'Money in the Bank"

Ms. S's incrediblly delicious Pecan Pie

 

Featured Topic: “Money in the Bank”

My diet management program is like one of my now grown children’s high school study habits—making an A on a quiz was just so much ‘money in the bank’ to be squandering by goof-off time before the next quiz.  This morning’s weight is an example.  At 176.2 lbs, the MoneyWalker is way ahead of his resolution to weight 174 lbs. by April.  Now comes the discipline, to avoid the pecan pies, cheese spreads, King Cakes, and other fats and sweets that comprise the NFL playoffs and the Mardi Gras season of New Orleans.  I can take one of two tacks—treat the better-than-expected weight loss as an excuse to splurge on calories, or remain vigilant and continue to practice portion control.  It is my call.  Ms. S's pecan pie is the 900 lb gorilla in the room.

As for those that read this blog, perhaps you also have a ‘money in the bank’ personality.  If so, you (and I) need to recognize it for what it is—self destructive behavior--a pattern or cycle of behaviors that has been learned.  As such, it can be untaught.  Most of the time negative behavior results in the need for short term gratification.  The solution begins with ‘cognitive override’—of substituting an immature behavior for a mature one; of letting the mature thoughts of the adult inside of you talk the child in there out of childish behavior.  Just say, “Self, put down that pint of Ben and Jerry and eat a few carrots, or just drink a glass of water.”  For me, cognitive override is to focus on how good those positive scale numbers look rather than how good the ice cream will taste.  The positive scale reading is reinforced with the pride of accomplishment is worthy of recalling the pride over and over; the ice cream with the associated guilt of succumbing to the briefest of a sensory pleasure just leads to more over eating and more guilt. 

Good luck with your child; I’m dealing with mine.

Journal Data:

Weight = 176.2 lbs, a four months low

Coinage = $2.69

GPS data = 4.36 miles walked, 472 calories burned, average pace 16.30 minutes per mile

MoneyWalker



Public Accountability and Weight Loss Goals

Photo: Ms S's stair climbing accountability chart.  Each mark represents one 17 stair step, up and back.  Thus, the ten days averaged up/down steps 1,020. 

Weight: 180.2 lbs, 2.4 lbs up from last post, blame it on Thanksgiving and cruise overeating.

Money Found:  $2.19 from today’s walk, $2.45 from 12/1/13 walk.  Best find, a five quarter scatter on 12/1/13 walk.

Nike GPS app data: 4.09 = total miles; fastest mile = 17.23 minutes; calories burned = 414

Topic: Public Accountability

Public accountability is a powerful motivator for weight loss achievement.  Therefore, I’m posting my weight loss strategy and results for all to see.  Take the MoneyWalker’s challenge and follow these six accountability steps.

1.       Resume or begin weighing every day. For numeric accountability, write it down.

2.       Take a minimum of five 3-5 mile walks each day until Christmas; or, create your own distance guide but walk the distance five times.

3.       Eat breakfast each morning

4.       Resume resistive exercise program at least three times weekly (optional)

5.       Count and record calories consumed for each meal and between meals snacks.

6.       Report results of calories consumed and morning weigh-in on Facebook and Moneywalker blog for public accountability. An option is to record the data in your own journal that you share with a trusted friend or relative.  Public accountability is the goal.

MoneyWalker

Unrequested Favors

Weight = 179.6 lbs.   Not bringing the weight down as rapidly as hoped following the gluttonous vacation over the Easter holidays at Destin, Fl.  Still too much Easter candy in the pantry.

Coinage = $.63   Another off day for money walking.

Best Find = A dime and penny scatter along the curb just before the walk ended.  Although totals were low, the walk did yield four different scatter finds.

Comment = Today was a better day for reflection than reclamation.  Booker award winner Anita Brookner frequently has her characters taking long walks.  From Lewis Percy:   

“Whatever the reason, he was not anxious to get home without some kind of interval rumination, some time to call his own. The idea of covering a long distance appealed to him. Gentlemen in Trollope, to whom he was devoted, even more than to his early heroes, covered vast distances and were thus able to sustain their noble thoughts. He resolved to walk home regularly, and to tell Tissy to expect him an hour later than his usual time.”

Friday morning was extra cool in New Orleans and just outside of my home; I passed a young man with only a thin t-shirt and a back pack.  Wanting to help, I quickly retrieved a hooded warm-up top.  I had retrieved it curb-side from an earlier walk and washed it for the purpose of giving it away (reclamation).  Here was the chance—give it to the young man. 

Although shivering, he refused the warm-up.  Why?  Behaviorists explain that “unrequested favors” are often viewed with suspicion, that if accepted the person feels obligated to the donor.  So maybe my friend suspected me of untoward behavior.  Anyway, my two reclamation projects of restoring coins into the economy and recycling warm clothing both failed.  But, during the walk, the mind was free to reflect and 'ruminate.'

MoneyWalker

An App for Those That Need External Motivation

Feature Entry: An App for Those That Need External Motivation

Here is what Carolyn See of the Washington Post said about law officer Sunderson: “He is still sick-in-love with Diane, who’s married again, and he’s a compendium of bad habits, but he walks every day and somehow keeps his life in balance.” It seems that many of us are a ‘compendium of bad habits.’

Another bad habit is related to exercise and the store front fitness centers in your neighborhood. January is their busiest time of the year for these usually worthy entrepreneurs. We gain weight, we repent, and then we join a fitness center. The centers charge a non-refundable minimum membership fee and a length-of-time contract, three months minimum due at signing. Joining is not the bad habit, regular attendance is. Too many people join, attend a time or two and then lose interest or motivation to continue. Then at the end of the year, we purchase new clothes, one or two sizes larger than the year before.

Want to change the cycle? Harvard behavioral economists may have the answer. Professor Sendhil Mullainathan teaches that people are more motivated by “immediate consequences than by future possibilities.” Two of his students moved from theory to practice and created a rapidly growing company based on an app that works off of their customers iSO phone (think iphone, ipad, ipod, and others). The company??? Gym Pact!

http://www.gym-pact.com/

Gym Pact works with local fitness centers. When you sign up, you make a commitment to exercise a certain amount of time. If you skip your workout, you get fined $5 a day. The money goes into a user’s pool and at the end of the week, surplus dollars are given to the people that honored their pact. When the exercisers checks in to their fitness center using their iSO phone, Gym Pact confirms your presence via the GPS. The money is handled through credit cards and PayPal. In their beta test, 90% met their pact requirements.

It is that simple: “When you sign up, you make a commitment to exercise a certain amount of time.” There are four simple steps: 1) join, 2) set your pact, 3) check in at your gym, and 4) get rewarded.

Somewhere, in some dimension, B.F. Skinner has a big smile on his face. Go ahead, check out the Gym Pact url listed above.

