Hello everyone. I've tried this before and never followed through with it but this is a slightly different attempt which I hope may create more accountability. My name is Matthias, I grew up in Germany and I've been living in the states the last 15 years. The good: I'm healthy (so is my family), we do have a good standard of living and do many different sports. On the surface we look like a happy family. The bad: I'm not happy, which leads to various issues, I drink too much but I'm also addicted to Red Bull, I'm overweight and I'm and my kids who grew up here much more consumer focused than what I think is healthy. The approach: I've been a good corporate citizen for the last 15 years, and the first several I loved my line of work but the last couple years have been more and more drag rather than fun. So the plan is for me to find more 1099 work (I work in IT) and work less overall, substitute most of my income via gambling (I'm slowly transitioning to a full time gambler, partially in the stock market, partially at the casino). That's the area where I'm the most happy and I feel like I deserve the gains and need to live with the losses, very cut and dry without the cushy corporate overhead and benefits. While the main goal is to be more happy which I hope will come from this, I also want to get back into shape more and drink less (but smoke more weed). I know some of this isn't necessarily fully socially accepted but I do live in a state where weed and gambling is legal and more and more part of different lifestyles. I hope to post here on a periodic basis on my progress. Goals: In the income side I'm looking for very low six figures, my wife doesn't work, we have two kids and we do have bills to pay, however if I don't have any income for 6 or 9 month the world won't come to an end. I've been gambling since I was allowed in the casino, so I'm very familiar with variance and draw downs. On the health side, I'm trying to lose 10 pounds over the next three month but more importantly eat healthier. I've had a travel job for many years and eating out is almost a given, so going back to a more fruit and plant based diet is more important than the weight loss. Trying to reduce alcohol to maybe a day a week (a glass of whiskey or wine) On the consumer front I hope to be able to reduce spending on throw away articles (like buying the 9th nerf gun) but that's at the bottom of the goals list When to start: Just like any good resolution I'll start tomorrow . I'll feast @ the mothers day brunch today, will drink hopefully one of my last red bulls and then some more alcohol to ensure I won't actually "miss" any of this a lot.
Day 1 update - (I don't plan on posting daily but I figured day one is kind of a milestone) Good news first. Ate ( and juiced) all day healthy veggies without any exception. No red bull, no chocolate nothing except a very healthy diet (and stayed below 2k calories). Now that wasn't easy, every time I see snack food I've had to look away not to grab some. On the financial side, I've had a medium daily loss today of 1606, however swings like those are very typical. Unfortunately I may have to travel Wed-Fri, so this could have serious implications on my eating habits. It won't on my gambling, a lot of this is fairly automated and won't need much babysitting.
Day 2 is also a success. Didn't have to go on my trip which made things easier and had a very slow day @ work which allowed me to gamble some extra hours. Unfortunately lost again (-625 today) but nothing I can blame myself for. 2nd day without meat and mostly living off plant food and fruits, so that's great as well. I felt really good waking up this morning, could already feel a little the benefits of the diet changes. I hope it'll be the same tomorrow but we'll see.
Day three is also a success. Still completely adhering to my diet, no exception or alcohol so far. I definitely (it's probably just in my head) feel better and have more energy. Also got lucky gambling today and won 1327 back from my last couple day losses. I think I'll start posting weekly after my first week and will add a number that reflects the average daily win (or loss). That way it'll be easier to look at averages rather than daily spikes. Feeling a little happier mostly cause I'm sticking to my goals so far.
Day 4 is a home run. I didn't do that well @ the tables but overall with a strong stock market I won 1549 today. That puts me into positive territory and also my healthy eating worked just fine. Juiced/Smoothied, whatever you want to call it, ate healthy all the way and even worked out some. I also bought myself a nice present today (http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/asus-zenbook-ux305) since I'll be losing my laptop once I quit my current job. That way I'll have enough time to get it set up and configured with the various tools for online gambling. My average daily P&L so far is 161. Happiness factor is high (I'd say 8/10) and haven't smoked week in three weeks or drank alcohol since I started this challenge. Let's hope I don't mess this up tomorrow, tomorrow can be a little challenging given that it is expiration friday for the stock market.
Today was the hardest day so far. I ate ok but not super healthy, that's for sure. I had to run some errands and came up with the best excuses to stop at a gas station and get a red bull. At the end I didn't but it was a struggle the entire day. I also didn't feel the same level of energy I've had the last two days, I felt just like I felt before. I hope this boost wasn't temporary, otherwise I'll have a real hard time sticking with it. Got lucky gambling and made 370 bucks, which bring my daily average to 300, that would be a nice number to sustain considering it's using somewhat limited risk right now. Anyway, starting tomorrow I'll start posting weekly, next week will be slightly harder since I'll be traveling Monday and Tuesday. Overall I am hopeful though to stick with it for another week, but I'll be for sure eating out at a couple of Thai or Indian places, so those will be considered "exceptions". I guess as long as I'm healthy when I'm home that's a good start.
