Losing Weight Ain't Cheap

[jcfiala]

I hadn't really noticed before, but losing weight isn't cheap for Tammy and me. But now that I have noticed, it's beginning to bug me.

Weight Watchers costs $90 for ten sessions, buying the tickets in bulk. For two people, that's about $78 a month, on average. And then the gym - that's $128 per month for the two of us. And then there's food. Weight Watchers doesn't require us to buy any special food, but it does require us to eat healthily. So we buy the fat-free chips, and the merangue cookies, and the other healthy snacks so that when we get a craving we can satisfy it without blowing our calorie budget for the month. Healthier food isn't usually on sale, unfortunately, and it's often more expensive.

So, that's maybe an extra $250-$275 we're spending each month to lose weight. That's a fair amount of money - so far this year that's close to $2000 we've sunk into this. It's no wonder we always seem to be short on money - we are. I'm considering cutting back or eliminating buying comics, for one. I no longer feel like the worst part of dieting is the food restrictions - it's the spending money restrictions. :(

But right now I'm having trouble thinking of how to reduce that load. Weight Watchers is expensive, but the system works for us - I'm sure that the weekly weigh-in and meetings are a large part of our success. And although we probably could go work out enough during the summer, during the winter the athletic club gives us a nice place to excersize. Plus, the money we're spending is a goad to make us excersize - if we don't go to the gym, then we're wasting money. And the food - well, you can't lose weight if you don't eat healthy. A granola bar may cost more than a candy bar... but I would have to eat three granola bars to match the calories in a candy bar, and would have ingested a lot more vitamins and the like to boot.

So I'll say it again: Weight Loss Ain't Cheap. But for now, it's worth it.

Comments

[silussa.livejournal.com]

Buy them in boxes of 6 or 10. Also, try some of the more "upscale" stores. Odd as it may seem, the price for some of the items may be less then in the "plain" groceries which consider them premium items.

Been there, and returning to that (the low calorie diet)

Cooking Thin

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Well... If you have time to sacrifice I could teach you to cook low cost and low calorie. I didn't just end up thin because of luck, though that did play a role. And I'm more than happy to help out my friends who want to learn to cook and eat like I do. Though I would have thought that weight watchers would teach you some of this stuff so I won't have as much cleverness to impart as I would with some people.

[gwynbones.livejournal.com]

Re: Fitness club. Those things can be really crazy expensive. Have you thought of looking up a local YMCA. They're often MUCH cheaper that health clubs, you're giving to a good cause, and while the equipment isn't usually as top of the line, it's still generally pretty decent, and gives you just as good a workout.