Lose Weight for Just Pennies a Day

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

15 Aug 2006 02:30 PM

I remember when I was growing up, there were always ads on television about the Children's Fund and other charity organizations that urged individuals to sign up for their programs and bring food and water to children for just pennies a day. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you could bring food and water daily to children in countries in other parts of the world.

The following suggestion, has likely been tried somewhere, though I've not seen it yet. My suggestion is to lose weight by not focusing on feeding yourself less, but by focusing on feeding others more. For pennies a day, you can redistribute your grocery shopping to see food delivered to food banks and other sources.

How do I do this?

Do you budget for your groceries? Do you slip in a few extras here and there - soda, candy, cookies? For each item you eliminate from your shopping list - donate those funds to a charity or food bank. If you would have spent $4 on a box of cookies, purchase cans of vegetables instead and drop them at a food collection center.

If you saved $23 in extras from shopping, write a check to a charity at your Church, local community or national organization to help feed others. In this way, you are not so much focusing your energies on losing your weight, but helping to feed others. There's nothing like a good dose of citizenship and giving to cure cravings.

This Can Work

Last year, after the hurricanes, I spent six months donating 10 percent of my income to Hurricane relief funds via the Red Cross and through the Animal Rescue organizations that were providing aid and assistance. It wasn't the easiest thing I'd ever done, because we were often tight on money - however, I felt passionate about helping - as much as I could in a way that I could and what was ten percent?

That ten percent taught me a better fiscal responsibility and made my financial outlook healthier. So let's not think about dieting or weight loss as starving ourselves to fit a popular image in our heads or anyone else's - let's think about it as improving someone else's lot in life - you just may find the satisfaction and success that eluded you previously.

How might you lose weight for just pennies a day?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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