It’s a beautiful summer’s day in London. I’ve been preparing for this photo shoot for weeks and I am not willing to let anything compromise the outcome I have worked so hard for. After all that dedication and hard work I naturally let ‘loose’ after the shoot, treating myself to a few drinks, an indulgent dinner and decadent desert! However, enjoyable as it was indulging in the moment, I had an awful night sleep and woke up the next day regretting my choices, feeling fat, underwhelmed and most importantly annoyed with the amount of money I had spent!

“I woke up feeling fat, underwhelmed and annoyed with the amount of money I had spent”

I am brilliant with calories, terrible with money. But during the time that I have been a personal trainer I’ve come to realise that I need to treat pounds (£) like pounds (lbs)…. let me explain.

“I need to treat £‘s like lbs”

If I know I have a meal out with family or friends at the weekend or a wedding etc I eat a few less calories for a couple of days before and probably a couple after to compensate. Essentially, I save my calories. A couple of hundred less calories on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday means that on Saturday I can let loose a bit, not think too much about what I’m eating and enjoy the day. If I really go for it then a few hundred less calories on Sunday and Monday should restore the balance…. and if I really went to town, well then a full day fast will do the job! Doing that comes naturally to me, however, putting actual pounds aside does not! I have to work on it, I have to think about it every single day and I struggle to consider the future.

“I have to work on it, I have to think about it every single day and I struggle to consider the future”

For me the instant gratification of spending money far outweighs the benefits and longevity of saving for something, or nothing! Saving money for future unforeseen events seems completely pointless to me, I can just deal with it at the time right? You see, I don’t really want anything of monetary value, I’m not driven by material things and I am a ‘live for the moment’ type. Planning and looking to the future isn’t my forte! Sorry Dad!!

It’s the same with my clients and their calories, the instant gratification of eating that meal, chocolate bar or drinking that beer far outweighs the long term advantages of not doing those things.

“The instant gratification far outweighs the advantages of not doing those things”

My finances will be much healthier if I have some savings to draw on if an unforeseen expense comes up and you would be in a far better position if an unforeseen illness comes your way if you have your health in order. In fact an unforeseen expense is far less likely to come your way if your finances are in order and an illness is far less likely to come your way if you have your health in order!

I can’t get the money I spent back, I can only sort myself out, get back to work today and make sure I’m on top of my finances to recoup the damage…. exactly the same way as I would if I was stressing about my calories.

To ensure I keep my finances on track, I move £1 out of my current account and into my savings account every single morning. Every day, I use letting my dogs out as a cue to save money. It’s just one pound, that one pound turns into 2 which turns into 3, which if I continue to do this every single day in a year I have accumulated £365, but that’s not all it does, it reminds me every single today to keep track of my finances, it alerts me to record my income and expenditure, it reminds me to save more. Do you know the best bit, having that money in savings means I don’t want to touch it! I have worked hard to get that balance up and I don’t want it to go back down because I’m inherently lazy! I don’t want to have to do that all over again! Every single day I see that balance and I increase it, I’ve always got at least £1 to spare.

“I use letting my dogs out in the morning as a cue to save money”

Track your calories, create good habits and have a visual representation. I promise if you do this you will not want to see that go down.

“There are no good or bad habits. Just habits that lead you closer to your goals and those that lead you farther away.” – James Clear in Atomic Habits.

Don’t waste your time and money on a diet that’ll get you shredded by next week OR a workout that makes you super toned by next Wednesday, sign up to one of my programs and implement some powerful daily habits that fit your lifestyle and your goals towards a healthier, more abundant future.