Why Overeating Doesn’t Make You Fat (and What Does)
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The human body is designed to gain weight and keep it on at all costs. Our survival depends on it. Until we acknowledge that scientific fact, we will never succeed in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
Doctors and consumers alike believe that overeating and gluttony are the causes of our obesity epidemic. Science tells a different story: it is not completely your fault you are overweight.
Powerful genetic forces control our survival behavior. They are at the root of our weight problems. Our bodies weight control systems were designed to produce dozens of molecules that make us eat more and gain weight whenever we have the chance, not to lose it.
We have evolved over hundreds of thousands of generations under conditions of food scarcity, not overabundance. Our genes and molecules that control our eating behavior were shaped by those times.
Basically – we are genetically designed to accumulate fat based on the days when we had to forage for food in the wild.
Ignoring that fact becomes hazardous to both our health and our waistlines.
Furthermore, the food industry and our government’s recommendations are fueling this feeding frenzy. We cannot expect to change our instinctual responses to food any more than we can eliminate a feeling of terror when confronted with danger.
Think about this: We have hundreds of genes that protect us from starvation, but very few that protect us from overeating.
All seems backward, doesn’t it? If we remain genetically engineered to gain weight, then it would seem that we are wired incorrectly.
Why would we be designed to overeat and grow fat? It all comes down to the oldest and most primitive part of our brain, our limbic, or “lizard,” brain. This is the part of your brain that evolved first, and it’s like a reptile’s brain. It governs your survival behaviors, creating certain chemical responses that you have no conscious control over.
While you might think you are in complete control of your mind, the truth is that you have very little control over the unconscious choices you make when you are surrounded by food.
The key to a healthy metabolism is learning what those responses are, how they are triggered, and how you can stop them. You don’t want to put yourself in the position of resisting the lure of a bagel. Your drive to eat it will overwhelm any willpower you might have about losing weight. It is a life-or-death experience in your mind, and the bagel will always win.
One of the most important principles of weight loss is never to starve yourself. The question is whether or not you are eating enough of the right calories, not whether or not you are eating too many calories. What you need is a baseline for how much you have to eat to keep your body from going into starvation mode.
The Reason Most Diets Fail
The reason diets backfire almost all the time is because people restrict too much. That is to say, they allow the number of
they consume to drop below their resting metabolic rate. This is the basic amount of energy or calories needed to run your metabolism for the day. For the average person it is about 10 times your weight in pounds. This is the baseline daily need for your body to simply exist
(meaning stay in bed and don’t expend any energy).
That’s not realistic for most of us.
If you eat less than that amount (which is what most diets mandate), your body instantly perceives danger and turns on the alarm system that protects you from starvation, slowing your metabolism. As a consequence, your body goes into starvation mode and triggers the signal to eat.
So you start eating and eating, and inevitably, you stop the diet — it’s the classic rebound weight gain scenario.
Just think of what happens when you skip , work through lunch, and finally return home in the evening: you eat everything in sight. Then you feel stuffed, sick, and guilty and you regret ever entering the kitchen in the first place.
Why would you possibly want to overeat and make yourself sick? Most of us are reasonable people and know that we shouldn’t overeat. We have done it before, wished we hadn’t, and vowed never to do it again.
Nonetheless, time after time, we repeat the same mistakes. Are we weak-willed, morally corrupt, and self-destructive? Do we need years of therapy?
The answer is “none of the above.” The answer is in our genetic programming. This stuff is just too deep inside us to get away from. We are built to put on weight, and our bodies don’t like it very much when we don’t give them the calories they need.
To make matters worse, when you lose weight, only about half of the rest is valuable, metabolically active muscle! Yet when someone regains weight, it is nearly complete fat. Remember, muscle cells burn 70 times more calories than fat cells. Therefore yo-yo dieting makes you lose a big part of your metabolic engine.
