Your Good Decisions Don’t Cancel Out Your Bad Ones

About a year before our wedding, my wife and I both made some changes to our eating and exercise habits. We both lost some weight, and began on a path towards better health. Initially, she had more success. As you can imagine, with our engagement announced and a wedding date pending, many thought that we were dieting for the wedding. A common practice, I hear.

My wife would explain, “no, it’s not for the wedding. I just felt like it was time to make a change and be healthier.” You see, she was motivated to adopt a healthier lifestyle for the life that we were about to begin together. I was similarly motivated, but truth be told, I really wanted to look halfway decent in my tuxedo. It should be no surprise that she had not only more immediate success, but also more enduring.

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In those first few months of eating healthier and losing weight, it can be a pretty noticeable physical change. People you see only occasionally are most likely to remark, “wow, you lost some weight! What have you been doing?”She had a very simple rule that she was following. She would say, “I eat my vegetables first. That way, if I fill up early, it’s on good stuff. Even if I eat the meat and carbs on my plate, I’m less likely to go for seconds if I have filled up on the vegetables.”As I typically do, I thought about that advice in the context of personal finance and saving money. I thought it was very similar to the common advice to “pay yourself first.” In other words, at the beginning of every month or pay period, put some money away into savings or retirement accounts. Manage your money in the same way you should allocate your calories: to the stuff that’s good for you first.

It’s a good rule, and thanks in part to this strategy and other dietary and exercise changes, I am much healthier than I was before our marriage.

So, imagine my dismay when I saw this article with the headline Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Doesn’t Help You Lose Weight, Study Says. The article states “Loading up on more fruits and vegetables, without taking out more high-calorie foods like junk food, or making other lifestyle changes such as exercising, won’t have a significant affect (sic) on weight. And that’s especially true if the veggies are fried or coated in butter or cheese.”

Of course, you can probably guess my response, “well, duh!”The two main takeaways from this article: eating more fruits and vegetables won’t help you if: 1. those fruits and vegetables are deep fried or covered in creamy/cheesy sauces; and 2. despite the increased intake of fruits and vegetables, you still eat just as much junk food.

How does this affect the advice to pay yourself first? It’s really the same. Paying yourself first is still a good idea, but if the savings is going into an expensive or inappropriate savings vehicle, you are reducing the benefit of your effort to save. Second, paying yourself first doesn't solve your finances if you're still overspending, especially if you are racking up credit card debt.

In the end, the advice for both is probably the same. Pay yourself first, and eat your vegetables first. Do so in a manner that is healthy and sustainable. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that your good actions give you permission to act foolishly by overeating or overspending.