Eat at Home - Save Calories and Cash

Welcome to Walking the Walk, a feature that takes a deeper look at commonly shared diet and fitness advice. Every other week, I'll choose one piece of advice and practice it for seven days. Then I'll report back on what I discovered about making it work in real life and how it affected my own personal fitness -- and how it ultimately can affect your own efforts.

When it comes to unhealthy habits, eating out has been the hardest one for me to break. If I really put my mind to it, I can plan, prepare and cook healthy meals ... for about three days. Then I find myself making excuses. And then I find myself sitting at a restaurant, letting someone else cook.

In my defense, we don't have a typical 9-to-5 schedule. Between work hours and family activities, at least two nights a week, I'm pulling in the driveway at 7 PM with nothing in mind for dinner (not so good for a healthy diet).

But like I said, those are just excuses. While it's nice to have someone cook and clean up, I pay for this habit with more than just money. Restaurant portions are far too big, and they can be loaded with fat and sodium.

So this week for Walking the Walk, I'm going to eat every meal and snack at home. This is one healthy habit I'm hoping will stick.