We all know overweight people who say, “I don’t really eat that much, and I still can’t lose weight.” They aren’t lying. When most people go on a diet, they are generally actually making themselves fatter. Each time they diet, they lose muscle.
The diet usually fails, and when it does, the weight that is regained is fat. If you have been through a number of diets that have failed, your body has been through this process a number of times. In short, dieting makes you fat.
You want to get away from the diet mentality. What you are undertaking is a way of eating, not a diet.
The Problem with Willpower
Whatever happened to old-fashioned willpower? Everybody knows that the obesity epidemic is a matter of personal responsibility. People should exercise more self-control. They should avoid overeating and reduce their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed food. There are no goo it’s everything in moderation. Right?
This sounds good in theory, except for one thing: New discoveries in science prove that processed, sugar-, fat-, and salt-laden food—food that is made in a plant rather than grown on a plant—is .
Remember the old potato chip commercial with the tag line “Bet you can’t eat just one”? Bet you can’t imagine that kind of commercial for broccoli or apples. No one binges on those foods. Yet it’s easy to imagine a mountain of potato chips, a whole bag of cookies, or a pint of ice cream vanishing quickly in an unconscious, reptilian-brain eating frenzy. Broccoli is not addictive, but chips, cookies, ice cream, and soda can become as addictive as any drug.
In the 1980s, First Lady Nancy Reagan championed the “just say no” approach to drug addiction. Unfortunately, that approach hasn’t fared too well, and it won’t work for our industrial food addiction either. There are specific biological mechanisms that drive addictive behavior.
Nobody chooses to be a heroin addict, cokehead, or alcoholic. Nobody chooses to have a food addiction either. These behaviors arise from primitive neurochemical reward centers in the brain that override normal willpower and, in the case of food addictions, overwhelm the ordinary biological signals that control hunger.
Why is it so hard for obese people to lose weight despi despite the health consequences such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and despite their intense desire to lose weight?
Not because they want to be fat. It is because in the vast majority of cases, certain types of food—processed foods made of sugar, fat, and salt combined in ways kept secret by the food industry—are addictive. We are biologically wired to crave these foods and eat as much of them as possible.
10 Strategies to Stop Overeating and Lose Weight
Fortunately, a number of tips can help you normalize your eating, so that you neither overeat nor under-eat. Thankfully, none of them involve counting calories (or counting anything!). Among the strategies that have helped thousands of my patients lose weight, keep it off, and reduce their risk for
Cut out the processed stuff and eat real, whole foods. The single most important thing to lose weight and avoid overeating is to include as many real, whole, unprocessed foods in your diet as possible. Starting right now, make the switch to these foods to lose weight: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, olive oil, organic, range, or grass-fed animal products (poultry, lamb, beef, pork, eggs), and wild, smaller fish such as salmon.
Eat breakfast. Skipping breakfast means you’re eventually starving, and throughout the day you eat much more food than needed to feel full. To optimize health and weight loss, you need to eat breakfast, to spread out food intake evenly throughout the day, and to not eat for at least two hours before bed. A recent study found that almost 3,000 people who lost an average of 70 pounds and kept it off for six years ate breakfast regularly. Only four percent of people who never ate breakfast kept the weight off.
Eat mindfully. We need to be in a relaxed state for the nervous system of our gut or digestive system to work properly. Eating while we are stressed out makes us fat, both because we don’t digest our food properly and because stress hormones slow metabolism and promote fat storage, especially of belly fat. We also tend to overeat when we eat quickly, because it takes the stomach 20 minutes to signal the brain that we are full.
Moderate or eliminate alcohol. Taking a holiday from alcohol, besides getting rid of additional sugar calories, will help you tune in to your true appetite and prevent you from overeating.
Become aware of trigger foods. For some of us, that one little soda can set us on a downward spiral to overeating and all of the negative health consequences that come with it. It isn’t just the processed, sugary foods and drinks that become triggers. But even healthy foods, if you have a tendency to binge on them, can quickly become unhealthy. A handful of almonds are perfectly healthy, but if you eat half the jar, they quickly become unhealthy.
