This weekend I sat down and updated my personal budget for the first time in over a year — long overdue considering how drastically my life has changed in that time. But it got me to thinking a bit and I came to a conclusion. (One that’s a twee simplistic, but let’s just think theoretically here.)

Planning to save money really is no different than planning to lose weight.

Planning is something that’s preached big time in Weight Watchers. If you take even just a few moments to think ahead about your meals, about how you’ll respond when something like free cake at work presents itself (I failed in that department today), if you think about how you’re going to incorporate more movement into your life, then you’re more likely to be successful.

Same goes for money. And I definitely have to plan how to deal with that.

If given the opportunity, I could spend, spend, spend all day. Y’all know how much I love to shop. I also love to travel and eat and drink well, and those things cost money too. For the first year out of college I barely stayed afloat being paid a salary of peanuts and not having reformed my spendy ways. A few years ago, I decided to get smart about money and after spending a month analyzing ALL my spending, I put myself on a budget.

It wasn’t perfect — I still had shopping binges where I’d come home with more bags than I could carry. But it worked well enough that my bank account began to grow. And it grew large enough that I had a hefty downpayment for my townhome.

Now I’m trying to do the same thing with my weight, although I in reverse, I guess. I have a budget of points (a budget of calories, fat grams and dietary fiber units) that I get every day. Sure there are days where I’ll consume more than I intend to, but there will be other days where I’ll be super healthy.

Instead of a townhome, my reward is a slimmer body, a healthier lifestyle and loads of self confidence. I don’t know about you, but that may be better than a townhome.

The beauty of both a financial budget and a health one is that there’s plenty of opportunity for redemption: if you have a bad month for money, just start over at the beginning of the next month and try a little harder. If you have a bad week of overeating, treat the next one as a new beginning.

Apparently it’s working. Consider the official tally:
-minus 5.6 pounds since the start of Weight Watchers a month ago
-minus about 9.3 pounds since I started keeping track four months ago

One of my fellow Weight Watcherers had a great tip this week. She’s lost 25 pounds (amazing, isn’t it?) and when she was in the grocery store the other day, she picked up a 25-pound bag just to grasp how much weight she’d actually lost. Brilliant. Twenty-five pounds on the body seems like one thing. When you’re actually cringing from holding the weight, you realize just how significant it is.

Right now I’m in search for things that weigh 5.6 pounds. I’ve found the following:

• Five bottles of beer minus a few ounces (Coors Light used for testing purposes only)
• Webster’s New World College Dictionary, fourth edition + Jen Lancaster’s Bright Lights, Big Ass + Nuns Having Fun (exhibit A)
• New Balances + Chacos + brown ballet flats + hiking boots (exhibit B)
• My tool box + electric drill

Exhibit A
Exhibit B

Someone told my mother after she’d lost about 30 pounds on WW that it was like she’d given birth to a 4-year-old. By the time she achieved lifetime status (basically one’s goal weight) on WW, she’d lost two of them.