How to Pick Best Weight Loss Plan with Saving in Mind

A mere three months ago the general public was flocking to the gym, debating on which exercise plan was going to be their fitness salvation and trying to decide on a new way of eating that was both convenient, cheap and tailored to losing weight before spring and eventually summer would arrive.

Fast-forward those 90 days, and a good portion of those New Year’s Resolutions have faded into obscurity by mid-February even though April has arrived, the weather has warmed significantly and those who bailed on those self promises are scurrying around looking for a way to make amends sooner than later.

For the most part, 80 percent of New Year’s Resolutions end by mid-February, if you want to put a number to it.^[1]

The month of April tends to be one of the more popular times to join a gym, attendance is way up on average and your television, radio (yes, remember those) and online ads alike are suddenly pointing you toward diet and meal plans in droves, whether it’s Oprah Winfrey welling up to near tears about Weight Watchers or the bevy of direct-to-door meal and dinner prep services that are hoping to sway you toward eating healthier.

And for some, you just finished eating a huge Easter dinner, right?

But as the average consumer, you’re undoubtedly interested in getting those arms ready for short-sleeved season and looking your very best in that bathing suit, but that doesn’t mean you’re not constantly thinking about the dollar amounts that are associated with diet and meal plans, not to mention costs of rejoining a gym or opting into a personal training program that might expedite those results you didn’t attain in January.

With so many options and price being an ultimately objection and point that everyone considers when choosing to exercise and eat right versus the alternative of apathy, you have to be certain whichever plan or combination of plans you choose fits your budget and ultimately can breed success where past failures run roughshod through your psyche.

The fast-track to dropping weight means you’ll need to do it the healthy way, minimize calories and start burning those pesky things to boot.

On average, you can lose about one to two pounds per week, and losing one pound means you’ll have to take in 1,000 less calories than you are now.^[2]

Most of what comprises these weight-loss and eating plans center on proper diet but also learning how to count calories minus the deprivation but not without a cost in mind. The same goes for fitness, too.

The average gym membership is typically between $40 and $50 per month, but enrollment and other fees mean you’ll spend about $800 per year.^[3]

But that said, didn’t you just try joining a gym recently and ended up quitting? Why would you spend $40 or $50 per month for round 2 of this process, when round 1 left you feeling cheated, anyway? Most of the time, you’ll have to provide more than just a monthly membership to be able to lose weight, perhaps a combination of exercise and specified training.

This head-spinning, eye-popping endeavor on how to pick a weight loss plan and keep the spending at a minimum can be more than just a repeat of that January exercise is futility that saw you, quite frankly, fail miserably.

Instead, try thinking incorporating two options (choosing one from each category) that work in conjunction with one another and are going to get you that spring (and eventually summertime) body you wanted all the way back on January 1.

Step 1: Choose Diet Plan that Feels Normal, Fits Budget

Dieting can be rigorous, frustrating and fruitless if you attempt to do it on your own, which is why the meal plan industry is flourishing.

The average consumer, even if you’re not interested or have researched weight loss plans, knows of the various options due to an influx of marketing, informercials and online ads of that ilk.

Names like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Atkins and Slim Fast are some of the more popular and renowned options when it comes to selecting a plan that does everything from provide support to prepackaged food for consumption.

The general consensus is Weight Watchers is the most realistic plan of the group, namely because you incorporate food that you already buy at the grocery store. Weight Watchers participants lost about six pounds per month, Atkins at 10, 6 for Slim Fast, just to name a few from that previously mentioned group.^[4]

Part of that study also said that those weight loss totals per month stayed current as consumers kept with them. You also can throw Slim Fast into the mix as being categorically similar to Weight Watchers in that Atkins includes store-bough food and some supplements that minimize carbohydrate intake, while Slim Fast has snacks and shakes but also suggests meal consumption that doesn’t come directly from them.

Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig are the two that might be a tougher, harder sale for the masses in that there is a food investment that goes along with these brands, albeit underscored with budgetary misunderstandings, too.

NutriSystem and Jenny Craig are between $300 and $350 per month for food, and reportedly Jenny Craig has an enrollment and monthly program fee of $300 and $18, respectively.^[5]

You can’t discount convenience for these two plans, however.

There’s no need to hit the grocery store and try to determine what’s best: Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem take the guess work out of food prep, and deliver the food to your door, along with additional support.

That $300 plus plan per month also needs to be taken with a grain of proverbial salt, too. The average grocery bill for a family is $400, with about $232 per adult.^[6]

Using that $232 figure, you’re only paying a few dollars more per month to get breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days.

