Weight Loss Plans: The Price Per Pound
Bankrate recently compared five different weight loss programs, asking how much does it cost to lose 30 pounds? Their results are detailed, but don’t lend themselves to a great comparison; they included food in the cost of Nutri-System, but not in the cost of Jenny Craig, for example—and those are pretty comparable programs.
Using their information, and assuming a two-pounds-per-week weight loss rate, I did my own comparison of fifteen weeks on each diet, including the food, and came up with this:
1. The Zone Diet: $4,198.95 (about $140 per pound)
2. Jenny Craig: $1,828.00 (about $61 per pound)
3. Nutri-System: $1,174.88 (about $39 per pound)
4. L.A. Weight Loss: $821.25 (about $27 per pound)
5. Weight Watchers: $200 + food (about $7 per pound + food)
Since Weight Watchers allows you to eat anything, I can’t really estimate food costs for that one. Bankrate offers this additional disclaimer:
“But paying someone to keep you on the straight and narrow isn’t cheap. Remember, the phrase ‘caveat emptor’ (let the buyer beware) was practically coined for the diet industry. Do your homework and remember that there are no shortcuts or magic shakes or bars that will to be your ticket to Slimville.”
Via the Consumerist, thanks to Shannon.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Weight Loss
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Amen. The $40 a month that I spend on WW more than makes up for the Big Macs and Whoppers and 7/11 hog dogs that I would otherwise be eating all of the time. For me, it’s been a financial gain to try to lose some weight. Interesting study here.
I don’t know, when I did WW I went kind of product-crazy. I know I often found myself paying more for certain brands just because they included the points information, or else I’d found out that X brand soup happened to have fewer points than Y brand, or I’d get the thing that came in mini individual-serving-size packs so I wouldn’t have to guess portions.
The additional cost for stuff like this is probably hard to measure, but I think it’s there. You can certainly do WW (especially Core) without buying these things, but between the meetings and the official materials and all the online WW communities, you get plenty of encouragement to spend a few more bucks on those Skinny Cows.
Plus I bet a lot of people who used to spend money at McDonald’s are still going there, and paying even more for the salad, which is the most expensive thing on the menu. After all, the points are in the restaurant guide…
I did WW from info I found online, never went to (or paid for) a meeting, and only tried “diet” foods from time to time. (God, you’d be surprised how quickly you can spit out a mouthful of Veggie Booty! Blech.)
My main expenses while losing weight were a gym membership ($10/month at my Uni, since I was an alumnus) and buying new clothes in smaller sizes.
It can be done on the cheap!
hmmm, how did you arrive at the Zone figure? The Zone lets you make your own food, so I’m not sure how the cost of food would be any different from weight watchers, and the price of the book is the only other cost. BTW-I have done Zone and it sucks.
I didn’t come up with the numbers (Bankrate did) but that is for the Zone delivery plan, where they bring food to your door. You’re absolutely right that you could just buy the book and DIY like South Beach!
god, how does the zone sucks? I’d tell you to let me count the ways but I’d be here forever.
Brenda, I agree, it’s possible to do WW for the price of one meeting fee (assuming that you go to one meeting and pay for the materials), but it’s hard to be successful that way. The main benefit I got from doing WW was going to the meetings and being held accountable by the weekly weigh-in, the terror of which I am never quite able to create for myself at home.
Most people would figure that a diet that cost nothing but time and effort couldn’t be effective.
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One of the reasons why so lots of people do not benefit greatly from speedy weight loss diets is because they go from eating heavy meals to starving themselves suddenly. This is the most harmful thing that you can do to your body. Your body needs lots of minerals and vitamins to function properly. Suddenly, you go on a starvation diet supposedly well calculated to lose weight. Yes, you are going to lose weight, because the body is going to start burning up tissue to compensate for the loss of food. So, if you have already been undergoing a speedy weight loss plan or diet, you require to know whether it is working in a positive they are in a negative manner.
i would like to hear more on this topic please