FRLN65: Estimating When Eating Out, Broke vs Rich Psychology, and Setting a Clear Direction for your Life
Fit Rich Life
Newsletter #65
Tips, Tools & Strategies for your Fitness, Money & Life
Newsletter Archive
"The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination."
— Carl Rogers, American Psychologist
Greetings my friends,
Without further ado, let's proactively build your Fit Rich Life.
This is your weekly dose of actionable tips, tools & strategies to take your Fitness, Money, and Life to the Next Level.
FITNESS: Estimating while eating out.
When you're on a fat loss journey, you must be in a calorie deficit to drop body fat.
This is fairly easy to do by tracking your food with a food scale at home, but what about when you eat out?
Here is a simple framework you can use to estimate your food without a food scale when you are eating out:
- 1 palm-sized portion of protein is approximately 3-4oz
- 1 cupped palm of carbs is approximately a 1/2 cup
- 1 fisted-sized serving of vegetables is approximately 1 cup
- 1/2 a thumb of fat/oil/sauce is approximately 1 tablespoon
I use the MyFitnessPal app to log my food and quickly look up whatever I am eating with the hand-estimating framework above when dining out at a restaurant.
When eating out I usually overestimate to be on the safe side if I am being serious about dropping body fat.
In my 2+ years of coaching people on their fitness, I've found that loosely estimating when eating out is far more productive than not tracking at all.
This is because what gets measured, gets managed.
Taking 1-2 minutes to calculate what you're eating also provides a brief moment to pause and reflect on what you're putting into your body to ensure it's in line with your fitness goals.
Considering it a "Mindful Eating Practice" is a powerful way to adopt this habit of tracking your food while eating at home or dining out.
MONEY: Psychology of broke versus rich.
Accumulating wealth is 80% psychology (mindset and habits).
This is why broke people who win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money go right back to being broke within just a few years.
The Psychology of Broke People:
- Living Beyond Their Means
- Not Budgeting
- Carry High-Interest Debt
- Lack of Emergency Fund
- No Savings Plan
- Impulsive Spending
- Ignoring Financial Education
- Victim Mindset (blame parents, family, government, job, etc.)
- Avoiding Investments
- Lifestyle Creep
- Underutilizing Benefits & Resources (401K, free online education, library, etc)
- Not Planning for the Future
- Underestimating Small Expenses
- Keep looking for Get Rich Quick Opportunities (schemes)
The Psychology of Rich People:
- Setting Clear Financial Goals
- Studying Personal Finance
- Budgeting & Tracking Expenses
- Saving & Investing CONSISTENTLY
- Living Below Their Means
- Continuous Learning & Self-Improvement (Growth Mindset)
- Creating Multiple Income Streams
- Networking & Building Relationships (your Network = your Net Worth)
- Taking Calculated Risks
- Focusing on Long-Term Wealth (avoiding Get Rich Quick Schemes)
- Maintaining a Positive Mindset (turn failures into growth opportunities)
- Use family & past mistakes as the FUEL for growth
- Leveraging Debt Wisely (Real Estate, Travel Hacking)
- Giving Back
- Staying Healthy & Fit (strong body, strong mind, strong money)
To become rich you must proactively upgrade your psychology (mindset & habits) regarding your money.
Which of these do you need to work on?
LIFE: Setting a clear direction.
Setting a clear goal is incredibly powerful as it gives you a direction to head towards.
The other week I opened up one of my journals where I had written out my money goal for 1-year and my money goal for 3-years. The date from this journal exercise was 4/3/2018.
This happened approximately 6 months after I had discovered the concept of Financial Independence (FI).
I define FI as the ability to live off your assets indefinitely. This means all work is optional and you could choose to retire early, take a sabbatical, or just do work that you are passionate about without having to worry about how much money you are making.
My 1-year goal was to reach $500K in savings & investments.
My 3-year goal was to reach $1.5M in savings & investments.
$1.5M was my original FI number.
I've been tracking my Net Worth since November of 2018 so I just looked up where I landed in regards to those two Money Goals.
On 4/3/2019, 1 year from when I initially made that $500K goal, my Net Worth was $679,856.
On 4/3/2021, 3 years from when I made the $1.5M goal, my Net Worth was $1,563,145.
In both cases, I exceeded my Money Goal.
Before this Net Worth goal-setting, I had never set a specific Money Goal.
Prior to this, my money goal had always been a general idea to "get rich," but what does getting rich even mean?
Does that mean earning a certain amount per year? Driving a fancy car? Having a fancy home?
When I wrote down these one and three-year goals it was the first time I had ever gotten really specific with my money goals. I wanted to achieve Financial Independence and hit a specific number.
What is even wilder to me is that when I set these Money Goals a big part of me had no idea if I would truly be able to achieve them as I had been in debt for most of my life until the early part of 2018.
In other words, these were very lofty goals that were far outside of what I had ever done.
Yet, I still achieved them.
Even if I had missed these goals by a few hundred thousand I would still have been happy with my progress as it was far beyond what I had ever accomplished with my money.
I've done similar goal-setting exercises with my Fitness.
Choosing an exact Body Fat percentage I wanted to be by a certain date and a majority of the time I achieved it.
Your mind is a goal-achieving machine and you have to give it clear directions.
Closing Thoughts:
What is one thing you can do this coming week to improve your Fitness, Money & Life?
Here are some ideas:
- Start the habit of using the hand framework to track your food when eating out.
- Pick one money habit or money mindset upgrade you can start implementing this week.
- Get specific with a fitness, money, or life goal and set a due date.
Remember, making progress is the most reliable way to create happiness & fulfillment in one's life.
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I am sending you all lots of growth energy!
Your Fitness, Money & Life Coach,
Justin David Carl
Whenever you're ready, here is how I can help you:
I run a custom-tailored 1-1 & group mastermind coaching program that will empower you to get into fantastic shape, master your money, & live your best life.
Yup, it's a proven Fitness, Money, and Life Coaching Program unlike anything else out there.
You can book a free consultation with me here or just drop me a note on Instagram to find a time to connect.