MoneyWalker

Photo by Richmond College Fitness Center

The Finifugal Walker and The Psychology of Finishing

Feature Entry: The Finifugal Walker and The Psychology of Finishing

This blog will explore reasons why people drop out of a walking fitness program before meeting their health and weight loss goals; but first a note about Ammon Shea and his book, Reading the Oxford English Dictionary, one man, one year, 21,730 pages. Shea’s goal was to read all 21 volumes of the OED, nearly 22,000 pages of definitions. Daunting! His book about the experience, in part, elaborated on words that he found especially interesting including the word finifugal, an adjective meaning “shunning the end of anything.”

A quick look in scientific psychology as well as Google entries will confirm that many people are what Jim Willis in his book Snap Shots and Visions calls “idea” people; people that are motivated by the excitement of conceptualization of an idea but not actualization the work to complete the project. They can get started, do the all the preparation, push forward into action, but then can’t finish the job. The finifugal walker is a person that wants to lose weight, experience the well-fit benefits, buy the apparel, read the literature, consult with a physician, plan a walking weekly/monthly/yearly calendar based on time and distance, initiate a walking program, maintain it for a significant period and begin to experience the success of weight loss and a healthier feeling, but then inexplicably discontinues walking without fully reaching the envisaged goals.

Why? One reason is a feeling of failure. The MoneyWalker’s last three blogs explored the “yo-yo” problems associated with exercise and diet. The early thrill of losing weight must confront the yo-yo reality. Like the stock market, losing weight is an up and down experience. We must learn to control the binges, not be discouraged by them. Finifugal walkers often have bad mental habits; they can’t balance the thrill of victory with the agony of defeat. Smart mental habits utilize self-talk and support groups to stay on task.

The beginning walking/diet program nearly always results in dramatic weight loss especially for people highly overweight. But then even with fidelity to the walking/diet plan, a plateau occurs. The weight loss mysteriously stops. Moreover, the plateau often last for an extensive period of time. That is when disillusionment sets in and the walking and dieting are discontinued. The answer to disillusionment is perseverance. The performance curve for weight loss is nearly always follows an elongated reverse S shape; that is, rapid improvement at the beginning, followed by a lengthy plateau of no loss, but then with perseverance, the curve again reflects downward weight loss. To defeat the finifugal effect, persevere through the plateaus.

Another symptom of the finifugal walker is time management; we are just too busy to devote the time to extensive walking. We get started but then run out of time. Never mind that many of us find hours of time for leisure pursuits related to electronic devices. Related to time management is procrastination, we will get back to our walking tomorrow. Determination is intrinsic, but don’t be afraid to use both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation sources to stay on track.

The finifugal walker is sometimes a romantic. He or she sees the sculptured bodies on screen effortlessly working out sometimes with friends having a great time. They romanticize the walking bout and then realize that taking long walks is hard work and practicing smart eating habits require discipline. Well Yes! For a finifugal walker to become a lifelong walker, food denial and positive work habits must become a part of the psychic make-up.

Blogging about cardio vascular fitness and dieting can sometimes be such a bother. Who wants to read information that is counterpoint to the lovely sedentary strategies of leisure time? But the truth is that maintaining a healthy Body Mass Index requires coming to grips with the reality of the ultimate finifugal walking reality—We never finish! Yet in the end, when we all finish life’s timetable, those that suppressed their finifugal tendencies will have live longer and with a higher quality of life.

MoneyWalker

“Yo-Yo” Dieting, Can This Cloud Have A Silver Lining

"OMG!"

“Yo-Yo” Dieting, Can This Cloud Have A Silver Lining

The MoneyWalker is an NFL fan (professional football), specifically a New Orleans Saints fan. This past week-end watching the Saints defeat the Houston Texans was stressful. The final score, Saints 40, Texans 33 was a back and forth game with the Texans dominating for much of the game. Still Saints quarterback Drew Brees found a way to win. After the final knell down, the MoneyWalker went for a long walk.

Walking is great therapy for flushing out football-induced stress—win or lose.
During the walk, the success of Drew Brees reminded me of the developmental theories of Erik Erikson. Erikson believes that “crises” or “problems” play an important role in successful maturation and problem solving. Brees’s performance provide a “yo-yo” of emotions for Drew as well as his fans. His first interception was a “low” and then he threw a touchdown pass, a” high.” Then another interception, then a series of passes that resulted in several touchdowns and an eventual victory.

Erikson believes that Brees’s successful problem solving (touchdowns) could not have occurred without his negative past experiences. Brees like all of us learn to solve difficult problems with the successful solving of earlier less demanding problems. When we are successful, the event provides the courage and confidence to attempt even more difficult problems.

This brings us to “Yo-Yo” dieting or medically, “weight cycling.” Weight cycling is the repeated loss and regain of body weight. We diet, lose weight, and then gain it all back, often gaining back more than we lost.

Is there hope? Can we use the “Yo-Yo” concept to help resolve the goal of losing weight and keeping it off? The MoneyWalker thinks that we can use weight gain in an Erikson way. We can use the success of losing weight as a positive experience. Then when we regain weight we can teach ourselves to remember that we lost the weight once, we can do it again. The key is cognitive self-talk. Rather than succumb fully to binge eating, we can say “Slow down the eating. Go back to a strategy based on portion control and food choices. Get some exercise. Weight every day. Eat breakfast.” Make sure that each plateau of the Yo-Yo work for you, not against. On the next trip down, lose more weight than the last trip. On the next trip up, gain control so that the next weight gain is not as high as the previous gain. In this way, the success at both ends of the Yo-Yo trip will give you the courage and confidence to finally reach and maintain a healthy body weight. Yo-Yoing is not medically dangerous and the experience can provide a silver lining.

On our next blog we will present a case study of how a minister in New Orleans gained fame by eating at least one meal in more than 900 restaurants in New Orleans over a three year period and still lost weight. His tips will help you defeat the Yo-Yo effect.

MoneyWalker

Money found since last post = $6.02 over 4 walks, average $1.51 per walk

Weight since last report = 174.4 lbs, "-"

Will Walking Make You Smart?

Diane Keaton's Personal Library

Feature Entry: Will Walking Make You Smart?

It is probably true that bloggers enjoy reading the blogs of others. One of my favorites is Psyblog.com.uk. Their recent entry was “7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Memory Without Any Training” The key word is simple because most memory enhancers required quite amount of mental energy. We will not bore by describing the seven ways but a few of their labels include:

Write about your problems
Look at a natural scene
Say words aloud
Meditate
Predict that you will remember
Use your hands or other gestures while trying to remember something
Move your body up when recalling a positive thought and down for a negative

Now here is a clincher for improving your memory. According to Psyblog,”Probably the best way of improving your overall cognitive health is exercise. Studies regularly find that increasing aerobic fitness is particularly good for executive function and working memory.

Randomized controlled trials in Neuromolecular Medicine have shown that exercise improves cognitive function across the board and is superior to computer programs designed for brain training, drugs, nutritional supplements and meditation. Walking and other aerobic forms of exercise have been found to be particularly good at enhancing executive control processes including planning, recall, and working memory.

Psyblog also said that “Exercise is also thought to encourage the growth of new brain cells. In the past scientists always thought that neurogenesis - growing new brain cells - was impossible in humans. New studies, though, have shown that we can grow new brain cells.”

