<prompt> Human: It may seem strange at first, but I honestly dont think I could have done without somehow effecting the other. My lifestyle changes both in regards to my food and with with finance were very much linked, so I thought it was worth sharing some of the parallels that helped me breakthrough with both.Calorie counting and budgetingA lot of you may be familiar with the concept of calorie counting, but it really didnt hit home to me how important it was to log every meal accurately until I was doing the exact same process monthly with my budget. When I considered the food I was eating in broad terms of nutritional value, it was the same for me as hand-waving dollar amounts attached to things. You ever get that feeling that money just seems to magically disappear into the ether when you arent accurately tracking and planning exact amounts? The same thing was happening with my calories, and lead to plateaus and regaining weight I thought I had lost for good.Planning out meals and my daily calories the same way I did for my budget kept me from mindlessly snacking, missing my workouts, and overeating. Being by the numbers made cause and effect very clear.Value per calorie and the value of a dollarIt really hits home to you how every dollar should count when you run out of money before you run out of month. The same feeling when controlling your food intake is much worse in some ways, because ultimately, eventually youre going to need to eat. You can live without spending for a few days or weeks. You cant safely do the same with your food. I was forced into justifying every calorie expenditure and re-examined a lot of junk that was just too costly. It was very similar to my monthly budget review, looking over where money had been wasted on things that really didnt prove their value. Doing both on a regular basis really helped me to master self-control.Debt and extra poundsEvery poor food choice that took me over my calorie limit is hanging out on my body, just like everything I couldnt afford that I threw on credit was hanging out my statement. In order to make a dent in either, I had to meet the minimum needed for the day minimum payment versus minimum resting daily calories, and make a dent above and beyond. This is hard to do when it feels like you just dont have enough cashcalories, but over time you learn how to do more with less.How dieting saved me money, and cut poundsPaying with cash instead of credit and debit cards may make you more inclined to choose healthier foods, according a Cornell University study. It also, in my opinion, definitely makes you think twice about spending a lot when you switch to cash for your groceries. My bill for food dropped from 600-800 a month to just 300, sometimes not even taking a grocery trip for a month. Costco and my slow-cooker completely changed the way I thought about preparing meals. And I still eat very well, with no lack of variety.The average restaurant meal has 1,128 calories, which, if youre a female of my size, is almost 75 of your daily calories in one shot. The average restaurant meal costs 35.65. Consider that the average American eats out about 3.1 times a week, and that adds up financially and physically. Dropping meals out is common advice in this subreddit and rloseit for a reason. Now that I eat out maybe once a month now, I definitely dont miss it.In conclusion, I think that neither of these things was particularly easy at first. No one likes finally looking at their bank statement and realizing that its going to take months to repay past debt. No one likes looking in the mirror and realizing that theyve been overeating years. In my case, Im not in any way completely finished with either. Im 8 pounds away from my goal weight, and in 3 months my debt will be completely repaid. Having a defined plan and a budget has completely turned around my finances and my health. Ive stopped being afraid of bank statements and the scale, and thats an incredible weight ha off my shoulders.Assistant: How can you go a month without food shopping? What about fresh fruits and veggies? I guess you dont use much milk or eggs either, and thats understandable. Im all for saving money on food, but how is it healthy if you arent eating fresh foods?Human: How can you go a month without food shopping?Smoothies for breakfast, buying in bulk at Costco, meticulous meal planning, and getting protein from lots of different sources than just meat.We also buy whole chickens, and large cuts of beef, to cut into portions ourselves. Vacuum sealing and freezing means we always have tons. We make stock from the bones, and also have a large supply.Fresh fruit and veggies tend to be accounted for in our smoothies the early part of the month. Granted, were not the best about eating them every day, but between our smoothies and garden during the summer, we get enough servings.Milk is again a beginning of the month kind of thing. We dont drink tons of it, really. We have skim milk powder for when we run out, or sometimes supplement mid-month if we cant make it. Same with eggs. We also bake bread daily, which is a new habit for us. Costs a few cents worth of materials, and is a fun hobby.Assistant: How do you eat a whole loaf of bread per day? Are you making small loafs? I guess at 25-90 cents a loaf it doesnt really matter though lolHuman: A small baguette fresh out of the oven barely lasts a few minutes :p Seriously, fresh bread is the most amazing thing.  <response>: rBreadit FTW! 