How Much it Costs to Lose 20 Pounds on Your Own

Your budget is ridiculous unless you are living in the middle of a high priced city. I live in a city in Central Florida. My monthly budget for food is $120 and I eat very well including fresh veggies and fruit. I don't eat out and I know how to cook which means I don't need convenience foods. My gym is $10 a month (Planet Fitness) My gym shoes were roughly $30 on sale. I log my food and exercise on my daily diary on the computer. I got shorts and t-shirts already. Now that is a healthy budget for staying healthy!

I get the point of the article but other posters are right - it can be MUCH cheaper to lose weight. $1146 for 20 pounds?? No way.

For one thing, a gym is nice but it's not necessary. Not to mention most large gyms like 24 Hour Fitness, Bally's, etc. now charge much less than $50 per month. It seems to me the going rate is about $30 per month. Regardless, it's really easy to go outside for a walk or work out at home with simple $10 weights. If you're lucky enough to have cable with Verizon Fios, they have an entire on demand fitness channel that's free with your normal cable. Even if you don't have that, you can find fitness programs on most basic cable packages.

$12 a day for food??? For one person?? I spend that much on a family of three and I get tons of salads, veggies, berries, fruit, and other healthy fare. That money for food shouldn't be counted anyway because you'll be buying yourself food regardless if you are trying to lose weight or buying junk or healthy food.

This is so unrealistic.
There are pleanty of exercises you cn do at home, or outside. There are shows on tv, workout videos, etc.
You do not NEED work-out clothes, I exercise in sweats and a tank top.
Where are you shopping that a notebook and tape measure cost three dollars a piece? How much did your pencil cost? notebooks are generally a dollar, the same goes for a tape measure.
$12 a day for food? Not exactlly...

This is complete BS!!! It cost me nothing to lose 20lbs......Yahoo, can you please write an article that is worth our while and no BS please?!?!?

Costing money to lose weight (especially with diet) is a bit of a misnomer. Eating less will cost less, not more. There has to be an offset amount of money you are not spending on something else unless you spend your planned workout hours doing absolutely nothing, like sleeping.

One doesn't need a gym membership, flashy clothes (or even cute ones), expensive equipment, or a personal trainer to lose weight. Discipline and planning cost nothing, and that is really most of the battle for losing weight.

This is really discouraging. Almost anyone at all can go for a walk in their neighborhood, the park or at the mall if it's too cold out, without spending a lot of extra money. $12 a day for food is unrealistic for many people, especially if you don't eat out much. I think the extra cost might be worth it if it keeps you motivated, but a lot of people aren't going to be able to afford to spend that much on weight loss. A nice follow up to this article would be how to lose those same 20 pounds without spending the money.

i agree, this is ridiculous. it's all about calories in vs. calories out. eat less and burn more. it doesn't matter what you do...go outside and run around the block. cut out soda and other high sugar foods and you will lose weight for free and maybe even save a little money...

I have actually lost 20 pounds and saved money by simply cutting my portions considerably while still eating what I wanted.

First off you do NOT need the fancy clothes or gym membership. And eating healthy shouldnt cost $12 a day unless you are a family of 5. Also there are online trackers like fitday.com to track your weight, activities, and food and to set yourself goals. So the costs? For our family of 4 we spend roughly $60 a week on food so thats (60/7=8.57 8.57/4=2.14) $2.14 a day per person, for food. You can exercise anywhere! Also check thrift stores and online for workout videos. We have an old version of P90X we got for less than $5 a year ago. Its about keeping moving, and doing what is healthy, cut out the processed foods and high fructose corn syrup and you will feel better and look better in no time. Also its CHEAPER to eat, because the food is more filling so you dont eat as many calories!

This is ridiculous. You don't need a gym membership to lose weight. $12 a day for food? Hardly, you can spend less, easily and be satisfied while eating healthy food. I agree with the above, this is discouraging to those trying to lose weight.

This is BS. I lost 50 pounds spending money on only sweatpants and a couple sports bras. This is how simple it is: Lower your calorie intake by eating less of the bad foods or eating healthier. Walk / run for an hour everyday. Thats it. 50 pounds in 5 months, it's easy but it's worth it.

What part of this is supposed to sound affordable?

Way to discourage people from losing weight.