January 2025
Friends and Clients,
I love sharing things that inspire me and that have changed my life for the better. That’s why I’m creating this monthly email series titled: Healthy Wealthy Wise.
I promise to provide applicable and to-the-point info aimed to educate you on your health and finances and inspire your heart and mind.
And you’re likely to see some music or art that I am into along the way 🙂
I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for following along!
Jon Vogel
Healthy
No matter who you are or what your health goals are, when it comes to your diet, knowing WHAT to eat is HARD. Knowing HOW MUCH to eat is even HARDER. But of all the resources I have come across in the last 20 years, the most effective tool I have used for tracking and balancing diet and nutrition is the Carbon Diet Coach App.
TO BE CLEAR - It’s not a “diet” - it’s a tracking app.
You can eat in line with your preferences or diet restrictions. Doesn’t matter if it’s keto, vegetarian, paleo, intermittent fasting, etc. It’s just a tracker to help you know how much to eat and in what ratios. It has a barcode scanner to easily log your food and coaches available to answer questions. IMO it’s more user friendly, flexible to lifestyle and dietary preferences, cheaper and more accurate than others like MyFitness Pal or even the RP App.
My diet has remained fairly clean and healthy over the years, but when I left my career as a personal trainer, I packed on some extra baggage around my midsection, giving me that oh-so-desirable “Dad Bod.” Even with 2 active kids and 4-5 days a week of exercise, my daily activity no longer outpaced my caloric intake. So, for me to lose the fluff around my middle, I had to dial in my nutrition.
I’ll save you all the hoop-jumping and trial and error it took me to find what actually worked. So here’s the point:
If you want to lose fat or weight, you have to consistently eat fewer calories than you burn.To maintain muscle, you have to eat the right ratios of protein, fats, and carbs.
BUT, who the hell can figure that out on their own? I just wanted something to TELL ME WHAT TO DO. I had the discipline, I just needed the correct information.
The Carbon app did that for me. It has all the science supported calculations and algorithms built into it, and it takes all the headache out of trying to do this yourself and/or follow a specific DIET.
I trimmed my belly fat, lost 8 lbs in about two months, and kept it off. I still use it off and on to fuel my new goals or just to dial it back in after some time off.
Here’s what it did for me and what I learned.
I was eating healthy foods, but in the wrong ratios (too much fat and not enough protein and carbs)
I was overeating in total calories because it’s easy to do if you’re not paying attention
I needed to eat MORE clean carbohydrates like rice and oatmeal to sustain muscle and fuel my workouts
I needed to reduce my fat intake (Ex- eat less egg yolks and more egg whites. Get leaner meat and consume less volume of nuts and salad dressings. While healthy, these are heavy calorically, and those calories needed to be redistributed to my carbs and fats)
I could relax on some weekend meals and liquid calories if I just hit my protein goals and stayed on track and in the ranges the rest of the days. You just need to stay within the weekly average which affords you flexibility if you go over on some days.
Disclaimer—You will have to weigh yourself and measure your food but this becomes easy and part of your daily routine eventually. And if you eat the same things most days, you can flex what you eat at other times and still be in the ranges you’d need to reach your goals.
I have no affiliation or incentive to promote Carbon. I’m just spreading the word because IT WORKS!
Check it out here.
Wealthy
Did you know? You can receive up to $5000 in tax credits if you’re an eligible business owner looking to start a retirement savings plan for your business.
This can offset many of the start-up costs associated with implementing one. The value is not only in the tax credits but also in helping your employees save for retirement because many don’t do it for themselves.
This is also a great way to build goodwill and retention. Let me know if you’re interested in learning more.
From IRS website - Eligible employers may be able to claim a tax credit of up to $5,000, for three years, for the ordinary and necessary costs of starting a SEP, SIMPLE IRA or qualified plan (like a 401(k) plan.)
A tax credit reduces the amount of taxes you may owe on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
Wise
“The easy path leads to a crowded place.” Scott Belsky from his book The Messy Middle.
Scott’s book gave me a lot of validation about the quiet, dark, and challenging middle days of entrepreneurship.
When the initial fire that gets you started wears off and long before a potential finish line to run victoriously over is in sight, you have the long journey through the messy middle. This is the period that is reflected in movies with a 2-minute montage, when in reality, it’s the longest, most grueling part of the process, and not accompanied by motivational music.
For those of you in the messy middle, this book is a great read and highly recommended.
And if you need an ally to bounce ideas off of, I’m here for that too.