How about just resting on the couch—not good. Sedentary living leads to cognitive deterioration. So, want to live longer with a higher quality of life, start a walking program.

Now what was I saying?

Moneywalker

Developing a Motivation System for Weight Loss and Exercise Continuance

Is this you on December 31, “I am going to lose 30 pounds next year and look great for my 25th high school reunion?” January 1, you make the resolution. On February 1 you lose five pounds, but on March 1, you have gained back seven.

If so, you need to examine your motivation system. Motivation to achieve difficult goals usually requires a “system” of reinforcement behaviors rather than just one end-all be-all motivation device. There are two sources of motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic. The drive connected to intrinsic motivation is “to be a better healthier person;” or, “responsible people keep their weight under control so as to look their best and avoid lifestyle diseases that come with being overweight, and I am a responsible person.” Examples of extrinsic drives are money, rewards, recognition, power, and even tokens.

When possible, we want to be motivated by intrinsic (internal rather than external) motivation, but it's not always possible to be internally motivated about everything. This is where extrinsic motivation becomes valuable. Good behaviors are often in competition with bad behavior. I can take my 4 mile walk or I can read on the couch. At the party, I can make healthy food choices or I can overeat foods with high sugar, salt, starch, or fat content. Motivation drives all those choices, both the good ones and bad ones. Also, good and bad motives are in competition for your will.

Motivation to behave a certain way is driven by how past behaviors have been reinforced. The reinforcement to overeat chocolate candy is because it tastes great. The reinforcement to restrict chocolate in your diet might come from wanting to maintain a recently gained weight loss goal. Or, by approving comments made by a significant other.

Motivation systems require a specific goal. The goal must be defined and what behaviors will be used to reach the goal. After the goal is set and the enabling behaviors determined, a series of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation schemes must be determined and linked together or nested. Also, the schemes will range from elaborate to simple. Especially the extrinsic rewards should be definable and tangible.

The MoneyWalker will illustrate how a motivation system works by using his own system as a working example. My new year’s goal was to be within what the American College of Sports Medicine defines as normal weight. My current weight is 173 pounds. For me, a normal weight is between 129 and 169 lbs. This number range was calculated using my height, weight, age, and gender and then placing the data into a Body Mass Index formula (BMI). My recommended BMI is between 19 and 25. Mine was 25.5 just into the “overweight” category. Thus, my specific goal is to lose four pounds.

Now that I have a specific goal, what set of behaviors am I going to use to lose the weight. The answer is to exercise regularly and practice portion control. My exercise of choice is one guaranteed to burn calories, a daily walk of four or five miles. Every mile burns 100 calories. Portion control means to eat smaller amount of foods known to cause fat storage—sugars, starches, and fats. I try to limit myself to 2200 hundred calories daily. With the exercise program, my net calorie for daily metabolism is between 1700 and 1800 calories. I should lose weight with that amount. I also will weight daily and record the weight in a journal. Although weight fluctuation is normal, upward trends aren’t. Daily weighing provides important trend data. Another behavior is to eat breakfast every day.

I have found that intrinsic motivation does not provide enough reinforcement to sustain my habit of daily walking. Also, feel-good strategies weren't helpful. Beautiful scenery didn’t work, variety of walks didn’t work, and walking with friends didn’t work--for me it was MoneyWalking. MoneyWalking is my name for finding money and other “valuable” objects while walking. Finding a piece of money on the ground is very powerful reinforcement. It supplies classic behavioral random variable reinforcement schedules. One never knows when, where, or how much money will be found during the walks. Also, MoneyWalking involves learning, the more you walk the more money you find. It is a matter of learning where people lose money.

Thus, MoneyWalking is the base of my motivation system, but many other types of motivation schemes are nested within the system. For example, I name the various types of money finds. My ventral striatum really fires hot and heavy when finding a scatter of pennies that someone just dumped on the ground. I call it a penny dump or a Benjamin dump (my son Benjamin tells me he just dumps his pennies on the curb when they accumulate in the console of his car).

Another technique is to count the money as it is found. My goal for each walk is to find one dollar are more. In the metric system “deci” means 1/10th. As I walk and find money, I keep count of the number of decis that are found. At the end of a walk, if I have found $1.29, I record 12 decis, one for every 1/10 of a dollar. While walking I am very aware of the number of decis and the fraction needed to make the next highest deci. In the above example I require just one more penny to earn another deci. Sometimes, I am tempted to add a few blocks to my walk just trying to close out the next higher deci level. Decis are like intermediate goals and serve as "tokens" I earn along the walk.

As mentioned above, daily weighing and recording the weight is nested into the system. I hate myself when today’s weight is higher than yesterday’s. Daily weighing is a great for self transparency. I weigh every morning, regardless of what splurge might have occurred the day before. A trending upward scale pattern is a grating reminder to cut back on the portions and monitor the choices.

Giving back to society is another form of external motivation nested into my system. I rehab, reuse, or repurpose hundreds of objects found during my walks. Then, ever six months, I conduct a MoneyWalker yard sale with all proceeds going to one of my favorite charities, the Baptist Friendship House for Abused Women and their Children or the University of New Orleans Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Lecture Series. Also, all the money found by the MoneyWalker is divided between these two charitable causes. There is nothing more rewarding than helping a worthy cause (and for some, the recognition that such giving bestows on the donor). “I can’t stop walking now, all those battered women and their children are counting on me.” is powerful self-talk.

In summary, if you are not meeting your weight loss goals, you might need to recalibrate your motivation system. Define your weight loss goal very specifically. Determine what behaviors you need to follow in order to reach your goal. Select a powerful base extrinsic motivation reward system, one that has the passion to sustain your behaviors. Combine your base motivator with secondary motivators to amplify the reinforcement. Be sure to include intrinsic motivation as a critical part of your system. Effective motivation systems are not easy to establish or follow. And worse, there are counterproductive motivation systems operating within you that compete for your willpower. Yet, a well conceived motivation system is a critical part of your weight loss and exercise program.

Remember, a happy walker is a regular walker.

MoneyWalker

Initiation Impairment

Feature Entry: Initiation Impairment

Surely it is not the lack of motivation or my higher desire for sweet and fattening foods that is keeping me from reaching my Body Mass Index goal of 168 pounds. With great fanfare the MoneyWalker announced to the world on January 1st that he was going to lose 8 pounds and reach the elusive goal of a normal BMI for his height, age, and weight. But after two months, he still has a long way to go. I tell myself that I am adequately motivated to lose those last few pounds, but they won’t go away.

Now I am thinking I might have a medical disorder. While preparing for a blog on my anticipated “nested motivation systems” I found the existence of a new medical condition—initiation impairment. I think that is me. When I begin a carefully conceived intervention plan including the creation of a food journal, practicing portion control, selecting large portions of fruits and vegetables while avoiding starchy, sweet, and fatty foods, exercising daily using American College of Sports Medicine guideline; I just can’t seem to get started. So that must be it, I have Initiation impairment.