Keep a Journal. Journaling is an excellent way to get in touch with your inner motivations, to break the cycle of mindless eating and activity, to be honest and accountable and present to yourself. We often overeat because something is eating away at us. We stuff ourselves with food in order to stuff our feelings away. We use food to block feelings, but you can use words to block food. You can write in order to better metabolize your feelings so they don’t end up driving unconscious choices or overeating. A diet of words and self-exploration often results in weight loss. You metabolize your life and calories better.
Get sufficient sleep. Get eight hours of
every night. You’ll find that you’re less prone to cravings and you will normalize fat-regulating hormones. One study found even a partial night’s sleep deprivation contributes to insulin resistance, paving the way for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Control stress levels. Most of us fail to notice the effects of the chronic stresses we live with every day: demanding jobs, marital tension, lack of sleep, too much to do and too little time to do it. I am sure the list goes on for many. Chronic stress makes us overeat, not to mention overeating the wrong kinds of food, which ultimately leads to weight gain. Learn to
with meditation, yoga, deep breathing, or any other technique that helps you reduce stress.
Exercise the right way. You can’t over-exercise your way out of a bad diet, but the right exercise can help you lose weight, maintain weight loss, and control your appetite so you don’t overeat. Ideally you should do a minimum of 30 minutes of walking every day. Get a pedometer to track your steps. Wear it every day and set a goal of 10,000 steps a day. More vigorous and sustained exercise is often needed to reverse severe obesity and diabesity. Run, bike, dance, play games, jump on a trampoline, or do whatever is fun for you. Read
for a comprehensive, easy-to-implement exercise plan.
Supplement smartly. Obesity and diabetes are often paradoxically states of malnutrition. It has been said that diabetes is starvation in the midst of plenty. The sugar can’t get into the cells. Your metabolism is sluggish, and the cells don’t communicate as a finely tuned team.
are an essential part of getting back in balance and correcting the core problem— insulin resistance.
If you would like to cut-out the processed food, stop mindless eating and learn how to cook delicious, whole-food recipes,
thenof my newest book, releasing on March 10th, The 10-Day Detox Diet Cookbook.
In addition to the recipes you will also learn about the secret added ingredient that keeps you hooked on junk food!
to get this sneak preview now.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, MD.
References
Donga E, et al. A single night of partial sleep deprivation induces insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects.
J ClinEndocrinolMetab. ):2963-8.
Farshchi HR, et al. Deleterious effects of omitting breakfast on insulin sensitivity and fasting lipid profiles in healthy lean women. Am J ClinNutr . 2005 F 81( 2): 388– 396.
Gershon M. The second brain: A groundbreaking new understanding of nervous disorders of the stomach and intestine, Perennial. 1999.
David M. The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy and Weight Loss. Healing Arts Press, 2005.
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Is the Garcinia Cambogia Elite trial a scam?
Sales of Garcinia Cambogia have been growing steadily since its first appearance on the Dr Oz Show.
Many people have been satisfied with their purchases, as in the correct dosage Garcinia Cambogia can help with your own weight loss efforts.
Unfortunately, not everyone has been satisfied. Such as a number of those who have signed up for the Garcinia Cambogia Elite trial.
The issue is that once you sign up for the trial for a seemingly low price you are also signing up for an auto ship program where you will be charged an extortionate fee each month thereafter.
Let us look at Garcinia Cambogia Elite in more detail to see if it has any redeeming qualities.
Garcinia Cambogia Elite claims
Garcinia Cambogia Elite makes the following claims on its website:
Stops fat from being made
Suppresses your appetite
Increases serotonin levels, which helps reduce emotional eating
Although these claims sound promising they are also the first red flag that something is not quite right with this supplement.
These claims have a number of spelling problems, for example ‘increses’ instead of increases and ‘seratonin’ instead of serotonin.
