Fat git, 65K savings – take six months off to get fit?

hodd

A bit of fun, but here goes.


Male, early 40s, married, no kids. Salary £53000, longish hours and a lot of business travel.


Body Mass Index: 32.6 (6 foot, 109Kg)


Blood Pressure: Not high enough to need tablets but not far off


Weekly alcohol units: 35+


As it says, my salary is OK and my net worth is exactly £65K. I rent (£700 a month, which includes water and heating – it’s a place in Germany where things are a bit different).


I’ve not had any health scares yet, but my BMI (I don’t look particularly fat, cycle a lot and sometimes even walk up stairs) is a cause for concern. I’m planning to take out a UK mortgage soon and have pensions and all those great things, but the point is I’m a bit fat, well not just a bit according to my BMI.


Enough waffle (wish I said that more at breakfast time), should I somehow get fit and stay in my so so job? Or should I take the financial risk and spend six months of my life getting fit, not drinking so much, hopefully losing 10Kg and changing my rather unhealthy lifestyle?


As for my passive income, it’s about 200 pounds a month. I would hope to spend not more than £10K to £15K during my ever so healthy six months.


As I said, a bit of fun. Financial common sense says “stay at work”. My heart, meanwhile, quite literally says “take the time off but use it wisely”.

mrcow

10Kg? Is that all? You could probably poop that out in a couple of months with the right diet. Stop drinking and you'd probably be there!

No need to stop work. Just make the necessary postive changes required - and make them permanent - rather than some 6 month health fad.

guitarman001

I'm more interested in hearing about Germany! I looked into Munich a while back but rents seemed quite high - approx €1000 per month warmmiete.

atush

No need to stop work. If whatever you do that works, can't fit into your normal life you will just pile it back on.

And from your drinks, I can see that just cutting that out, or down, will do most if it if not all on it's own. Add in some healthy eating, and you are there.

You could take a week off for a detox, and meet up with a trainer etc if you want a kick start.

hodd

10Kg is an arbitrary initial target. I will/would still be a fat git then, but it's a start.

The long hours (slumped at desk) and business travel don't help (excuses).

Ifts

....Health is wealth

hodd

Ifts wrote: »

....Health is wealth

All the cliches are spot on here. If you've got your health, etc. I find it a bit strange planning for a pension in 25 years time when I should be thinking more about my future health.

xylophone

Don't refer to yourself as a "fat git". It is self abusive and won't help your self esteem.
Take a fortnight off.
Porridge and a piece of fruit for breakfast - low fat or skimmed milk.
Set yourself a daily cycle ride to somewhere of interest.
Take a packed lunch - two slices wholemeal bread, scraping of butter/spread, white meat, fish, lower fat cheese and salad plus a piece of fruit - water to drink.

One glass of wine only with evening meal - no other alcohol.
Serve boiled potatoes, no butter, lean meat or fish, fruit.
Take a short walk and one mug of skimmed milk before bed.

You might well have lost 3 or 4 kilos by the time you return to work.

Keep up the exercise and healthy eating - don't stick at the desk - get up and walk about and take the packed lunch out to the park and have some time in the fresh air.

Good Luck.

Hooloovoo

hodd wrote: »

Salary £53000 ... my salary is OK ... so so job

Crikey. Would you like to swap with me? I'd happily put up with a "so so" job for £53k a year!

Frankly, you're not going to get fit in six months. It's a permanent change of lifestyle that is required.

I don't mean to be harsh but this is one of the daftest posts I've ever read on here.

:beer:

racing_blue

This is basically a lifestyle choice. What you choose to eat and do today, tomorrow, and each day after, will inevitably define your shape and health. How we choose to live each day becomes, of course, how we chose to live our life. I suspect stopping work is not the solution to this particular problem! Worst case stopping work will give you less structure, more chance to graze, and could be counterproductive. Maybe better solutions would be taking up an active hobby and cutting alcohol to 1 or 2 days per week?

Are you happy with your financial situation? I'd say it looks shaky. Someone on here recommended to me "the millionaire next door", don't know if you have read it but guess probably not. I thought it was a great book. The book classes people as under or over accumulators of wealth & argues that someone's net wealth should, on average, be equal to their salary x their age divided by 10. Far above this, you become a "prodigious accumulator of wealth", which is what the millionaires next door seem to be. They present some pretty good data to support the argument.

40 x 53k / 10 = £212k, so it looks like you have been underaccumulating (like most people). So I personally would think that taking 6 months off from work would be a terrible idea, for your future financial independence and lifestyle. I think I'm allowed to say that because this is MSE... wouldn't normally be so bold!

Good luck.

guitarman001

racing_blue wrote: »

This is basically a lifestyle choice. What you choose to eat and do today, tomorrow, and each day after, will inevitably define your shape and health. How we choose to live each day becomes, of course, how we chose to live our life. I suspect stopping work is not the solution to this particular problem! Worst case stopping work will give you less structure, more chance to graze, and could be counterproductive. Maybe better solutions would be taking up an active hobby and cutting alcohol to 1 or 2 days per week?

Are you happy with your financial situation? I'd say it looks shaky. Someone on here recommended to me "the millionaire next door", don't know if you have read it but guess probably not. I thought it was a great book. The book classes people as under or over accumulators of wealth & argues that someone's net wealth should, on average, be equal to their salary x their age divided by 10. Far above this, you become a "prodigious accumulator of wealth", which is what the millionaires next door seem to be. They present some pretty good data to support the argument.

40 x 53k / 10 = £212k, so it looks like you have been underaccumulating (like most people). So I personally would think that taking 6 months off from work would be a terrible idea, for your future financial independence and lifestyle. I think I'm allowed to say that because this is MSE... wouldn't normally be so bold!

Good luck.

Is the financial situation different in Germany, though... maybe he has a pension... and certainly the German state pension is better than a UK one... or is it that he is worse off? I don't know! Lots of Germans rent... buying over there near the big cities could cost a lot (though much cheaper in rural areas unlike here).