It must have happened that day many years ago when I knocked myself unconscious going for a spectacular racquet ball play. Instead, I tripped and suffered a concussion by hitting my head against the concrete wall. It must be a case of delayed onset of TBI or traumatic brain injury that is causing my problem. These days, all the former NFL football players seem to be talking about their TBIs with all their negative consequences. We can't blame them, they have initiation impairment.

Isn’t modern medicine wonderful! Until reading about Initiation impairment, I thought it was just my lazy attitude that was preventing me from reaching my weight loss goal. But not to worry, I am still going to write that blog about how to lose weight using nested motivation systems just as soon as I recover from this dreaded case of initiation impairment.

What excuse are you giving yourself for not keeping your New Year’s resolution to lose weight?

And what was the tip from the photo? Stop using excuses like initiation impairment and start consuming less calories than you are burning. It will cut a little of the belly fat away everyday.

MoneyWalker

Recidivism, Diet, and Exercise

Negative thinking or just contemplative?

Journal Entries, Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2010

October 27: Weight = 172.4 lbs.; Coinage = $.96, 11 pennies, 1 dime, 3 quarters; Glass bottles = 3; Ground Scores = 3.
October 28: Weight 173.2 lbs.; Coinage = $2.29, 94 pennies, 1 nickel, 13 dimes; GB = 6.

October 30: Weight = 175.2 lbs.; Coinage = $.48, 18 pennies, 1 nickel, 1 quarter; GS = 6; GB = 5. One interesting event was a movie set in Mid City NO. More than 50 trucks, technicians everywhere, busy action, and giant lighting equipment. I wonder which of the people where the stars and which movie was being shot. We have so many movies and television series shot in our fair city it is becoming known as Hollywood South.

October 31: Weight = 176.2; Coinage = $3.91 including one int. coin (100 Chile pesos), 81 pennies, 10 nickels, 11 dimes, 6 quarters; GB =10.

November 1: Weight = 176.0; Coinage = $1.89, 69 pennies, 2 dimes, 4 quarters; GB = 9; GS = 6.

November 2: Weight = 175.4 lbs.; Coinage = $1.39, 39 pennies, 4 nickels, 2 dimes, 2 quarters; GB = 6; GS =5. Today was a nice walk in the rain.

Feature Entry: Recidivism, Diet, and Exercise
There is no question; October was a disaster for the MoneyWalker in terms of exercise and diet adherence. The month contained three separate trips to see friends and relatives. Weighing ever day—forget about it. Healthy breakfasts, no way. Ninety minute zoom walks—are you kidding me. Portion control, how about raw gluttony. All my old bad habits bunched together in one wonderful guilt-free month of unrestrained eating and hardly any boring exercise. Now my waist line shows the result. Guilt and shame have returned with a vengeance.

My October was a working definition of recidivism. Here is how recidivism works. First, you develop a bad habit. We will call it overeating sweets and starchy carbohydrates. The result is weight gain and being overweight. Second, is a resolution to follow a diet and lose weight. The resolution works and a healthy BMI (body mass index) is obtained. Third, a long vacation is experienced followed by a calorie filled holiday, Halloween for instance. The good eating habits are broken and the lost pounds race back. That is how recidivism works.

Unfortunately for people like the MoneyWalker, losing weight is not just a matter of diet and portion control. It also involves a chain of behaviors including exercise, journaling portions, and daily weighing. With recidivism, all the positive behaviors are victims. Collectively the loss of adherence to healthy behaviors results in a vortex of shame and guilt that leads to more binge eating and denying.

Besides weigh gain, a dangerous side effect of diet/exercise recidivism is loss of self-esteem. Lowered self-esteem can then lead to anxiety which if not checked and if other stressors are also present can lead to depression. Stressors such as abuse, personal conflicts, illness, personal issues such as weight gain, death, and substance abuse can all pile up and lead to clinical depression. Clinical depression is serious and should be treated by professionals, but there are behaviors and techniques that can be used to combat regular depression and similar feelings including episodes of stress, unhappiness, sadness, or grief.

Clinical psychologists often use Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help their clients understand how to change negative thinking into more healthy feelings. All situations have positive as well as negative aspects. CBT utilizes a series of exercises that help the individual to identify the positive and eliminate the negative. CBT is not recommended for do-it-yourselfers, but a related skill, positive self-talk, is a doable. Positive self-talk is what the MoneyWalker calls “cognitive over ride,” a replacement of positive thoughts with negative thoughts." Elizabeth Scott, MS has provided several ways to practice positive self-talk.

Because self-talk can be both negative and positive, and because people with common depression focus on negative self talk, she recommends that we notice our patterns of negative thinking. She recommends that we keep a journal to jot down negative comments in order to summarize our feelings. Knowing our patterns can help us to practice thought-stopping. When the negative thoughts begin, we just say STOP!, and then replace the thoughts with positive thinking. Some use a rubber-band around their waist and pop it when the negative thinking begins.

It is not always possible to totally replace negative thoughts, but the self-talk can use milder wording. For example, we can substitute “pain” for “discomfort.” When walking and dealing with rude and dangerous drivers, instead of saying “I hate drivers that never yield to pedestrians, they make me so angry!!!” Instead we can say “ I don’t like rude drivers, they annoy me.”
Concerning healthy food choices, we can use positive self-talk to change negative selections to neutral or positive selections. At a party, we can use self-talk to select non-fattening foods and beverages. We can say, “This chocolate brownie will only give me a minute or two of pleasure, but I will feel depressed for hours; I will munch on these veggies instead.” And we can change self-limiting statements to questions. Instead of saying, “I can’t handle this temptation,” we can turn the episode into a question, “How can I handle this sugary food temptation?”

The MoneyWalker is giving positive self-talk a chance. I’m just going to over ride my desire for fattening foods and tell myself to eat healthy. Just follow my journal entry and watch those pounds fall away.
MoneyWalker

The Weight Loss Plateau: A Dissection of a Failed Blog

Journal Entry: Weight = 168.6 lbs.; Coinage = $1.29.

Feature Entry: The Weight Loss Plateau: The dissection of a Failed Blog

The MoneyWalker has just pulled the plug on a failed blog. After spending several hours of research and writing (550 words), he called it quits. The topic attempted to compare a motor learning concept with a weight loss concept. In motor learning, early success when attempting to learn a novel task is often mistakenly called learning when in fact it is only the result of rearranging what has been previously learning from related or similar tasks. These latent learnings are followed by a painfully long plateau when little or no increase in performance can be plotted. The same with early weight loss success of individuals that begin a weight loss program. Initially there is great success as the lbs. seem to fall off as a result of a new more intense exercise program combined with portion control. But then even as the exercise regiment is continued and fidelity to portion control is maintained, the weight loss stops.

Two similar phenomena, but since we could not make a connection, the project was abandoned. Perhaps there is a latent component to weight loss having to do with water loss and interstitial and extrastitial liquids that comprise adipose tissue. Maybe the recently activated fat cells are easily disposed of whereas the "old hands" are resistant to being broken down just as brain cells are resistant to learning new programs if an already establish brain neuron can be retrofitted to do the trick. So in learning, if we aren't careful, we will confuse performance for learning. Similarly, when we begin a weight loss program, it might be that early in the program, we confuse weight loss with fat loss. These may be very different phenomenon.

