Building Bigger Barns

What Does The Name BuildingBiggerBarns Have To Do With Finances?

Great question.

The name of my blog is a play on words from the parable in Luke 12:18 that tells the store of “the rich fool”. This person tries to gather up all of his goods and lead a life of luxury, only to find out that his time on Earth is over. I am trying to live the life God designed for me. I believe in prudent planning, but at the same time I don’t wish to miss out on a blessing by hoarding money rather than giving it to those in need. Although I don’t consider myself to be ‘rich’, I do worry about becoming “the rich fool”.

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Daily Calorie Intake

I’m planning my meals daily and am trying to keep my calorie intake to 2000-2200 calories a day. Seeing that I’m 6′ 2″ and about 210 lbs, this seems like a pretty low number for me. Several of my friends can take in as much as 3000 calories a day and still lose weight (assuming a rigorous workout routine, like one I follow), yet I cannot.

Seems unfair, but everyone experiences unfairness in life. If this one is mine, I can handle it.

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Has Anyone Tried CrossFit?

Has anyone tried Crossfit? Crossfit is a functional workout training program that combines power lifting and olympic-style lifts with cardiovascular workouts. The workouts are typically pretty short in duration, but are packed with high-intensity physical demand.

I haven’t tried this type of workout yet, but I would like like to. I’d love to hear if any of you have had good experiences and results with this workout regime. If so please post a comment and let me know.

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Difficulities

I’ve been having trouble eating well lately, and I can’t understand why. I’ve reached my goal weight more or less and I feel great. I still have a strong desire to eat foods that will move me away rather than towards my goals. Have you ever felt this way, or have you ever had this issue yourself when it comes to eating.

I’m starting to believe the people who say staying at your desired weight is as difficult as losing the weight in the first place. I’m not giving up though, and I’ll find a way to succeed!

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Is college worth the cost?

I’ve been thinking about the high costs of college recently, and I’m starting to wonder if college is worth the cost. My initial thought, based on the income statistics floating around, that it must be. However I think that in order to get the most value out of college students need to be mature enough to know what they are signing up for. To that end I also think it would be best if students had to pay their way, or most of their way, in college.

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The Hackers Diet

I recently ran across The Hackers Diet book (it’s free) and found it quite interesting. I especially liked the recommendation to use a moving average when tracking your weight. That way you can tell where the trend is going rather that looking in absolute terms at your weight from one day to the next.

I’m also very right-brain focused, so the book’s math didn’t scare me off.

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What Part Of A Healthy Lifestyle Is Difficult For You?

Is there one area you struggle with more than others when it comes to reaching your health-related goals? For me it definitely falls more on the diet side of the equation than the exercise side of the equation. I’ve worked out consistently since I was very young, and although that keeps me in good shape from an endurance and strength perspective it also means that I can’t lose weight quickly simply by adding exercise.

Therefore over the next few month I need to focus on eating clean and developing rituals that will allow me to reach my goals. What rituals do you have in place to ensure you succeed?

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What Does Your Workout Routine Look Like?

Would anyone out there mind sharing their workout routine specifics? Do you recommend weight lifting and cardio or prefer one over the other? Has anyone tried following the CrossFit workout?

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Food Storage

Do you believe in food storage? What I mean by that is have you prepared for future emergencies by stockpiling 1,3, or even 12 months worth of food? It seems a little odd to me that some people do this, but lately I’ve been considering stocking up the pantry a bit. What do you think?

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Gold

It never fails to amaze me how many people are pushing gold as an investment. They say that on an inflation adjusted basis gold is a great buy, but the fact is inflation doesn’t affect everything the same. The truth is you need to look at real (over inflation) returns for an investment over a variety of time periods to determine if something is a good investment, and I just don’t see the consistant results that I would want with gold. Maybe it’s just me though….

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