Garcinia Cambogia Elite ingredients
It is pleasing to see that Garcinia Cambogia Elite has disclosed its ingredients (it has even shown its product label).
It contains 1000 mg of Garcinia Cambogia so using this supplement alongside a healthy diet and regular exercise should result in weight loss and the claims being experienced.
Garcinia Cambogia Elite price
The 14 day trial of Garcinia Cambogia Elite will initially cost $4.99, which sounds reasonable enough as this is to cover the postage.
However, what you may not realise upon signing up is that once this time has elapsed you will be charged a ridiculous amount of $89.71, with further monthly charges.
Even if you do want a refund you will need to pay postage for the return and will be charged a $5 restocking fee.
Is Garcinia Cambogia Elite a scam?
Although Garcinia Cambogia Elite has its payment terms listed those who sign up for this trial are likely to be unhappy and will no doubt claim that they have been scammed.
Trial offers are best avoided in our opinion, they may seem like a cost effective way of trying out a product but in reality 14 days is not long enough and you are likely to be charged a lot more than you expected.
Garcinia Cambogia Elite contact details
You can contact Garcinia Cambogia Elite using the following details:
Toll Free Customer Service phone: 1-888-960-9291
Returns should be sent to the following address (please makes sure to get an RMA beforehand):
Garcinia Elite
PO Box 500
RPO Steeles West
Toronto, ON M3J 0J8
If you have signed up to this trial and wish to share your experience then please leave us a message below.
Also share this page so that others are made aware of the sales tactics used by Garcinia Cambogia Elite and other manufacturers.
The following video could help you get a refund too:
Alternative to Garcinia Cambogia Elite
A proven alternative to Garcinia Cambogia Elite is Garcinia Pure, which is a Garcinia Cambogia supplement that contains 1000 mg of the fat burning ingredient (60% HCA) in each capsule but at just a fraction of the cost at just $62 for a months supply.
Best of all you can buy this supplement without ever having to sign up for an auto ship program.
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Affiliate DisclosureThe following generic question is a very common when it comes to early retirement. It goes something like this (you can adjust the numbers slightly):
“I am thirty-something years old and I have managed to save a few hundred thousands (or more). Is it possible for me to retire already?”
The answer is yes. Although extreme early retirement is still quite rare there are more people out there that retired in their late twenties and thirties (I do not consider forties extremely early, that is “just” early) than the few famous examples would suggest. Hence early retirement is a realistic proposition for those who desire it.
To retire early by becoming financially independent, you must solve the following problem
your annual expenses < 3% of your invested savings
This equation is much more important than absolute numbers.
For instance, if you have $500,000 saved but this is due to having flipped a house for a $200,000 profit and having earned a salary of $150,000 while spending $120,000 for the past ten years, the equation does not hold, because 3% of $500,000 is only $15,000 which is far from $120,000.
With these numbers, you are rich, but primarily, because with an annual expense level of $120,000 chances are very good that you do not possess the knowledge and attitude to live well on $15,000 a year.
Now, you can solve that equation either by reducing your expenses or by working longer to save more money. The most common problem in solving this equation is to spending most of one’s income like in the example above. This means that expenses are high relative to the income and that savings are low relative to their expenses, at least until you’re at least 50 years old. In general, most people’s expenses match to their income regardless of how much they make. To retire early, you have to avoid this. This means living on much less than you earn.
Living on much less is entirely possible. This is not done by a few c or even a great many cost cutting measures. Cost cutting, especially when it is done to something close to your heart, like, say, your lawn, or your patio furniture will hurt.
