Myth: All this obesity and BMI stuff is way overblown. Being fat isn't nearly as big a deal as they say it is.
Fact: While much of the obesity epidemic is overstated, and BMI may be a gross oversimplification, that doesn't mean we can ignore our weight.
In case you hadn't noticed, the media are terribly hypocritical. The new big thing in the media? Headlines like "Is The Obesity Epidemic Overblown?" "Being Fat: Is It As Bad As They Thought?"
And here's the thing: It's not. A lot of the scientific data right now is reinforcing the idea that the obesity myth is just that--largely a myth.
Here's the problem, though. Who was it who overblew it?
The media themselves. They took valid scientific data and blew it out of all proportion in order to get you to "Tune in at 11."
And now, they're making the same mistake the other way. They're taking more valid scientific data and blowing it out of proportion again in order to get you to tune right back in. Only now, it's turned around--they're lulling everyone back into apathy.
Here's the thing--it's not the data that's wrong. It's the hype.
I don't need a scientific study to tell me that being overweight is bad for me. I didn't start this diet because of any scientific study. I did it because I was getting winded too easy. I did it because my knees were aching constantly, a pain I couldn't bear any more. I did it because I never had any energy.
Clearly, being overweight hurts. The "data" still supports this. Sure, some of the numbers may have been overblown. But even the true data, while it may not be "Tune in at 11" kind of exciting, well--let's just say it brings a smile to my face when I can walk three miles without noticing my knees.
So don't believe the hype. And don't believe the anti-hype. Do what's best for you.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Rental Car Bargains
Since my car's been in the shop for a while, I've been forced to rent. And I've learned about the rental car system.
If any system is sufficiently messed up, and you can find a way to take advantage of it, you can save a ton of money.
In this case, the rental car system is pretty messed up. Dave Barry once joked that the world would not truly be fair until two people sitting next to each other on the same airplane had paid the same price for their tickets.
Same way with rental cars.
My first rental car was actually paid for by my company. A Chrysler 300 from Dollar. Last year's Motor Trend Car of the Year. Wow. It was pretty darn cool, and I didn't have to pay for it.
For my second car, I got a Pontiac Grand Am from Alamo. Using coupons in the Entertainment Book, and a discount they give to anybody who uses the coupon book, I was able to get it for about $115 for five days.
So when the day came to return it, I knew I wouldn't have my car back yet. So I called up Alamo the night before and asked what it would be to keep the car another four days. They said it would normally be about $130, but with a $10 a day fee for keeping the car past the contract, it would come out to $170.
"So lemme get this straight," I said, "It would be cheaper to go in and get a new one than keep this one?"
"Probably. Go ahead and call and see."
So I hung up with the local rental center, then called the main distribution center. They rented me a mid-size for the next morning for four days. Using another coupon, it came out to about $80.
So I go the next day, drop off my mid-size, walk inside, pay for the new midsize, go back outside, and pick up a full-size. See, there were no mid-sizes on the lot, so I got a free upgrade. Even though the mid-size I had just returned was sitting maybe 20 feet away with the keys still in it, it hadn't been "cleaned and prepped" yet, or whatever.
So here's some tips for renting cars:
1. Always make your reservation for a small car. You should do this in the hopes of getting upgraded free. If you want a bigger car, and they don't upgrade you free, you can always "change your mind" at the last minute. In my case, I made the reservation for the smallest size the coupon would allow. That did happen to be big enough for me, but I did get upgraded once.
2. Always make your reservation over the phone at the 1-800-number. Since the phone center folks know less about what's on the lot than the lot guys, they're more likely to book you something the rental lot won't have. This is a huge help when you're renting moving vans. I once made reservations over the phone for a Ryder center that, unbeknownst to the phone center folks, only had like two trucks. Since the small one was out, they were forced to rent me the big one (and it was huge, probably bigger than my apartment) at the same price.
3. Use Coupons. The Entertainment Book has great coupons, but you can find them in the travel section of the Sunday paper, too.
4. Call around. If it takes you an hour and you save $40, you just made $40 an hour for your time. Not bad, eh? Ask about each company's specials before you tell them what you want--you may be able to fit the special into your plans.
