The Cost of Losing 30 Pounds
Business site Bankrate compares the cost of losing 30 lbs (13.5 kg) using 5 major weight loss programs.
What is the real cost of using NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss, The Zone Diet or Jenny Craig?
Jenny Craig
- Fees: $358 annually.
- Food: $77 to $119 per week. If four months of food is purchased this will cost $1309 to $2023.
LA Weight Loss
To lose 30 pounds you need to pay for; 15 weeks weight loss, 6 weeks stabilization, 52 weeks maintenance (total 73 weeks).
- Fees: Setup - $174 plus $7 per week ($685 for 73 weeks)
- Food: Required to buy protein bars (LA Lites) at considerable cost (up to $29 per week). This is a very controversial subject - just read the outpouring of complaints here and here.
NutriSystem
- Fees: None.
- Food: Using auto-ship the cost per month is $293.72. With a suggested weight loss of 2 pounds per week this equates to about four months or $1174.88. Note that dieters must also buy fresh greens and dairy.
Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers is a little more complex as there is no restrictive food program.
- Fees: Between $214.80 and $299.80, depending on location, or $97.75 online.
- Food: Not included.
The Zone Diet
Here the Bankrate analysis is a little unfair. They have looked at the cost of a gourmet Zone delivery service (In the Zone) and therefore estimate a total cost of $3,599.10 to $4,798.80 to lose those 30 lbs. Check out the huge list of delivery services we have compiled -- there are many options for delivered food.
Conclusion
An interesting analysis - but the Zone diet has been portrayed as being grossly expensive. Compare this to another analysis and you'll find quite a different conclusion.
Also, only the Zone or Weight Watchers guide you into choosing better foods -- rather than supplying packaged foods.
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Wow!!
Do you have the stats on how much non-dieting people spend on food? I know, the range has to be huge...
ReplyThat's really an eye opener.
I'd like to know the success rate of each of those programs.
Brian
ReplyWell, I probably spend about $120 a month on food (for one person). This doesn't count eating out, but I do that once a month at most. That would be $480 for four months ... quite a difference, indeed!
ReplyWhen I needed to lose weight, it cost me less because I ate less food. I believe that's the Dr. Weil three word diet. :-)
ReplyReally interesting stats and it's really difficult for the middle class to go for zone diet which too expesive
ReplyIsn't LA Weightloss just South Beach with a nutritionist anyway?
ReplyThere is also the issue of better quality food. I could live of cheeto's and ensure my calorie intake was correct - however my health would not be so good.
These diets are expensive. There's simply no getting round that fact.
ReplyInteresting... I wonder what the success rates of the respective diets are, then we could judge the value of the money spent. I heard weight watchers has a good success rate.
Aren't these dieters being ripped off? Education is cheap and that's the solution no? Solid, simple information, not the fluff and confusion that predominates. It's an outrage.
What's the 3 word diet Dr J? Eat less food?
Dr Mercola had an article on his site showing the cost of an organic whole food diet compared to fast food/convenience food and it came out cheaper.
Cheers
ReplyMike
I used 3 words - eat unprocessed foods, and FitDay. I think FitDay was instrumental in helping me lose weight, because of portion control. I believe in it so much I created a similar system in Portuguese (and typed a great deal of the 3,000+ foods in the database myself) so that people who don't speak English would have a similar tool, free of charge.
ReplyI'm totally with you on that. I first Eddie Izzard use that line "The Eat Less Food Diet". Funny guy but very strange dress sense :)
ReplyThose diet packages are really expensive. I think it's better if we cut-off those that we often eat and in large amounts. It could save us a lot of money.
ReplyThis is the main reason I use Sparkpeople.com they don't charge a thing and they have the same stuff as the other on-line weight loss programs and even more I think.
Replyi use sparkpeople also. personally, i think its better than fitday. you can enter in your food by choosing from their database or manually enter in food thats not there and you can track your fitness. it also tracks your weight loss and measurements. there are also many groups that you can join for support, quizzes, very good articles, lots of recipes etc.
i agree with the poster above that its probably got more features than other on-line diet plans, except a cheap gimmick behind it. i love how there is such a strong emphasis on healthy diet and excersise. you enter in a start date and how much you want to weight by your "end" date and if thats means you lose more than 2lbs per week, they tell you to change your end date. as a person who has had an eating disorder in the past, the way they make sense of why you need to eat right and eat enough calories to lose weight is whats helping stop me from starving and bingeing.
before sparkpeople i was falling off my diet really badly but this has helped tremendously.
