Quick update on the weight situation. I weighed 188 this morning so down a pound this week.
I took Gates’ advice and weighed myself almost everyday. The numbers were so variable however that I think it confirms my belief that frequent measurement is a waste of time. Regardless I’ll try to keep weighing myself at least twice a week.
Beer – Not a great week – on Tuesday night I went out with some friends who were from out of province. Also had a few last night so didn’t exactly abstain this week.
Diet – Generally pretty good (except for Tues night). Another item I reduced is milk. I like drinking a lot of milk and since it’s skim, I had assumed it had very little calories. Last week I checked the milk bag and much to my amazement it turns out that skim (or 0%) milk has 90 calories per cup – ooops! Now I just drink a small amount.
Exercise – I only rode my bike three times to work this week because of the weather. I don’t mind riding if it’s cold or wet but not both. I’ll have to address this issue soon because I think the riding season is getting very near the end. Either I’ll have to start jogging more (but how much?) or possibly join a gym and workout at lunch.
BMO Trading Action – In other news I bought 25 shares of BMO yesterday at $58.25. I have to admit that I’m sorry I wasn’t more patient with my leveraged investing plan purchases this year. I bought 100 shares of BMO back in May for $71 and then another 200 shares at $68.60 shortly after. I’ve read so many times that these types of stocks are best bought on dips but I couldn’t seem to follow that advice.
Even yesterday I bought the 25 shares early in the afternoon thinking I was getting a great deal (and I might have) but then shortly afterwards the stock dropped down to $56.56 where it closed.
But – as Bernstein says – you have to be able to weather the ups and down when investing in equities and you also have to be focused on the long term (which I am) and to welcome poor returns (initially at least) because it provides for good buying opportunities. I do think that BMO is a good buying opportunity at the moment (although it could get better).
16 replies on “Saturday Weight Update + BMO”
It may feel funny averaging down like that, but I do think it is the wise thing to do. Whether or not BMO has bottomed is up for debate, but it is considerably cheaper than your ACB, with a higher yield so buying more is prudent.
It is hard to imagine news bad enough at their next earnings report that could take the stock lower than it is now but I guess it is possible. They yield alone is reason enough to buy assuming they don’t cut the dividend…..hey that is starting to sound familiar (ie BAC,C,WB)….interesting times….
Thanks MG – I think you are right.
It is hard to buy a stock on it’s way down but I think history has shown that it’s a good strategy (as long as it’s a good company of course).
Mike
About the weight- I was doing a daily weigh-in as well, and while I like to have lots of data I found that there was too much variation for it to really be useful.
Now I weigh in on the same day and same time, only once a week and make that my official number.
Cheers and keep up the good work.
Let’s just hope we are all part of that ‘history’ some day…
Thanks a lot Frank.
MG – we will be!
Good luck with your trading FP and remember, leveraging is for the long run 😉
Moneygardener, I can easliy imagine bad news for BMO. I’ll give you a hint: do you really think that National Bank is the only bank stuck in this commercial paper story? Let just says that once once we find a guilty person, we do not necessarily look for another one 😉
FP: Reading your post on exercising made me feel guilty. I didn’t exercise one time last week and next week isn’t looking good…
D4L
Hey FP, here’s a link to what my daily weigh-in sheet looked like for two months last year.
Basically has a red line for the trend and a blue line for actual weights. As you noted, the weights are all over the place, but that’s not the point. The point is to keep the trend moving downwards and the daily just gives you better data. (trend ~ 10-day moving average)
Your body processes several pounds of materials (food & water) every day. So when you weight yourself, you get your actual weight + a variable amount of transient weight. If you decide to weigh yourself once a week (say Sunday morning), then if you go out drinking on Saturday, the weight is basically shot.
To put this into perspective, you’re trying to lose like 1/7th pound / day but you’re consuming like 5+ pounds of materials. That’s a really tiny number to track. Over a week you’re consuming 30+ pounds and trying to track the loss of one.
1 lb =454g ~= 450 mL of water. That’s less than a bottle. You could be missing your weekly weight target b/c of one measly bottle of water. If that extra bottle is still in your system come Sunday morning then you “failed” for the week.
At least if you weigh every day, you can compare the moving average of last week with the moving average of this week and reduce the risk of “bad numbers”.
It’s just like charting stocks man, you track data for a smaller period than the period you want to evaluate. If you want annual progress you have have to track monthly numbers, if you want monthly or weekly progress you have to track daily numbers.
Of course, congrats on the weight loss FP!
(even if you don’t like my system 🙂
Thanks Gates – looked like you had a successful weight loss experience from your chart.
Divs4Life – get off your computer and get some exercise! One mistake I’ve made in the past is to make too big a deal out of exercise – ie thinking it has to be high intensity, a minimum time length etc. If you don’t have time for a proper workout then just do 10 minutes of something, anything. It’s got to be better than sitting on the couch.
Mike
FB – I’m thinking NA might be in buying territory as well!
Mike
Mike: I purchased BMO earlier last week at around $60 (4.7% yield and almost a 10 P/E). I have no idea whether that was the bottom, just that I found it low enough to buy for a long-term hold. Would it drop more? It could… you can never pick the exact top or bottom with these things.
Good point CC. I need to focus less on the purchase price.
Mike
I’m right there with you on the dieting thing…my weekness isn’t beer…it’s candy (or anything sweet)….
My bike riding to work should be ending soon, but I just purchased a Gortex winter jacket…and I’m hoping to ride throughout the winter (except on the snowy days).
You gotta be strong SD!! lol.
Yah I’m hoping to still ride a few more times but realistically the season is basically over.
Mike
I think Gates had some excellent advice – I’ve got to incorporate a chart like that into my routine.
And as far as exercising, winter is tough for me. I hate running in the cold, so that’s out, so it’s basically weight training and taking the stairs at work (which is no small thing – I’m on the seventh floor and the caf is on 2, so I’m up and down a few times a day to get hot water for tea).
Keep at it Mike!
BB – stairs at work are a great idea – I have six floors so if I did that four or five times a day (in the winter), that would make a big difference.
Mike