l'm always baffled when I walk into a pharmacy and see shelves bursting withvarious vitamins，extracts and other supplements,all promising to accelerate orpromote weight loss.Aisles of marketing genius belie(掩饰) the fact that,26weight loss is dictated by the laws of arithmetic.Economist Jessica Irvine wrote abook about how she used math to help her lose more than 18 kilograms. If caloriestaken in are less than calories _27_，weight shall be lost，and so it is withmoney.

Despite the _ 28_of financial products，services and solutions gearedtowards accumulating wealth, it all begins with the same_29_: getting aheadfinancial requires a reduction of spending, so that income is greater than expenses.Iwas reminded of this again recently listening to an with Nicole Haddow, the author ofSmashed -Avocad,explaining how she cracked the property market at 31. lIt wasquite a _ 30,given where she had been two years earlier.

She was sobbing at the

Nicole didn't celebrate her 30th birthday as she had _ 31 _. She was sobbing atthe dinner table with her parents, with whom she had just moved back in. She had nostable income,$12,000 in credit-card debt and no plan, but to her_ 32 _, her father,an accountant, told her that her financial  33_wasn 't as bad as the thought. Hesaid, on her income, with some changes, she would be able to buy an investment unitwithin two years, which she did.

Nicole admitted she was fortunatc, as she was able to live with her parents and34_ her spending - and life - to get herself on track financially. Creating a gapbetween her income and spending required a paradigm shift and  35  sacrificeand commitment，but by going into financial lockdown，Nicole gained financialindependence.