The Cost to Gain a Pound
 

Hey everyone...i just found this email from the last time I was OP and thought I'd post it here. I'm sure that I posted it then, but that was well over 2 years ago, so it bears repeating :)

When I was at weigh in this week I saw a really interesting sign in the bathroom. It talked about the cost of gaining weight. Here is what it says:

It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound.
3,500 calories is approximately $20.00 of food.
So, it takes $20.00 to gain a pound.

If you are 50lbs overweight, you have spent $1000.00 to gain it.
It also cost you an additional $1040.00 just to maintain the 50lbs that you are over your ideal weight (that doesn't include the food that you need to maintain your ideal weight).


Amazing huh?

I decided to do a little math for myself. I have been paying for my own food for about 10 years. In those 10 years I was at least 150lbs overweight (sometimes more...but average 150.) So it took me $31,200 to buy the food to maintain that extra weight for 10 years PLUS probably $3,000 more to gain weight during that time! Thats almost $35,000 on food just to get the body that I had when I started plan. YIKES! I totally look forward to having all that extra money someday when I have an ideal body weight and don't have to pay more for food to maintain the extra weight.

It is interesting to me to find abstract ways to think about how much my weigh effected my life. It kinda of makes the cost of MRC feel a little more managable. I'd much rather pay for a better body than a worse one. Just thought you all might find this interesting.

At one of our connections classes, we were told that going off program costs about $45, because of the time it takes to get back in ketosis, etc. Maybe I should figure out what my cost is and that would be motivation enough to stick with this and get these last few pounds off!

It sure does make you think doesn't it. I know I have spent a lot of money on WW meetings where I did not lose any weight and basically wasted the fee. However it has not stopped me from continuing to try and lose weight.

Gee having said that, doing MRC is pretty cheap! I think I will stick to the plan.. ;)

Cheers!

Ronnie

Nice picture Ronnie. It's always nice to have a face with the name.. :D

DAYYYYUM! I love this post. I pride myself on frugality and this is a real friggin' eye opener. I have never seen the likes of anything like this. Thanks for the post. I can say however, when I catch myself thinking fish is expensive or raspberries, blueberries, whatever--well, I stop to remind myself how much money I once spent at the donut window, fast food or a bag of cookies.

Thanks! I took this last week at a light house I visited on the Oregon Coast.. I thought it was that or a photo of my dogs.. My photo won! LOL..

Ronnie :D

GENIUS thread idea! Thank you for putting this into prospective. Wow! I know I sometimes think wow all of the HNS are getting expensive. But, I know when I was sitting in my car in the drive thru 5x a week I wasn't adding up how much I was spending eating garbage food. Definitely an article that all MRC'ers just know about! Thank you thank you thank you :high:

GREAT Post!!! I know I used to spend a lot of money of crap food. Processed/fast food are way more expensive than veggies.

This makes the cost of MRC and HNS seem like pennies..