ReplyI have an acquaintance who works for LA Weightloss - she is in some sort of management position with the company. She is not a nutritionist and has no nutrition background. From what she's told me, none of the counselors are dietitions or nutritionists. The "counselors" go through extensive sales training to sell the L.A. Weight loss products.
My acquaintance lost all her weight with WL surgery. She is not allowed to tell any one of her clients *how* she lost her weight. She has to pretend that she lost it using L.A. Weight Loss.
Replywow... I know this is going to come off as unrelated, but I was just thinking about how much it cost me to lose 40 lbs. I wish I never did. After gaining back the weight , I see how poorly I was treated. It cost me alot of self-esteem.
Replyokay yeah...I warned you , unrealted.
Yes, or you can visit diet-blog and sparkpeople.com for FREE (as I did) and lose 85 lbs. in the process (as I did as well). It's all about knowledge, and there's plenty of that for free on the web.
ReplyYou can enter foods in Fitday too. The one feature I miss, that I put in my system, is calculating meal totals, instead of just day totals.
I'm a member of SparkPeople but I don't use their calorie counter, I just like the articles. I use my own, of course. I mean, it has all the foods I eat, hehe.
ReplyWow. That's indeed expensive. Exercise would be an alternative for those who can't afford any of these diets. They would just have to sacrifice thier time for some weight loss.
ReplySo, Oscar, overweight people don't exercise? I am almost 20 pounds overweight and I walk at least 10,000 steps a day, ride a stationary bike or elliptical for 45 minutes six times a week, and ride my pedal bike when I can (oh, and do weight training). I'm pretty sure I exercise a lot more than many skinny people I know.
ReplySusan, I can see how you took Oscar's comment the way you did, but I think his point was different. There are lots of people who don't exercise and who bounce from diet to diet. Rather than signing up for a diet, starting a regular exercise program can have a larger impact on weight, health, and overall good feelings about yourself.
20 pounds overweight with your workout regime, hum - you probably look and feel better than most people at ideal weight. Many people I know who have a workout regime like yours are in tune enough with their body to construct their own diet through reading and record keeping. You might look at Core Performance Endurance by Mark Verstegen and Pete Williams.
(Jim, if you're looking for a book to review, I'd be interested in your thoughts)
ReplyOkay I am a success story for LA Weight Loss I have lost 55lbs on this program and counting. I love this program and the money is totally worth every pound I have lost and will lose in the future. There is a great site out there on ivillage.com devoted to LA Weight Loss where anyone can get more info on the program and everyone there is a sucess story.
ReplyI am an extremely happy LA weight loss loser! And I have spent less with and have experienced greater success them than I ever did with Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. LA offers a variety of discount plans to save money on their LA Bars (which are awesome and keep me happy cause I love chocolate). They are not EXPENSIVE as some would lead you to believe. If you don't bulk, a two week supply is $29. I paid more than that a week in Weight Watcher goodies. My family eats what I fix which is a benefit for them cause they are eating healthier!
ReplyI have currently lost 25 pounds in 5 weeks and I have never felt better! My counselors rock!!
ok on feb 1st I said hey "it works" if you follow it...i was 25 lbs down...now im 50 lbs down and still going...the proof is in the mirror, I feel great, I dont know what to say but hey it works!! I still love the bars(chocolate crunch & caramel) and I feel I eat oh so much good food a day. sure some wks i'm down 2 some just 1 ...a couple times stayed the same(which is fine with me) just to be stable. then my body catches up and i lose 2 -3 a wk again...still got 50 lbs to go but you can bet the farm ill get it down! I will write again at 75 =)) Mia
ReplyMy answer would be 'how much does it cost an over weight person to stay overweight?' Many over weight people spend a huge amoubt of money on snacks and fast food all day and everyday. So many diets for weight loss actually cost less than the person was spending.
Reply"Healthy" food is always more expensive than junk. . .I can eat junk for 150 bucks a month. . .to eat whole protein, good veggies and fats and oils that are healthy will cost you at least 100 each week for a two person family. I will pay more for the 8-10 years extra life:)
ReplyThe Zone is rediculously expensive
Replyplease see post below
Replythe info listed for the ZONE is not accurate - MEDI | ZONE is the official protocol based on Dr. Sears ZONE diet ... it is available only through an Licensed MD. Protocol and meds are FDA approved - the "meal sites" you referred to are not affiliated.
Reply