Weekly Calorie, Exercise, & Fuel Chart

With gas prices topping four dollars a gallon here in the US many people are looking for solutions to an ever increasing fuel budget. Some people are selling their gas guzzling SUV’s and purchasing smaller fuel efficient cars. Others are cutting back on vacation trips and doing more things at home.

I thought I would put together a weekly chart to track my fuel expenses and see how much I was really spending. I drive a pretty fuel efficient vehicle, averaging about 30 mpg on the highway and the low 20’s around town. As I was putting the chart together I decided to track all of my common daily activities on one convenient chart. This included tracking…

1. Calories
2. Fat Grams
3. Meal Cost
4. Exercise Time
5. Trip Destination
6. Trip Mileage
7. Trip Cost

What I quickly realized was that the different items could easily offset each other. If I needed to take a long trip I could cut food costs. For smaller trips I could walk or bike instead of taking the car and save fuel costs.

I created the chart in Microsoft Word and started taking it with me on a daily basis. At the end of the day I would total up the items. Here was a startling finding. By tracking my expenses on this chart, I started to walk more, take my meals with me instead of eating out, and actually found myself saving money over my previous habits.

I also began to eat better and exercise more which led to weight loss. It is funny how a simple chart actually helped me cut costs and get healthier in the process.

You can download the chart here and modify it quickly in Word to meet your needs. I’ve included a Word 2007 version and one for Word 97-2003. Try it for a week (or better yet a full month) and see where your money goes. See if you can cut your trips down and increase your exercise.

If you currently eat out a lot you may see substantial savings by taking meals with you. You won’t have to drive to lunch or dinner and you’ll probably eat cheaper and with less fat and calories than eating in a fast food joint or restaurant.

To really see how many calories you’ll save by not going to that restaurant pick up Eat This-Not That from the editor of Men’s Health magazine. You’ll be amazed (or dismayed) at how many calories are in that signature restaurant meal!

Eat This Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save You 10, 20, 30 Pounds-or More! by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding Read more about this book…