Instead of downgrading, choose to live differently. Do not accept a second-rate lawn or a second-rate car. Dump the lawn and a car entirely, and live on cruising sail boat or in an RV. Or rent a single room, or get a bigger place but live with others, perhaps your family. Travel the world by visiting your international friends instead of resort hotel staffs, though I’m sure they’re nice people too. Develop an inexpensive but sophisticated taste. Here, you must be creative and creativity stands in direct relation to your quality of life. Creative retires do lots of stuff. Some hang out on their sailboat in the Caribbean, some buy a house in Argentina, some compete semi-professionally in their favorite sport, some travel around, others tend to their garden, or read all the classics.
If you can not be creative or feel you must live a “normal life” characterized by driving, shopping, and paying bills, extremely early retirement, which can hardly be considered normal, can only be achieved by either winning the lottery or by downgrading your “standard-of-living”, shopping with coupons, buying cheap things you don’t really like, putting an egg-timer next to your shower, and that is no way to live.
Extreme early retirement also means taking a different attitude to things. Some people, typically the busy ones, generally want everything to work and if it stops working they will pay for someone else to fix it for them. This is because they themselves either have no skills or lack the time to fix it themselves. Others take pride in being able to fix a broken pipe, a broken engine, put in a new floor, and so on, and consider it a hobby. In turn, they do not pay other people to work for them and so they do not have to work themselves. Early retires are generally fairly competent people who can do a lot of things on their own. It is also often the case that if they can’t they know someone who can. They have a wide network of people from many different backgrounds unlike specialized workers who mostly know other specialized workers in the same field.
Obviously, it also depends on your attitude towards work. Perhaps writing reports and finding ways for your company to market a new product made overseas to consumers is a fulfilling and appealing way to spend your life. Perhaps it is not. Perhaps you find it motivating to spend your life striving for that corner office, or maybe the office with a window, or a 5% annual raise. Or maybe you have other ways to feel accomplished? Maybe you use your work as a social outlet? It is certainly a lot easier to find young people at their job between 9-5 (and outside of those hours they are usually tired), but there is a significant number of people not working all week. Not as many, but they are there. And no offense, but they are generally more interesting people than the workaholics who only know their work and the current top five shows on TV.
The main question you should ask yourself is thus not whether you have enough money, but rather whether you can envision yourself living an unconventional life outside the boxes that most others live in. If this is the case, the money to do so can be earned fairly quickly. The challenge is mostly in the mind, and so this is the real question you should be asking yourself. Can you be happy without doing what everybody else is doing?
Originally posted
Jacob said,
@jaybradfield – There’s an 80/20 rule for this. For instance, someone who’s retired would likely consider himself so even though he doesn’t have a chauffeur to drive him around instead of doing his own driving. On the other end of the spectrum we have a 100% self-sufficient farmer who must work a lot to live. You’re right in pointing out that DIY should be compared to working and simply paying someone. In many cases, I can save several hundred dollars an hour (e.g. a $200 mechanics problem that takes 10 minutes to fix) and so I DIY. In other cases, it makes more sense to work and buy. In general, the more skilled you are, the higher your hourly wage, but that goes for all things. In many cases, spending time on learning DIY has a much higher ROI than time spent on further education to increase your compensation, you’re much more likely to be close in terms of the law of diminishing returns wrt your specialization than in spending two minutes in learning how to save $5 by making your own window cleaner … corresponding to $150/hour.
[…] to cover these bills and ‘retire’. How do you determine your target amount? Using Jacob’s formula, it comes down […]
[…] another equation, from Jacob at ERE. Here, Jacob has assumed a typical modern investment portfolio, which I don’t believe to be […]
jacqueline branch said,
my comment is, it’s good to retire young it gives more time to spend with your kids and family near and far.
it also gives that person time to stop and breath, maybe take on a different career path, ro go back to school.
Its good to retire young but what will you do with your life? I thin working and planning for old retirement is not so bad. Unless you really know what are you doing
[…] reading articles from Early Retirement Extreme. In this article he explains the main criteria for being able to […]
This post really got me excited. I never thought retiring early was even a choice, I’ve been indoctrinated from an early age to work as hard as possible until I retire at age 65 – what a disgusting way to live! I’ve now seen whats possible, I’ve really opened my eyes and I’m using all of my free time to plan and earn my early retirement! Thanks for sharing Jacob.