Today was kind of a setback. Went out with my wife for a fancy dinner and went all the way from appetizer to dessert, the tiramisu alone probably exceeded 1000 calories. Held back on the drinking but that was about the only good thing. I'll go for a run tomorrow before I'll leave town and then the "on the road" rules will apply (meaning I'll probably strictly eat @ thai and indian places and will drink red bull). Getting back Tuesday evening, hopefully I'll be able to grow my bankroll as well.
Pretty sucky week. Travel didn't help I drank way too many red bulls (need to have tighter rules when I'm traveling), drank way too much alcohol and starting Tuesday until today completely ignored my diet. Ate tex mex and BBQ with the excuse of being on the road but didn't chance much once I got back home. Really sucked. On my stocks I've had a decent week, other than Friday made money every single day and made 5226 for the week. That leaves the average daily P&L @ ~630. I'm tired like I haven't slept all week, no energy and had way too much sugar. I've also sent the asus zenbook back, couldn't work as well with it as I thought and was a little disappointed with that as well. I ordered a macbook air today, I know I'll like that one except for the price tag. My struggles continue, I hope next week will be a little better. Weekly summary: Gambling A- Diet & Work Out D-
Had two busy days. Diet is on a back burner right now. Yesterday my algo system broke due to Google changing their Drive API authentication. In general I like Google (a lot), I think they're one of the good guys. However two of my trading algorithms depend on the Google drive API. I haven't touched those applications in years, so I didn't notice that the authentication mechanisms changed and the documentation somewhat sucked on that. So yesterday I've spend most of my evening fixing/rewriting the code for these algorithms, and just like with everything else I'm trying to be self contained not dependent on Google or anyone else. While Drive was convenient initially, this change threw me off significantly. Today I submitted my resignation. Most of my management knew for three weeks already, so they were prepared. While I'm sorry leaving the company I've worked for the last decade, at the same time I'm super excited about new ventures. I ran today for an hr and a half with my wife, and overall I'm pretty happy (even though diet, finances and drinking are in bad shape right now).
Fairly exhausting week. Things went somewhat crazy after I sent my resignation email. Lots of phone calls and also possible interviews set up for a new job. It also impacts my sleeping patterns, I wake up by 5.30 and I'm totally exhausted by 9pm. Now that it's all out in the open I hope the stress will slow down slightly. With that no focus on healthy eating and very little time for the tables. I do get super lucky with my algos though, had another nice week. I'm been playing a ton of table tennis with my son, we'll actually try to sign up for a tournament tomorrow (walk in). I think it'll be a lot of fun. Profit for this week:2009, average daily P&L:~602. As long as this stays above 500 I'm one happy person and will look at increasing the stakes. Gambling A- Dient & Work Out D
Very relaxed week but still could not focus on diet. This was my last full week @ work, so after Tuesday I'm completely done with my current job. Had some good tries but with extra breakfasts due to kids school activities I never really had any diet traction. Happiness is ok, I've been smoking weed a couple days this week. Somehow I also didn't do well on the tables/at the stock market, for the week I lost 924, which brings my average daily gain down to 405. I hope next week is better, I've a brand new macbook air that will take over for my work laptop (also macbook air) that I'll have to return. Everything is transferred so it should be good to go next week. Gambling C Diet & Work Out D+ (I did work out quite a bit this week)
Had a great week last week. Didn't do anything and enjoyed my unemployment. Unfortunately I smoked a lot of weed which then resulted in me eating super unhealthy but I had a good week gambling in the stock market and the poker tables. I won 7372 last week getting my daily average up to 619$/day. This won't be sustainable, especially since I will post very sporadically over the next three weeks. I'm renting a RV for the next three weeks with the family to maximize family time before I will hopefully start a new gig. This will also help the weed to pass through my body . Not sure when I'll post next but let's hope this Greece thing does not derail my gambling algos Gambling: A Diet & Workout: C (bad Diet but worked out every day)
@Matt74; Good effort making a consistent choice to post up on here how you are feeling and your short term goals. Sounds like you know what you want which is the first step. I saw you said one of your goals is to lose weight a bit. Do you ever listen to music or audio while you are working out? Even throughout the day? If so I have some suggestions that help me stay motivated. Thats awesome that you have the skills down on making money quickly in the stock market and gambling. Sounds like you have alot of obstacles in front of you. But with the ability to control what you can, I am confident you and your family will be okay.
