WARNING: These links have very crude language/dialog. Do not open around the kiddies/boss.

I am not saying that this person is right about everything in these articles, but it is a different view point than I have heard around here, so I thought it might create some interesting conversation. Also, I think she has a good point about how we do not correctly prioritize our money towards our fitness goals.

Link 1 Link 2

How VA lost weight:
1. Run your diet past your doctor before you begin
2. Ignore magazine covers that claim to teach you how to lose 10lbs in 7 days
3. Cut the cable
4. Put the entire family on the same program
5. Don’t join a gym more than 5 miles away or one who makes you sign a contract
6. When you get bored, mix it up
7. Find a personal trainer that you’re comfortable with
8. Make sure there is plenty of variety in your diet
9. If you plateau, kick it up a notch
10. Brainwash yourself

I agree, and I think the points she makes would work well enough for us, who have time enough (and presumably money enough) to make some investments in our bodies at other expenses and cut corners, but if we're thinking about honestly changing the health of American society rather than just individuals, you can't talk about money's relationship to health without discussing how poor people, and I mean really poor people, not the people addressed in this essay, can make changes for the better (and be encouraged to do so).

I think it totally stinks that people use food stamps on Ramen instead of produce, for example. But I understand why when you're trying to stretch that dollar as far as you can. Kids who qualify for free/reduced price lunches at their schools are probably eating mostly junk, which seems cheaper to produce and make, and is tastier. You can't convince kids to eat a lump of iceberg lettuce when you've got crunchy, salty fries right next to them.

I do think we don't prioritize time well enough as individuals, but I also think it's more than a little messed up that, in order to make enough money to have a space to live and eat every day, some people have to work two or three jobs at minimum wage. Some people do waste money for convenience (including me and the lunch I bought at Panera because my morning meeting went a lot later than expected)...but there are some, unfortunately, the ones rarely heard from, who have to have convenience in some way because that's the way the system works. I wish it didn't, but it does, and until we recognize that and learn to change it (or change how we subsidize farmers and certain crops, and imports and exports...the whole bit), there are people who will always be fat under the way food is produced and consumed in our country.

"To put it simply, a lot of people struggle with their weight because they don’t have enough money to stay thin. "

This is not entirely true when you look at the American and Canadian populations as a whole. A study in 2007 showed that there is a paradox to income and obesity.

It found that poor women were indeed heavier than richer women, but it found the exact opposite for men. The higher the income, the fatter the men became.

The rationale was that the poorer men had jobs and lifestyles doing more manual work and that kept them healthier. As their income increased they moved to more white collar jobs that required them to do less physical activity.

The women tended to be fatter because of a reliance on cheap processed foods and fast food in their diets, so at least half of the equation worked like in the article.

Education also has a lot to do with it though. It is very possible to eat healthy on a low budget and it is also possible to choose healthy selections at fast food places.

Yikes... I'm speechless.

I completely agree that it can be more expensive to eat healthily than to eat crap. However, I totally disagree that you have to prioritize your spending to the point you spend more on your body than on your mortgage! That's insane. I think if you're the poorest of the poor, then you will probably have a really hard time eating healthy. However, with some creative spending, and looking around at things like farmers markets, you should be able to eat healthy at many incomes. You don't have to buy fresh vegetables. Yeah, fresh are going to make an awesome salad, but frozen make just as awesome a stirfry as fresh.

She also claims that fresh fruit and veggies last 2-3 days in the fridge? What temperature is she keeping her fridge at.


What a load of crap.

I'm also not one for personal trainers. I think they'd probably be really good while you have one, but I'd worry that you'd have a hard time self motivating yourself to workout as hard without one.

She has a point about money making it easier to manage your weight, but she seems to present it as if you don't have or are not willing to spend a lot of money you're going to be fat. That, I think, is a load of bs.

For me it's been more of a time investment. Running is cheap. Shoes are about 50 bucks and last a half of a year. That's less than 10 bucks a month. I pay more for my netflix subscription.

This was already posted, but you could fore go the gym membership and workout at home with a prison workout.

The food is a tough one, but I see it as taking the same discipline as working out. Especially if that means planning to cook frozen fish and peas when you're craving a McDonald's double cheese burger on the way home from work. Frozen veggies are cheap and freeze for long periods of time, and steam well in the microwave. My toaster oven has all but replaced my regular oven for a single serving of broiled fish or baked frozen pot pie. You don't have to splurge on swordfish to eat healthier.