Stevo said,
Well said, and thanks again for bringing up scenarios not found in main stream PF magizines and blogs. Many people cannot fathom living outside of the boundaries established by society and advertising. There is a world outside of the Matrix. One can live in it and not lose out on a happy and fulfilling life.
Las Vegas.
Socratic said,
I fight hard each day to control family expenditures. Having a wife (who does not work) and a teenager makes extreme retirement impossible.
Damn it, In fact it makes a normal early retirement almost impossible.
But I figured a way. Once the kid goes to college my wife and I can move to Thailand and retire at $1200 per month without the wife making too many sacrifices or divorcing me.
Big fan of Jacob and readers if this blog.
leeholsen said,
Socratic, there’s places you can live in the usa for $1200 a month.
for instance, at my curre
but i like what i do well enough and i get benefits 2 so i’m just ramping up my savings.
but if i retired today, i would probably move to lake conroe texas that has some great golf course communities. there’s things to be live in there that i could probably keep my spending under
currently) and still have Houston as a resource(med center, airports). i think if you look, you can find something near where you live.
When I worked in semiconductors, I remember thinking rather than the annual salary raise I would have been more motivated by an annual hours cut. That would have been a real motivator! But typically in that industry increased seniority just meant longer hours and more difficult work. They had it all wrong!
Being an employee contrasts hugely to the situation where you have your own business or are self employed, where your increased productivity or skills would allow you to get the same amount of work done in less time for the same pay.
The premise of getting paid by the hour is deeply flawed and very demotivating. In fact, with such a stupid system the more effort you put in the less you get paid for each unit of effort. It’s just not scalable. Hence I fired the idea of a “career”. After following ERE principles I am now financially independent and my “work” becomes more scalable and efficient every day. This applies particularly to having more time to do things myself, avoiding multiple stages of tax.
RapMasterD said,
Great post. I’ve typically been glommed onto the 4% number. I’m itching to fire my job. I’m 52. My eight year younger wife still works, and we have a young child. We’d take down expenses a bit, but savings would be hard to come by.
My goal would be not to touch the nest egg until she dumps out of work in about 6-8 years. Then I’m 60. Then we’d take down expenses moderately more. Then I think we could indeed swing the 3% thing.
The benefit of not touching that nest egg for …. let’s say….nine years … is that at 4%, the nest egg grows by 50%. Or so I think.
I’m a borderline INTJ/ENTJ. I’m getting more “I” as I gain more seasoning.
I really like the 3% rule and I think it is very practical. I currently make around $33,000/year but my expenses are $12,000/year. Assuming I had $750,000 saved I could easily withdraw 3% each year and live off of the $22,500. I am not even counting all the interest/dividends that all of that capital is making. The only question is how long is it going to take me to save $750,000? Well I am 29 years old now and the goal is before the age of 55. I think this is reasonable but I would love to cut it down to 50. Thanks for sharing Jacob!
[…] The common cause of failure in my life is the lack of direction. It isn’t that I am not doing. I am not lazing around at home, and doing nothing. I am doing things. The problem is that I’m doing too many different things, not sticking to one thing for a long enough time to see results, changing directions often, and then wondering why I am not a success. I keep on changing the game plan, as ERE says in this article here. […]
Retired at 47 said,
I want to offer some wisdom on ‘Retiring’ Young.
What you want now, at 25, 30, 35, will change over the course of your life. Your values, needs, wants, priorities will change. It happens to everyone.
What you need to plan for is that what you think of as ‘Retirement’ now, may not be a good fit for you. In fact it may be the worst idea ever.
When I left it all behind I first moved in with traditionally retired relatives in Arizona. I did what they did, lived near them.
OH.MY.GOODNESS.
