Sunday, March 09, 2008

How Much Does Weight Loss Cost?

I took some time today to start getting caught up on work. After answering a bunch of emails, I start searching the 'net for fat burners.

Yep, I was looking at weight loss supplements.

One of the things I like to do is to make sure I keep up on the weight loss supplement industry.

I don't work in the weight loss supplement industry any more, but I find that it is beneficial for me to keep up to date on the latest products and their advertising.

From my experience, the supplement industry is always on the cutting edge for what is new and "in". If certain catch phrases are in a supplement ad, then you can bet they will be mainstream in another couple months. In fact, I think some of these companies are innovative enough that their marketing can actually create media trends.

As I was going through the ads and the products out there I realized two things - There isn't much new going on in the supplement industry, and the supplement industry has actually managed to put a price on weight loss.

That's right. With a quick little experiment we can actually figure out how much the supplement industry is charging you per pound of weight lost.

Assuming their weight loss claims are correct, and that if (and this is a big if) you were to take their products you would actually lose the amount of weight they say you will, then you can actually put a price on weight loss.

For instance, the very best claim that I have seen on a supplement is that you will lose about 15 pounds in 8 weeks. So, hypothetically if you took this product (we'll call it product X) for 8 weeks you would lose 15 pounds.

Now, with product X you had to take 4 pills per day and the bottle contained 80 pills.

Therefore, to take the product for the full 8 weeks you would need to buy 2.8 bottles, and since you can't buy .8 of a bottle, you'd have to buy 3 bottles.

You can buy fat burning supplements for a wide range of prices, but the average is around 29.99. However sometimes you can find the 29.99 ones on sale for as low as 25.99, so lets just say product X costs 25 dollars per bottle.

What do we get from all this math? Simple, according to the supplement industry losing 15 pounds should costs you 75 dollars (3 bottles in 8 weeks, at 25 dollars per bottle).

Or about 5 dollars per pound (And remember, this is assuming their products actually work!).

No wonder they are a multi billion dollar industry!!

Truthfully, weight loss shouldn't cost you this much. In my opinion there are only three things you need to lose weight, and once you have them, you can lose weight and maintain that weight loss for as long as you want without ever having to pay any more money.

Those three keys?

A proper diet that you can stick to long term, an exercise program that you find challenging, and supportive friends and family is all you need to lose weight.

BP

PS- speaking of exercises, here are two cool videos from Craig Ballantyne of turbulencetraining.com

Bodyweight workout
Fat Burning Workout


lose weight easily with intermittent fasting

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4 comments:

alohanema said...

Hi Brad,

I've read your post "How Much Does Weight Loss Cost?". I like your thought about estimating the cost.
May I share this post with my readers, I will link back to your blog and make some reviews to promote your blog too. Here is my blog (its PR = 3)
Have a nice day!

Thanks,
Aloha Nema

Brad Pilon said...

Hi Aloha,

Of course you can share with your readers!

BP

Anonymous said...

Resveratrol can help you to lead a long and healthy life so says Dr. Oz.

Resveratrol Supplements can help you control your weight naturally
by increasing energy, reducing cravings, and limiting your appetite.
According to Wikipedia, Consumer Lab, an independent dietary
supplement and over the counter products evaluation organization,
published a report on 13 November 2007 on the popular resveratrol
supplements. The organization reported that there exists a wide range
in quality, dose, and price among the 13 resveratrol products
evaluated. The actual amount of resveratrol contained in the
different brands range from 2.2mg for Revatrol, which claimed to have
400mg of "Red Wine Grape Complex", to 500mg for Biotivia.com Transmax,
which is consistent with the amount claimed on the product's label.
Prices per 100mg of resveratrol ranged from less than $.30 for
products made by Biotivia.com, jarrow, and country life, to a high of
$45.27 for the Revatrol brand. None of the products tested were found
to have significant levels of heavy metals or other contaminants.

alohanema said...

Please check this post
I post and write some reviews to promote your blog. You can see it in the "Related information"