So, I am probably you. 36, Short , fat desk job and broke. I have two kids, a mortgage, too much debt and well here I am living the North American dream.
I have said for years this is not how I see myself when I grow up. Some time in the last little while I looked at my 13 year old who is my youngest and realized that I DID grow up. I am still waiting to make the changes that I know I will have to make in my life to achieve the things I dream about.
So then, A little about me. I have never been the best at follow through. I am a true procrastinator, I have a lot of big ideas ! Big ideas become work and finally then they become passing thoughts that I figure might have been great if I had just kept it up.
My best example of this is money. I work at a financial institution. I spend my days helping people either buy their dream homes or invest for their future. I look at an account that has 800.00 in it and I think “ wow this person is cutting it close on usable cash”
My bank account is currently -745.00. My bills are behind and this is not for lack of making a decent salary.
IF I had stuck to the original financial plan I made for myself about 8 years ago, small savings and no credit. Live on cash and don’t spend what you don’t have. Make a plan for all events and set up automatic payments so that you never have to worry about having enough to pay your bills. Budget and do not spend for fun.
IF I had done this, at 36 I would be a comfortable woman and able to plan some living in my life.
I did not and so the result of that is that I am a slave to my job, working to pay for what I have already spent and emotionally eating to make myself feel better about where my life is at.
Putting this on paper sounds like complete insanity, and my IQ is way too high to keep going this way.
I have come to the conclusion that like every other flimsy dream/goal in my life I have sat back and kinda wanted it to happen but not prioritized it. I have not defined this with a solid start date, end date and rules to live by.
Rules, that is another thing about me, I don’t like them. I don’t like rules even when I am the one who has created them. As an example, I don’t believe in marriage because I feel that suddenly I will no longer have the choice to be in the relationship if I am married, I am then legally bound to be there. This remains true even with my partner who I can not imagine not spending the rest of my life with, I still don’t want to marry him.
I don’t like rules with money, life, work, I generally don’t like anyone telling me how and what I need to do. This I recognize is a bit of a personality flaw and part of my quest for the next year is to stick to the rules I am laying out for myself.
So you get the pictures. I am a stubborn redhead with a few authority issues, a whimsical gypsy mind that is easily distracted and loves loves loves food.
I love me as well, but I am still not the person who I see in my head. I see my reflection and feel like there is a strange bloated sad looking version of me staring back.
I do not need therapy, I do not believe I am depressed , I simply need to do what a million people each year do, make a choice and stick with it through to see some change.
This brings me to the Keto-Cash Project. I have not yet decided if the entire project will stay a secret or simply the fact that I am writing a book to produce at the end of it. I guess, true to form, I simply cant make that choice right now.
The Keto-Cash Project is my personal 365 day experiment with food and money.
We will start with “ keto” Short for Ketogenic diet. I do not like the word diet as it indicates that there will be an end date. I feel physchologically this is a bad thing. Real change has to be felt as a permanent embrace I am told , so I prefer the shortened form of the word.
There is a huge “ Keto “ movement out there in the world right now, Just spend 5 minutes on google after searching the word and you will be transported to a thousand sites of people with seemingly miraculous weight loss and health benefits. I am skeptic by nature when it comes to most things, Truth is though I have done this for 3 months before, I have never ever felt better.
“keto” is fairly simply. Restrict your carbohydrate intake to 20g net carbs a day. Moderate protein and most of your calories from healthy fats.
That’s it, easy right? Well only if you do not get too caught up in the world of macro nutrients and food weighing and supplements. These of course are just fancy words for rules.
Keto has to be monitered to some degree to be successful, you do have to make sure you eat within the carb confines. This is the heart of the whole process, turning your body from something that runs on glucose for fuel ( sugar) and one that runs on your own fat strores.
The science is out there, it is tested and proven. I think that if you are reading this then it is worth your while to go and read a bit of it just to have an understanding of why it works.
As far as I am concerned I have done the research, I have done the reading, I have listened to the podcasts and still do. Now I am simply ready to stop thinking about it and start.
I also am a person with an autoimmune disease and a large predisposition to cancer. I have a complete hysterectomy at 25 to avoid that issue when some nasty cells were found. I have no gall bladder for the same reason.
“Keto” although yet unproven, has shown to have major health benefits when it comes to cancer fighting and inflammation reduction. Simply put, Cancer cells eat sugar- keto has no sugar – keto starves cancer.
I love the thought, I hope they can come up with some studies that prove it soon. I do not believe big Pharma will be happy with the conclusion.
So, these are the reasons that I am doing “keto”. I have 40 pounds to lose and a lot of life I want to live.
Now, on to the Cash part, I want to be able to afford to live all that life. I have looked at the things that I have financed over the last decade, and I am not talking about the big stuff, cars etc, but the stupid little things that rack up your credit cards and then just sit there. I can not tell you anymore what the purchases even are on my cards. I can not tell you where the money went when I took out a loan to refinance.
I am an emotional spender as well. I may as well just face it, I have what one would call an addictive personality driven by instant gratification. I never wait for anything I want it 5 minutes ago.
As Mr Einstien said, “ the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.
So I present to you “ The Keto-Cash Project”.
Very simply put, I am going to follow a “keto” food plan and live on cash only for 365 days.
The Rules:
1. Eat a ketogenic meal plan for 365 days starting Feb 25 2016-Feb 24-2017 ( this is a leap year)
2. No cheating. Not even for holidays and high days. I know it is possible to do this as I have done it in the past. There are always ways to make your food ketogenic
3. Document. No holds barred documentation of the process. I will be honest about how I am doing through the entire time. AND, I will continue through to the 365 days.
4. Live on Cash. No credit spending, no debit spending, no borrowing. If I do not physically have the funds then I do not have the ability to purchase what I want.
5. Do not short change bills or family in order to have cash for things. I do not get to put myself in front of adult responsibilities.
6. This is key- Only log into online banking when necessary. I am an addict. I look at my accounts and try to sort out ways to make it more complex and more lucrative all the time. I watch my tiny investments and try to decide if I should take them out. It will not matter because the cash in my wallet is what I will have.
7. Pay down credit cards with any and all extra funds that come my way. I have a budget of 300.00 per month that is my money to spend. That works out to 10.00 per day. Logically that should be enough for any little things. If I decide to go for dinner with the boy well then that is a few days after that I do not spend anything.
Gas is 30.00 a week so that still leaves me with 40.00 for entertainment. Actually that is plenty.
8. Monthly financial recap. I will report the balances on my accounts monthly on the 25th. This will not only help me track my progress but I want to keep this very real.
9. I will make money from any and all sources that I can. I like to knit and so I am sure that I can get my infiknits business off the ground if I really try.
10. I will finish this book, meaning I will stick to this project.
So, there you have it, The Keto Cash Project is on.
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