I can not think of a more dire or dreadfully boring existence. I lasted fewer than 3 months.
Turns up that what I thought of as ‘Retirement’ was a MASSIVE MISTAKE for me and my values at 47. I hate golf. Ugh.
I strongly, STRONGLY, suggest that whatever goal you have for retirement, that you take 3 months to 12 months off in your mid to late 30’s to see if that is what you want.
Test it out. Give it a spin. See if that is the goal you *really* want to go for.
I can think of NO greater tragedy than someone who works 45 years to attain a goal and then after 10 days realises that they do not want what they sacrificed decades of life to get.
Give yourself a practice retirement, first.
Whatever that is FOR YOU. Try it out. Do that for 3 months to a year. See if you REALLY want to do that.
Do this before age 40, give yourself a sanity and reality check.
I am living in Slovakia and here we have different possibilities as in USA or UK. I am also trying to save a lot of money to retire early. But under retirement I mean exit my fulltime job and continue working on my own projects (info websites) without boss and daily travel to work. This is retirement for me. I will be 30 and I hope that in 5 years I will achieve this goal.
Jezza said,
I love ERE. What a find!
I’ve just recently turned 34 and semi retired (.. !! Finally) I’ve been constanrly at this for the past 10 years straight now and I’m really glad to arrive. I originally planned to hit this mark two years from now but upon doing further math, nowmade very little difference apart from saving me a further year or two of hard work.
I began buying real estate in mid 2007 after four years on low wage saving a small deposit and things snowballed ever since. Bought a second apartment 1 year later and a house one year later, then another that same year. Sat on those knowing that given time the rents go up and most importantly the values in Australia climb steadily. I receive all my working year’s tax baxk for ‘losing’ money while the capital grew by around 8% per year. When I did sell, the absolute max tax I paid was 23% because of the 50%CGT exemption made huge sense to me while workers paid as nuch as 47.5% tax on their income.
So using just $30,000 of my own money on that first deposit I gree a multi nillion dollar
nemu said,
Here’s the path to retire on your own terms, in 7 steps:
Pay off your debts as fast as you possibly can.
If this means living in a crappy studio apartment and eating ramen everyday for a couple of years, do it.
If you want to buy a car, get a reliable beater. Get insurance for $25/month from 4AutoInsuranceQuote.
Forget about buying a house until your debts are paid off.
2) Once you are out of debt, stay out of debt. The only exception to this rule is a vehicle and a house. If you want to get a nicer car, buy used and be able to pay it off in a year or 2.
If you are going to stay in the same spot for at least 10 years, buy a house, preferably with at least a little bit of usable land.
An acre is good, 5 acres is better.
Take the amount you are pre-approved for and cut it in half – that’s how much you should spend on a house.
Come to the table with at least 20% down and make a couple of extra mortgage payments every year.
If you’re going to be transferred or relocate every 5 years, forget about buying a house and rent instead.
Develop multiple revenue streams.
Do contract work.
Start a business on the side.
Invest in a business as a silent partner.
Raise chickens, breed dogs or grow apples.
Build websites. Buy and sell antiques.
Acquire rental property.
Sell something that generates residual income.
Learn to play the currency markets or trade stocks.
Do whatever you can to generate income from multiple sources.
Grow these multiple revenue streams to the point that they generate enough consistent and reliable cash flow to replace your current income.
Make as much as you can.
Save as much as you can.
Give away as much as you can.
Retire!- the sooner, the better.
Be sure you understand that “retirement” doesn’t necessarily mean you stop working, it just means having the freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.
Don’t be foolish and fall into the trap of trying to measure your wealth by the value of your assets. Markets change.
Valuations fluctuate.
Instead, measure your wealth by the amount of cash flow your assets consistently generate.
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PS: I do not wish to participate in your mainstream media newspaper or TV show since I do not believe that ERE can be compressed into the two minute soundbite that your format requires, but thanks for asking.
21 day makeover
