There are many similarities between eliminating debt and trying to lose weight.  Looking at those similarities can help you to achieve both once you have achieved one.  Here are just a few:

Progress takes time

Lotteries and surgeries aside, there are few ways to speed up either process.  Those who try shortcuts, get rich quick schemes and crash diets, usually end up worse off as a result.  The trouble is that the real solutions, the golden rules (below) take time and people want results now.  Carefully tracking your measure of progress, in pounds or in dollars, will allow you to see the small changes that add up over time.

They Affect the Majority

The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $10,700 in credit card debt, according to CardWeb.com, and the average interest rate runs in the mid- to high teens at any given time.  A full 63% of Americans are overweight, according to American Sports Data, Inc.  With both problems widespread, the number of proposed solutions is also huge.  That brings us to the next point.

There’s Always a New Fad

Since we haven’t grasped the other points, we all secretly hold out hope that there’s some magic new method that will make all the difference.  It seems as though there are just as many new personal finance books as there are new diet books.  Why do you think that is?  The answer is that the last books that were written didn’t have all the answers.  Even though we know that, we still believe that this time might be different and buy into the latest hype.

The Golden Rules

The rules of eliminating debt and losing weight are incredibly simple and very similar: spend less than you earn, and eat less than you burn.  It really couldn’t be much simpler than that.  Yet so many of us struggle with the implementation of those rules.  The fact is that it seems  easier to live beyond our means or eat what we desire.  In reality, we just convince ourselves that such sentiment is true.  Those living within their means and at a healthy weight often describe how much easier life is, without the burden of debt or excessive weight.

It’s interesting that although the same skills are required to eliminate debt and lose weight, many of us only use those skills for one of the problems.  There are planty of overweight individuals who live without excessive debt and others who maintain a healthy weight but are heavily in debt.  Remembering how similar the two problems are may allow you to apply the solution you’ve used for one to the other that still causes you problems.