5. Use the web only after you've called. Part of the messed up rental car system is that there are different specials on the web vs. on the phone.
If you have any other tips or ideas, feel free to post them!
If any system is sufficiently messed up, and you can find a way to take advantage of it, you can save a ton of money.
In this case, the rental car system is pretty messed up. Dave Barry once joked that the world would not truly be fair until two people sitting next to each other on the same airplane had paid the same price for their tickets.
Same way with rental cars.
My first rental car was actually paid for by my company. A Chrysler 300 from Dollar. Last year's Motor Trend Car of the Year. Wow. It was pretty darn cool, and I didn't have to pay for it.
For my second car, I got a Pontiac Grand Am from Alamo. Using coupons in the Entertainment Book, and a discount they give to anybody who uses the coupon book, I was able to get it for about $115 for five days.
So when the day came to return it, I knew I wouldn't have my car back yet. So I called up Alamo the night before and asked what it would be to keep the car another four days. They said it would normally be about $130, but with a $10 a day fee for keeping the car past the contract, it would come out to $170.
"So lemme get this straight," I said, "It would be cheaper to go in and get a new one than keep this one?"
"Probably. Go ahead and call and see."
So I hung up with the local rental center, then called the main distribution center. They rented me a mid-size for the next morning for four days. Using another coupon, it came out to about $80.
So I go the next day, drop off my mid-size, walk inside, pay for the new midsize, go back outside, and pick up a full-size. See, there were no mid-sizes on the lot, so I got a free upgrade. Even though the mid-size I had just returned was sitting maybe 20 feet away with the keys still in it, it hadn't been "cleaned and prepped" yet, or whatever.
So here's some tips for renting cars:
1. Always make your reservation for a small car. You should do this in the hopes of getting upgraded free. If you want a bigger car, and they don't upgrade you free, you can always "change your mind" at the last minute. In my case, I made the reservation for the smallest size the coupon would allow. That did happen to be big enough for me, but I did get upgraded once.
2. Always make your reservation over the phone at the 1-800-number. Since the phone center folks know less about what's on the lot than the lot guys, they're more likely to book you something the rental lot won't have. This is a huge help when you're renting moving vans. I once made reservations over the phone for a Ryder center that, unbeknownst to the phone center folks, only had like two trucks. Since the small one was out, they were forced to rent me the big one (and it was huge, probably bigger than my apartment) at the same price.
3. Use Coupons. The Entertainment Book has great coupons, but you can find them in the travel section of the Sunday paper, too.
4. Call around. If it takes you an hour and you save $40, you just made $40 an hour for your time. Not bad, eh? Ask about each company's specials before you tell them what you want--you may be able to fit the special into your plans.
5. Use the web only after you've called. Part of the messed up rental car system is that there are different specials on the web vs. on the phone.
If you have any other tips or ideas, feel free to post them!
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The Whole Messy Story
Okay, so sometime last month, the car broke down. It's our only car--a Saturn SL1.
I purchased it--well, August will make three years. It was five years old, and it had only 24,000 miles on it.
I financed it for five years at 11%. This was a mistake I will never make again. Actually, I hope to never finance a car again, but even if I do, it will not be for five years. As my Dad correctly pointed out at the time I bought it, my little daughter, who was not yet one, would be in kindergarten before this thing was paid off.
Anyway, I put a lot of miles on it driving for work. Last month, I brought it up over the 100,000 mile mark. Although I try to be real, real good to it, I had the proverbial "bad feeling."
Sure enough, one morning as I was driving to work, the thing overheated. I pulled into the WalMart station to check my fluid levels and see what was going on. My radiator exploded a dark, thick goo all over my engine that looked like something Nickelodeon would sell to kids.
Turns out oil was leaking back into the radiator. A big mess. A big mess that's kept me from having the car for several weeks, and backwards in my debt payback plan to the tune of about $2,500. That's about equal to the amount I still owe on the car.
I'm taking a week's pay in lieu of vacation to help me pay for a chunk of that--I'd been planning to do that to pay off some of the debt anyways--and will shift some of my dramatic paydown money and my mileage checks into paying that off in a few months.
