a motivator for me in the past. I made a Kickstarter bet which requires me to lose 4% of my bodyweight 9 (just under 9 pounds) in 30 days and a Transformer bet that requires me to lose 10% of my bodyweight (a little over 22 pounds) in 6 months.
My current plan for accomplishing these weight loss goals is simply to eat less and exercise more. I’ll refine that plan as I go. I want this change to be a permanent change so I don’t intend to use any weight loss methods that I don’t think I’ll be able to stick to in the long run. If you have any suggestions on what I should do to lose weight and keep it off, I’d be happy to hear them.