Either way, plateaus in both tennis performance and losing weight are deal breakers. Patience with the process, a strong internal constitution, and a very effective external motivation scheme is needed to get past those pesky plateaus.

In the mean time Mr. MoneyWalker, just get over all the time spent in research trying to create a new theory of weight loss plateauing. For now, we will just settle on older ideas such as "starvation metabolism," "high metabolic efficiency," "set-point theory," "aberrant thyroid stimulation," or good old fashioned "pilot error" (the exerciser is cheating--not walking as much and not practicing portion control).

So if you hit a plateau with weight loss, keep walking, keep charting food intake, the body will eventually move off of the plateau and reward you with another stretch of happy days on the digital scales.

MoneyWalker

Using the Brown Plan To Get Thin

Journal Entry, 6-4-10: Weight = 171.2 lbs; Coinage = $1.16, 46 pennies, 2 nickels, 1 dime, 2 quarters. One glass bottle. 3 ground scores. Best find, a quarter in a newspaper vender.

Journal Entry, 6-6-10: Weight = 174.0 lbs; Coinage = $5.06, 141 pennies, 16 nickels, 16 dimes, 5 quarters. Great day at the car wash.

Journal Entry, 6-7-10: Weight = 171.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.67, 87 pennies, 8 dimes; six glass bottles, 4 ground scores including a very nice chair.

Feature Entry: Using the Brown Plan To Get Thin

It is well known that America is a nation of successful dieters. Unfortunately nearly everyone gains the weight back and adds more. Thus, America is experiencing an obesity epidemic.

To better understand the problem, Rena Wing, Ph.D of Brown Medical School and James O. Hill, Ph.D. of U. of Colorado established the National Weight Control Registry to study long-term successful weight loss maintenance. They basically wanted to know what successful dieters do to keep their weight off. Established in 1994, the epidemiologists have tracked thousands of dieters. To be included in the Registry, each had to have loss at least 30 lbs and kept it off for one year or longer. Many have kept their weight off for decades.

Using different methods, ninety-eight percent of participants report that they modified their food intake. No surprise there. The MoneyWalker was pleased to learn that 94% increased their exercise activity with walking being the most frequent method cited. The exercisers averaged one hour a day of increased activity. For those keeping score, reduction of food intake and increase in physical activity are number one and two respectively in terms of behavior change.

But there are more behaviors that the group have in common. Seventy-eight percent eat breakfast every day; 75% weigh themselves at least once a week; and 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.

From the Registry’s website the MoneyWalker has extracted several testimonials.

Gary..a dramatic change in the volume and types of the foods that he was eating, and obtaining positive support from friends to help boost his self-image and improve his outlook on life. All of this translated to losing 75.5 pounds in 2001 and the ability to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle for the last 8 years. Today, Gary works out for an hour each day, eats a balanced, mostly organic diet, avoids fast food in its many forms, and cooks most of his own meals in his own kitchen.

Carolyn…“My exercise routine is simple. I walk. I park at the back of the parking lot at the office and walk during breaks and lunch. Also, when going to the mall, I park at the opposite end from my favorite store.” Carolyn has now lost more than 100 pounds and is feeling better than ever.

Sandra lost 100 pounds over the course of a year through a combination of portion control, food records, and regular exercise.

Drew..By gradually reducing my caloric intake and learning that being hungry before meals could actually be a good thing, I lost weight at a safe rate of about two to three pounds per week." Drew started to walk on a regular basis...

Charles…once he combined healthy eating and portion control, he lost 100 pounds. Now in his seventies, Charles exercises regularly and has been maintaining a healthy weight for over 16 years.

So how can we use the Brown Plan to get thin and stay thin (the MoneyWalker’s word usage, not theirs)? The answer if fourfold: 1) practice portion control, 2) increase exercise, 3) eat breakfast, and 4) weigh at least once a week. Each of the four core principles will be more completely developed as a future blog. In the mean time, get off the couch, turn off the TV, eat less food, take a 30 minute walk, eat breakfast, and weigh once a week.

MoneyWalker

The Obesity Debates, Part II

Journal Entry May 17, 2010: Weight = 173.6 lbs.; Coinage = $5.58, 178 pennies, 11 nickels, 15 dimes, 7 quarters; Glass Bottles = 6; Ground Scores = 4; best coinage find = plentiful canisters at the car wash.

Journal Entry May 16, 2010: Weight = 171.8 lbs.; Coinage = $1.49, 34 pennies, 4 nickels, 2 dimes, 3 quarters; Glass bottles = 6; Ground Scores = 7 (a nice office chair and a desk lamp all to be recycled); Best coinage find = 2 telephone return coins , a “super find.”

Journal Entry Mary 15, 2010: Weight = 172.0 lbs.; Coinage = $2.03, 38 pennies (one wheat), 2 nickels, 3 dimes, 5 quarters; Glass bottles = 6; Ground scores = 5; Best coinage find = 2 quarters in a parking meter return slot, still another super find, two days in a row—very infrequent.

Feature Entry: The Obesity Debates, Part II

Marc Ambinder, a writer for Atlantic Magazine has defined two causal forces that are considered the leading explanations for the overweight/obesity “epidemic” that is racing through America; a condition that has been defined as contagious by researchers at the U. of Colorado. In the presence of other overeating, we are also inclined to overeat. Thomas Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reminds us of what we intuitively know, the two big causes of obesity is the one/two punch of reduced exercise and increased food consumption.

But the debate is about who is the blame. Caution, the blame forces are politically loaded with financial, psychological, and sociological implications. When discussing this issue, it easy to slip into politically incorrect observations and suggestions. In a parlor party, one group will blame the overweight for not being able to control their urge to overindulge, another will blame agribusiness for over marketing foods that are intentionally designed and dietetically engineered to hook consumers on foods loaded with salt, sugar, and transfat.

Serpentining through both camps is an argument for and against government control. Those for personal freedom argue that is the right of the individual to choose when and what is to be eaten. This group would also be resistant to placing limitations on agribusiness. Another group advocate taking a “tobacco solution” which means heavy state and federal taxes on foods that are linked to obesity. One suggestion is to place a penny tax on each ounce of sugar sweetened soft-drink sold.

And Hollywood actresses are known to fuel the fire. Oprah Winfrey has been forthcoming about her yo-yo fluctuations and her frankness has tended to “normalize the conversation." Jennifer Love Hewitt, Tyra Banks, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson and Kelly Clarkson are stars with documented weight gains and have responded to news reports at times with indifference and defiance at others. Some obesity experts warn that when stars gain weight it sends the message that gaining weight is acceptable; others contend the opposite, that profiling Hollywood stars that have gained weight adds to the national crisis.

What can really address the problem other than self control? Several have advocating one or more of the follow solutions: 1) strategically labeled caloric information on all food sold by fast-food restaurants; 2) restrains and govt. control of food advertising; 3) more govt. research for new treatments for the ow/obese; 4) rewriting insurance policies that penalize the obese or reward the BMI compliers; 5) city banned trans-fats from restaurants; and 6) socially marketing of the importance of exercise and eating healthier both in schools and in the work force.