In all, this means I'm about three months behind, now, in my debt pay-off plan, which was already about six months too slow to get me out of debt by the end of the year.
What will happen, true believers? Will the 365 day turnaround be forced to become a 780 day turnaround? Will this debt-free thing ever happen?
Stay tuned to see how we get ourselves back on track!
I purchased it--well, August will make three years. It was five years old, and it had only 24,000 miles on it.
I financed it for five years at 11%. This was a mistake I will never make again. Actually, I hope to never finance a car again, but even if I do, it will not be for five years. As my Dad correctly pointed out at the time I bought it, my little daughter, who was not yet one, would be in kindergarten before this thing was paid off.
Anyway, I put a lot of miles on it driving for work. Last month, I brought it up over the 100,000 mile mark. Although I try to be real, real good to it, I had the proverbial "bad feeling."
Sure enough, one morning as I was driving to work, the thing overheated. I pulled into the WalMart station to check my fluid levels and see what was going on. My radiator exploded a dark, thick goo all over my engine that looked like something Nickelodeon would sell to kids.
Turns out oil was leaking back into the radiator. A big mess. A big mess that's kept me from having the car for several weeks, and backwards in my debt payback plan to the tune of about $2,500. That's about equal to the amount I still owe on the car.
I'm taking a week's pay in lieu of vacation to help me pay for a chunk of that--I'd been planning to do that to pay off some of the debt anyways--and will shift some of my dramatic paydown money and my mileage checks into paying that off in a few months.
In all, this means I'm about three months behind, now, in my debt pay-off plan, which was already about six months too slow to get me out of debt by the end of the year.
What will happen, true believers? Will the 365 day turnaround be forced to become a 780 day turnaround? Will this debt-free thing ever happen?
Stay tuned to see how we get ourselves back on track!
Monday, June 06, 2005
Tale Of The Tape
Up two pounds. I wasn't really bad for eating, but I haven't really been exercising.
So I'm really behind on my birthday weight goal. A lot of that is discouragement from the car situation, which I still haven't mustered the energy to blog about. I'll probably post more about it on Wednesday or Thursday when the car's back and the dust has settled and I'm back to where I was a couple of months ago, financially.
Which, I really need to keep in mind, is still way ahead of where I was a year ago, financially and weight-wise.
So I'm really behind on my birthday weight goal. A lot of that is discouragement from the car situation, which I still haven't mustered the energy to blog about. I'll probably post more about it on Wednesday or Thursday when the car's back and the dust has settled and I'm back to where I was a couple of months ago, financially.
Which, I really need to keep in mind, is still way ahead of where I was a year ago, financially and weight-wise.
Laugh Yourself Skinny
This article is a bit misleading.
See, on the surface, it says that laughing burns more calories than your basal, or "resting" metabolic rate.
That sounds really exciting. Laugh yourself skinny, right?
Only see--what they compared it to was sitting watching TV.
Your body never burns fewer calories than when you're sitting watching TV. You could sit and talk and burn more calories than sitting watching TV, since you'd be moving your mouth, gesturing, etc. You could hiccup and burn more calories than sitting watching TV.
So as far as exercise goes, they admit right in the article this is a great way to burn about four and a half pounds a year.
So don't swap your Kathy Smith videos for Marx Brothers just yet. Or, if you've already memorized the Smith routines, then maybe you can go ahead and make the swap and watch Groucho and Harpo while you do the memorized routines. Now that's multitasking.
See, on the surface, it says that laughing burns more calories than your basal, or "resting" metabolic rate.
That sounds really exciting. Laugh yourself skinny, right?
Only see--what they compared it to was sitting watching TV.
Your body never burns fewer calories than when you're sitting watching TV. You could sit and talk and burn more calories than sitting watching TV, since you'd be moving your mouth, gesturing, etc. You could hiccup and burn more calories than sitting watching TV.
So as far as exercise goes, they admit right in the article this is a great way to burn about four and a half pounds a year.
So don't swap your Kathy Smith videos for Marx Brothers just yet. Or, if you've already memorized the Smith routines, then maybe you can go ahead and make the swap and watch Groucho and Harpo while you do the memorized routines. Now that's multitasking.
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