Nutrisystem boasts weight loss totals that range anywhere from 13 pounds for women and 11 pounds for men within the first month.^[7]

The final verdict on a weight loss plan really comes down to the one reason we can’t stick to eating right: convenience. If there’s one objection to why you can’t eat healthy its a lack of time to prepare healthy foods.

That said, Nutrisystem seems like the best overall approach based on cost being relatively the same (maybe a few dollars more overall but not much) as Weight Watchers since the former gives you the food versus buying it on your own.

Step 2: Exercise success is about price, variation

Much like a diet plan can make or break success with weight loss so to can exercise if you’re not thinking about why you quit (or have quit) in the first place or at some point in your life.

New Year’s Resolutions and their lack of success overall don’t help either with the pressure the average person puts on themselves. Of the 45 percent of people who make New Year’s Resolutions, only eight percent succeed.^[8]

That staggering statistic only serves as a reminder that exercise often is viewed by many as a commitment that they either don’t want to keep or feel like isn’t really a necessity the same way eating, working and family is.

Choosing an exercise plan has to incorporate everything from cost to convenience, but also results, which makes it a combination that often is hard to come by for exercisers who want to invest little and see a lot.

Your best bet, price wise, is almost certainly going to be with a fitness chain that offers a low-price model as its variety of choice.

The easy, clear-cut winner is Planet Fitness with a basic $10 per month membership, along with a $19.99 uncharge on a membership that includes tanning, massage chair privileges, etc.^[9]

Behind Planet are the likes of Gold’s Gym and L.A. Fitness, both of which are anywhere from $25 to $40 per month, still below or barely at the national average.

Most of the time, Planet Fitness has a zero or $10 enrollment fee, while others, using L.A. Fitness as an example have enrollment fees that typically start at $99.

Planet will cost you about $140 per year, by far the lowest of the three mentioned.^[10]

Now, that’s not to say L.A. Fitness and Gold’s don’t have their perks, either. While they’re more expensive, they offer more in the way of variety as far as equipment goes.

Planet, however, is catered toward the first-time exerciser and thus is stockpiled with cardio equipment and machines and typically a modest free-weight area. Heavy lifters aren’t interested in Planet, for the most part.

You can’t put all your eggs in the basket that centers on price alone, however.

Planet is cheap, granted, but can they give you diversity in your workouts versus more pricey versions. And let’s not forget personal training studios and CrossFit gyms, things of that nature, are popping up quite a bit due to the fact that the training is personalized, and results much more expedited as a result.

Personal training at various gyms aren’t much cheaper, with Equinox offering $110 per hour sessions to start, and Crunch Fitness in the neighborhood of $80, with $60 on the low side for Life Time Fitness.^[11]

Personal training means a lot. That guidance is expensive because there is a level of accountability there, as well.

That said, Planet Fitness does incorporate a group personal training dynamic that offers something in the way of diversity in what you’re doing, with a lead trainer and times that classes start.

Planet is hard to overlook as the better of the options, mainly due to the monthly cost, range of locations and equipment selection (to avoid overcrowding) along with some element of training. You won’t find dynamic, medicine ball slamming the ground, fast-paced pull-ups and deadlifts until midnight with Planet as you would a personal trainer and or training studio, but the average exerciser wants to look good in a tank top, not pull a tank across an open field.

Planet allows for cost, convenience and variation to come together nicely for the right price.

Anyone who makes fitness and diet a part of their life on a consistent basis will argue vehemently that fads don’t work, sporadic exercise is lame at best and starvation isn’t the smart or health way to go about losing weight.

You have to incorporate healthy eating, exercise and even splurging on foods you want in moderation to successful transform not only your body but overall mindset on what it means to be healthy.

Generally speaking, you should shoot for the traditional 450 minutes of exercise per week to reduce chances of premature death.^[12]

For some, that is easier to break down into daily but remember that if you go a day or two without working out, you don’t have to opt to quit since you feel like you’ve already let yourself down.

Exercise and eating right is a marathon not a sprint, and it takes time to incorporate it over the long term, rather than saying so long with one small slip up.

As for meal plans, they’re not one in the same. Sometimes trial and error is your only recourse before you find one that sticks, but they’re costly only if you view them as in addition to fast-food or grocery store trips. More often than not, meal plan is meal replacement and such should eliminate those aforementioned expenses.

The good news is that April isn’t summer and you still have time to give dieting and exercise a reboot, only this time with consistency, patience and cost coupled with realistic approaches to getting fit for life.