Other suggestions include 8) increasing subsidies for fruits and vegetables; 9) using zoning restrictions to keep fast-food restaurants away from schools; 10) “removing unhealthy foods from all schools, child-care and health-care facilities, and government institutions”; and 11)“completely eliminating” children’s exposure to food advertising on television.

These recommendations leaves the MoneyWalker wondering, whose responsibility is it to fix behavioral problems that are individual in nature but have financial implications for all of us? Ambinder asks a worthy question: “Would it be fair if the government induced health sanctions to combat obesity? Or should it be the responsibility of individuals and families?”

An on-line discussion group on Pandalous includes several well stated opinions concerning the debate. The MoneyWalker invites you to enter the debate on this site. Let us hear from you.

MoneyWalker

Types of Walkers

Journal Entry 4/16/10: Weight = 171.0 lbs; Coinage = $1.12, 27 pennies, 1 nickel, 3 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 5; Ground Scores = 5; Best coinage find = .36 in a parking meter coin return slot.

Journal Entry 4/17/10: Weight = 172.2 lbs; Coinage = $3.91, 121 pennies, 7 nickels, 11 dimes, 3 quarters, 1 half-dollar; Glass bottles = 11; Ground scores = 6; Best Coinage finds = one half-dollar in a car-wash vacuum (what suction) the one-half dollar was only the second of this denomination in more than two years of money walking; a 61 penny-dump at a curb (seeing that many pennies just dumped along the curb shocked the ventral striatum of the MoneyWalker.)

Feature Entry: Types of Walkers

In our last blog we asked the question, “Do you have the DNA to be a MoneyWalker?” This idea came from Tamara Lowe and her trademarked “Motivation DNA.” Lowe’s reference to DNA was metaphorical; she meant Drive, Needs, and Awards. She divided the three factors into bipolar units. The continuum for drive is “Producer” on one end and “Connector” on the other. For needs, the continuum is “Stability” and “Variety.” Awards are differentiated by “Internal” and “External.” The MoneyWalker took her test and was rated a PVE, a producer that is motivated by variety and looks to external rewards for motivation. As for the motivation to be a walker, the expectation of finding lost money while powerful is not for everyone. In fact, very few even consider this “bizarre” source of motivation.

So what kinds or types of people are walkers? Geoff Nicholson in his highly readable book, The Lost Art of Walking (2008, Riverhead Books, NY) provides some clues:

1. The meanderer likes to walk round and about, somewhat aimlessly and avoids direct straight lines.
2. The Roman walker, walkers that walk straight and direct paths to their destination.
3. The set walker, a person that walks the same set pattern every day.
4. The array walker, the walker that has a long list of set walks and varies them according to his/her mood.
5. Pilgrimage walker I, the person that walks the paths of famous persons.
6. Pilgrimage walker II, the person that revisits his old neighborhoods and walks them as if on a pilgrimage.
7. The connoisseur walker, the person that seeks and finds interesting and stimulating walks that most people would not think of.
8. “Shot in the dark” walker, similar to the connoisseur walker, this walker goes to anywhere and everywhere, but not always successful with his/her instincts. Some of the walks are best forgotten.
9. The “marrow bone” walker also known as the masochistic walker takes walks that are so long and onerous as to eat into the marrow of the bone.
10. Nature walker enjoys leisurely strolls through picturesque venues.
11. Dog walker would not walk at all if it weren’t for the dog.
12. Group walker enjoys walking with groups of people.
13. Competitive walker competes in walking races
14. Philanthropic walker gains pledges for charities where donations are referenced to the number of miles walked.
15. Fitness walker is a person that walks for fitness and weight loss or weight maintenance.
16. Gym walker is found on the circular track of the gym but nowhere else.
17. The “peace of mind” walker seeks the exercise to sort out his/her world, for self knowledge.
18. The eccentric walker, often walking in strange clothing, seems to enjoy showing off his/her eccentricity.
19. The photographer walker seeks great photo shots.
20. City walker is a utilitarian; he/she walks to work, to shop, to the post office and other places to satisfy the utilitarian need to be at different places rather than one’s home.

These styles or types are not mutually exclusive. As a money walker, I relate to several of Nicholson’s topology. Also, there are dozens of other types that others might identify. Any takers?

What kind of walker are you?

Happy birthday Ms. MoneyWalker, a great source for exercise and nutrition modelling for the MoneyWalker. Looking good!

MoneyWalker

Do You Have the DNA To Be A Money Walker?

Journal entry 4/14/10: Weight = 172.2 lbs; Coinage = $3.47, 97 pennies, 8 nickels, 11 dimes, 4 quarters; Glass bottles retrieved = 6; Ground Scores = 7.

Journal entry 4/15/10: Weight = 171.2 lbs. (Weight loss tip, two evening meals in a row, eat homemade soup rather than regular dinners, delicious and low calorie); Coinage = $1.37, 37 pennies, 7 nickels, 4 dimes, one quarter; Best coinage find = a quarter left in a coin return machine.


Feature Entry: Do You Have the DNA To Be A Money Walker?

Ms. MoneyWalker and I attended a Peter and Tamara Lowe “Get Motivated” Business Seminar. Colin Powell, Laura Bush, Rudy Giuliani, the ubiquitous Zig Ziglar, the Saints Sean Peyton and Drew Brees, along with several financial gurus provided a full day of entertaining and interesting information about how to achieve important life time goals including financial. Perhaps the best speaker was the Co-sponsor Tamara Lowe and her trademarked Motivation DNA topic.

She provided the inspiration for this blog about how to determine if you have the DNA to be a MoneyWalker. According to Wikipedia, DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. I still remember reading about the exciting 1953 discovery by James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick (with others.) Our DNA is highly related to the type of personality that we possess.

We have established that walking is listed as the number one pastime of adults in the U.S. and in most developed countries. But there are all kinds of walkers, but only a few have the DNA to be a MoneyWalker. Take the MoneyWalker DNA Test to see if you have the genes to be a money walker.

MY FRIENDS WOULD MORE LIKELY TO DEFINE ME AS …

1. Yes or No: … “achievement oriented” rather than as a person that is “supportive oriented.”
2. Yes or No: … “externally oriented” rather than as an “intrinsic oriented” person.
3. Yes or No: … “too sure of myself” rather than a person that is “sure of myself.”
4. Yes or No: … “fast paced and intense” rather than as a person that is “unhurried/stable/peaceful.”
5. Yes or No: … a person that “prefers public recognition” rather than one that prefers “private recognition.”
6. Yes or No: … “improvises as problems come up” rather than a person that “prepares for unforeseen problems.”
7. Yes or No: … a person “that takes the lead” rather than preferring someone else “to take the lead.”
8. Yes or No: … “prefers work that leads to financial success” rather than “prefers work that leads to making a positive difference.”
9. Yes or No: … “hard driving” rather than “laid back.”
10. Yes or No: … “impulsive” rather than “disciplined.”

Interpreting the Results

If you answered yes to eight or more questions, you have the DNA to be a successful money walker.

If you answered yes to six or seven questions, it is possible that you have the DNA to begin a money walking habit, but in time you will find it difficulty to continue the practice in favor of other types of walking.

If you answered yes to four or five questions, you will be intrigued by the possibility, but probably do not have the DNA to pursue the idea.

If you answered yes to three or fewer, it is highly unlikely that you have the DNA to be a money walker.

As indicated, many of these ideas came from Tamara Lowe’s Motivation DNA test which is copyrighted. Also, this is a highly unscientific assessment instrument with only experiential validity inferred.

MoneyWalker

Incorporating Walking into Everyday Life

Journal Entry 3/20/10: Weight = 170.4 lbs.; Coinage = $.50, 10 pennies, 4 dimes; Glass bottles = 17; Ground Scores = 8.

Journal Entry 3/21/10: Weight = 171.4 lbs; Coinage = $4.04, 99 pennies, 10 nickels, 8 dimes, 7 quarters; ( one super find, 2 quarters, 1 nickel, 2 pennies in a curb scatter); Glass bottles = 16; Ground scores = 5.

Journal Entry 3/22/10: Weight = 172.6 lbs; Coinage = $ 1.59, 39 pennies, 2 nickels, 6 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 4; Ground Scores = 6.

Journal Entry 3/23/10: Weight = 171.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.25, 50 pennies, 2 nickels, 4 dimes, 1 quarter; Glass bottles = 19; Best coinage find = a quadfecta on a long range errand run, a curb dime at the doctors park, a nickel find in the candy machine return at the hospital, a quarter find at the service station’s air station, and two pennies at the hardware parking lot. Money is everywhere looks if one looks carefully

Feature Entry: Incorporating Walking into Everyday Life

The 3/23/10 journal entry that describes how the MoneyWalker found $.42 on one run of daily chores led me to consider how to find natural and interesting ways to increase the number of steps taken each day. My goal is take 12,000 steps daily, the number derived by exercise physiologists as the amount required to keep weight at or near the recommended Body Mass Index.

The MoneyWalker follows three strategies to reach the 12,000 step goal—daily 90 minute fitness walk, residual green walks that involve walking to complete chores near my home in Mid City New Orleans, and Parking-lot walks (instead of parking as close to the destination as possible, I park as far from the desitnation as possible) when a destination is beyond the logic of a residual walk. The motivation for incorporating this much walking into my everyday lifestyle is multifaceted. Two important hinges drive the behaviors. First, is the desire to stay physically fit and avoid weight gain. These are both intrinsic motives and lack the power to sustain the 12,000 step behavior. The second hinge is extrinsic and involves a “bizarre” habit of searching for money while performing the exercise. Past blogs have defined how the brain’s pleasure center, the ventral striatum, seems to be hardwired to demonstrate pleasure when a lost coin or paper currency is found. Moreover, the pleasure derived from finding coins is highly reinforcing. The link to walking is obvious, the more you walk, the more money you find.

But is there that much money out there to be found? One estimate is that people in the U.S. lose $300,000 every day. Finding money is a learned skill. When the MoneyWalker started, his average was about .25 cents for a one hour walk. Now his daily walk, although now a 90 minute walk, yields more than $1.50 a walk.

Later we will reinforce many other benefits from incorporating walking into your everyday life including fitness, weight management, prevention of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and more personal joy and tranquility. Also, we will more fully discuss specific ways that each of us can find the time and the will to complete the walks.

MoneyWalker

Jaywalking and Money Walking: A Cost/Benefit Analysis

Journal Entry February 25, 2010: Weight = 171.2 lbs.; Coinage = $1.79, 44 pennies, 2 nickels, 5 dimes, 3 quarters; Glass bottles retrieved = 3; Ground scores = 2.

Journal Entry February 26, 2010: Weight = 171.4; Coinage = $. 84, 59 pennies, 1 quarter ( found the quarter on the last block of a three mile walk, thought it was going to be an all pennies day, and that is not bad); Glass bottles retrieved = 25; Ground scores = 2.

Journal Entry February 28, 2010: Weight = 170.8 lbs; Coinage = $5.03, 98, pennies, 8 nickels, 14 dimes, 9 quarters (a good total to close out February); Glass bottles retrieved = 2; Ground scores = 3 including a very nice outdoor grill.

Feature Entry: Jaywalking and Money Walking: A Cost/Benefit Analysis

It is 6:30 a.m., the streets are essentially empty, a hot money spot is across the street mid way between intersections; should the MoneyWalker jaywalk or go to the corner and double back? Yes, according to all law enforcement policies, no according to Tom Vanderbilt in his blog “In Defense of JayWalking."

Jaywalking is defined as crossing a street at a place other than marked cross walks, street corners; or walking against a signal light. According to the National Safety Council, approximately 6,000 pedestrians are killed and another 84,000 suffer nonfatal injuries each year. Jaywalking is against most state laws and is punishable by a modest fine, but few are actually issued a citation, and law enforcement officers report that jaywalking laws are difficult to enforce.

Vanderbilt is an unrepentant jaywalker. However, he does not defend the “egregious jaywalkers who defy logic and physics in their wayward perambulations.” He defines himself as a careful jaywalker who “frankly find the notion of waiting for a signal when no cars are in sight to be faintly ridiculous and anti-urban.” He thinks state laws are biased against pedestrians and points to countries such as Holland that have essentially dropped laws against jaywalking and have passed laws that place more blame on motorists.

Among many of his recommendations are to provide more proper crossings in the places he calls “desire lines,” the places people instinctively use to conserve energy. He also takes issue with traffic signals that fail to provide a “leading pedestrian interval” so that the walker is protected from eager drivers that fail to stop when making left and right turns at intersections.

Fitness walkers are by definition zoomers and are impatient in terms of maintaining an elevated heart rate. A red traffic light is irritating especially when a car is not approaching for blocks in any direction. But is jaywalking safe even for seasoned walkers? The MoneyWalker gives a qualified yes. From the very beginning of ambulation, the human develops sophisticated time/space decision making skills. By adulthood, the pedestrian is a master at relating his/her ability to judge time, distance, and space with that of other walkers, bikers, and automobile drivers. The decisions include making predictions about what others are going to do.

But prediction is a dangerous proposition. If we predict incorrectly the speed of a moving car in terms of arrival, then jaywalking can result in tragedy. The driver has all the power. Thus, the MoneyWalker is a judicial jaywalker and is especially vigilant in terms of the dangers of prediction. Each decision to jaywalk involves a cost/benefit analysis. Is the time saved and convenience worth the risk? The operative word is vigilance, vigilance, vigilance, especially at traffic lights and cell phone crazy drivers or drivers just in a hurry that can’t be bothered to yield for the walker before making an intersection right or left turn.

Should you jaywalk? Probably not, but the impulse to take the chance is not easily suppressed. It seems silly to be bothered by the inconvenience of "artificial" barriers to efficiency such as cross walks. We must all make the decision individually. But please, do not try to defy physics and good sense in order to save a second or two of time.

Careful out there!

MoneyWalker

“Happy Days Are Here Again” and Harry Reid

Journal entry 1/11/10: Weight = 172.8 lbs (sixth day in a row of weight reduction, you have to like those digit scales that weight in 1/5ths of a lb); Coinage = $.48, 13 pennies, 1 nickel, 3 dimes; Glass bottles retrieved = 11, Ground scores = 9 ( one being a cassette tape for my car collection, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on one side and Revel’s Bolero on the other).

Journal entry 1/12/10: Weight = 173.8 (weight up thanks to a “calorie in the bank” splurge); Coinage = $.33 but one wheat, 18 pennies, 1 nickel, one dime (two nice two penny curb scatters); Ground scores = 6; Glass bottles = 7

Journal entry 1/13/10: Weight = 173.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.30, 60 pennies, 4 nickels, 5 dimes; Glass bottles = 2; Ground scores = 6 (one like new Office Depot desk chair with two broken casters easily replaced from Office Depot, Ms MoneyWalker wants it if the casters are forthcoming.)

Feature Entry: “Happy Days Are Here Again” and Harry Reid

The coinage is down, but there is one piece of great news. Ms. MoneyWalker, the person that provides the moral center for this blog and all other aspects of the MoneyWalker's lifestyle and daily behavior. By moral center I mean the core set of behaviors and ethics that are all things good and true. Yesterday she shared a research article that will change my life forever.

The article, something she just blurred out without intention, provided evidence that web searching for one hour each day helps delay aspects related to dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. It seems that the active use of brain cells used during the searches helps prevent synapse deterioration and other critical brain function.

Think about it, if one hour is good, how much more good will two or even three hours a day provide. And what about Freecell, Solitaire, and Minesweeper, these games must be even better—and all now played guilt free. "Yes, dear I'll wash the car just as soon as I finish this web search of how Jay Leno's return to his regular late night spot will increase the ratings of NBC."

No her gaff will not rank with Harry Reid’s recent misspeak, or NBC's decision to take Jay into prime-time, but to borrow from the Dem’s favorite song, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again
Altogether shout it now
There’s no one
Who can doubt it now
So let’s tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again.

MoneyWalker

The Psychology of Daily Weighing

Journal Entry 01/06/10: Weight = 173.8; Coinage = $1.24, 44 pennies, 2 nickels, 7 dimes; Ground Scores = 4; Glass bottles retrieved = 11.

Journal Entry 01/07/10: Weight = 173.4; Coinage = $1.31, 31 pennies, 4 nickels, 3 dimes, and 2 quarters; Best find = a curb quarter spotted while walking to the barber shop.

Feature Entry: The Psychology of Daily Weighing

The Consumer Reports ratings of Bathroom scales is in. See the February 2010 issue. Digital models are better than Dial models and the Taylor 7506 is rated a best buy and cost about thirty bucks. I know, boring!!

Yet, the MoneyWalkers weigh every day. Ms MoneyWalker isn’t a walker but she follows the big four methods for weight loss/weight loss maintenance, e.g., daily weighing, high fiber breakfast, daily exercise, and portion control. Her exercise regiment is stair climbing for cardiovascular, dumb bells for strength, and body stretches for flexibility. She is a suave 5’ 6” 117 pounder that nearly everyone under estimates her age. (Hint: she carries a Medicare card.)

Experts and authors of fitness/weight loss books and articles usually do not recommend daily weighing. They site lack of scale accuracy, normal daily weight fluctuations (water retention), and the danger of negative reinforcement as possible reasons. The MoneyWalkers however believe that the advantages offset these potential negatives. Here are our reasons for the daily practice. Incidental, the new digital models are much more valid and reliable than the older dial models.

First, daily weighing provides instant accountability concerning food and beverage binging. We are both guilty of short periods of time when we overeat in an unrestrained way. Our digital scales are accurate within plus or minus 1 lb 87 to 100 percent of the time and provides read-outs in fifths of a pound.

Second, we find that daily weighing reinforces our daily exercise, in my case the daily walk. The scale a little up, take that walk; the scale a little down, keep up the good work. Thus, the scales provides both negative and positive reinforcement, both important for creating habit strength.

Third, some recommend that the wardrobe fit be substituted for daily weighing. But we find that daily weighing provides more transparency of the effectiveness of a continuing weight loss or weight maintenance program than wardrobe fluctuations. Actually, we use both methods.

Finally, we find that daily weighing informs the psychology of weight loss/maintenance. Binge with calories, the shadow knows. Blow off a few workouts, the shadow knows. If one is aware that the morning ritual of the scales await, it is easier to maintain fidelity to the program.


MoneyWalker

Minimalism and Ground Scores

Journal Entry: Weight = 175.0 lbs; Coinage = $2.87, 72 pennies, 7 nickels, 8 dimes, 4 quarters; Glass bottles located, picked-up, and stashed = 14; Ground Scores = 6, best GS was a clear plastic ruler for my Herrenzimmer office.

Journal Entry: Minimalism and Ground Scores
Yesterday the MoneyWalker talked about the joy of ground scores. In the same blog, he reported finding 8 quarters on his fitness walk, a big money day by any standards. These quarters were found inside a carwash trash barrel, but not in a usual way. With a quick nearly causal glance, I noticed a quarter in a glass container, something that resembled a small candy bowl. Beside the bowl was an identical glass container, but broken. The spotted quarter commanded a closer inspection. The bowls had obviously been thrown away even though one contained the quarter. The close inspection paid off. Just below the glass containers were seven more quarters, a couple of dimes, a nickel or two and a few pennies. They gave the appearance of having been in one or both of the dishes prior to having been thrown away. Careful to avoid collateral damage, the coins were retrieved, but why were they thrashed?

Perhaps the car’s owner was a want-to-be minimalist, a person that feels that clutter and the pursuit of “extra stuff” robs them of their energy and causes them senseless work and stress. Minimalists are hyperkinetically concerned with burden producing excess—excess debt, excess energy, excess friendship, excess food, excess possessions. It’s easy for a minimalist to feel the weight of possessions as liabilities. Thus, a minimalist would never imitate the MoneyWalker and blog about the joys of “ground scores.”

Back to the found quarters of yesterday, a minimalist rather than seeking to accumulate seeks to always to “tidy things up a bit.” So off to the car wash, vacuum the carpets, and clean out the trunk. Without inspection, with no concern for edits, the strategy is for all junk including those awful twin candy dishes to be thrown into the trash can. The fact that they contained a cache of coins was somehow forgotten or ignored.

It has been reported that $300,000 is lost each day in the United States. If so, some of the behavior that leads to lost money must surely be linked to the notion that many people just don’t won’t to be bothered by excessive stuff in their pockets, closets, homes, offices or automobiles. Out it goes and sometimes with stow away discs in the form of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.

As for Mr. MoneyWalker, he extends his thanks to the minimalists; Ms MoneyWalker on the other hand has their full sympathy.

MoneyWalker