The author does prove that investing money into your health makes it easier. I wish the article didn't resort to name-calling, especially in the title of the second link. Brutal honesty is one thing, but this is over the line imho (especially if you're writing to people looking for help).

I honestly disagree with the premise so much that it made me a little sick to my stomach. It's just further justification; all it does is give people more excuses, and this particular excuse is especially relevant given the economic situation in this country, so it's just going to make it easier for folks to not do anything about the problem since they have ANOTHER fallback.

It doesn't matter WHY we gained weight and, subsequently why we might need to lose it if we need to lose it, what matters is that we do something about it. Focusing on how it happened in the first place is just going to make it happen again.

Hell, the premise is so way off base that I don't even know where to begin if I even felt like justifying it with a dissection. The truth is that I actually SAVED money on food once I decided to eat healthier and started cooking my own meals.

I'm from Australia and we're going through a 'fat time' i guess as a country on the whole. And from what ive read and sceen i dont think its about money but rather education from a young age, about 1 in 4 kids in Primary school are overweight or even obese.

So from that i have a feeling its education for the young kids to show them what crappy Fast Food will do to you and also what it has already done to the children

I'm all for doin' it one's self, and cheaply might I add. Excuses never produce anything but failure.

Calisthenics for example, require little gear; a mat, basic shoes, some focus & HARD WORK. When done regularly, sooner than later, Bob's some other chubby person's uncle. Same goes for walking and jogging, as already noted.

A trainer while surely nice, is not necessary, especially these days when all one really needs to know, (and on video no less), is merely a click away.

Water is CHEAP.

Healthy natural foods like peanuts for eg. are cheap. So are canned legumes.

Buying fresh meat when on sale and freezing it pays off too.

As for fruits and veggies having short shelf-lives, apples will last for weeks, even months when stored properly. Oranges, seasonal fruits and many veggies also last for a LONG time in the fridge's crisper.

Same for long conservation milk. Sure, it doesn't taste as great as fresh, but one gets used to that.

Canned tuna is cheap.

Peanut butter is cheap.

Eggs are cheap.

Frozen veggies are cheap and obviously keep.

If there's a will, there's a way. If there's waffle, there's a weigh.

Peanut butter is cheap? thats the problem hahaha

Ollie...

And I forgot to harp on something else in that last post of mine, (which for me is just the default, so I didn't think of it), and that is to simply UP the daily activity levels and if need be, plan for it. Like taking a bit of extra time to walk to places that driving to would be silly for the environment anyway, never mind our own chassis'. Start with .5kms, soon that will become 2.5 and so on...

Take the stairs whenever possible, walk faster, play with the dog more, your kids more, get at that yardwork or basement cleaning or... Just USE the time NOW for what will ultimately give you MORE time for quality of life down the road.

Set limits for TV, Net surfing, video games; all things sedentary, (she types ; ), and YES, get the whole household in on it as, if mom or dad is doughy, there's often a good chance that kiddies are too, or skinny fatties.

Eat less, eat better and move a LOT more. And make a goal for a year from now. Chances are, that after a whole year of learning and doing the right things, it'll likely become the norm, which is ultimately THE GOAL.

Oh, and ditch the facilitators, the ones who really only want to keep you down with them. The real friends, like cream, will rise to the top of the call list and life's way too short to surround one's self with anything but quality.

And just to qualify the above blabbings, I have been overweight, (~60 lbs over), and during that time, I most certainly did lack willpower. Thankfully, that trait can be learned and we can all be living proof.

Man, I'm actually reading more of what's in those links now and DAMN:

Take a trip to the grocery store and buy all the fixings for a fantastic salad. You’re probably going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $30.



& double DAMN:

I am not trying to imply that if you don’t pull in a few million dollars a year in income, you’re destined for morbid obesity. On the contrary, I pull in significantly less than that and I can still manage a healthy lifestyle. I have just arranged my financial priorities a little differently from the average person. For example, the outfit that I’m wearing right now cost me $45 including the shoes. However, I spend double that, daily, just to fit into it. The car in my driveway is seven years old, but I do employ a personal trainer. I spend more on food in an average month than I spend on the mortgage of the house I’m currently living in. My body is, by far, my biggest expense. The second I cut back on that investment is the same second I gain weight. Fuck, sometimes the millisecond.

is this person ever a boooooooooohooooooooooooob.

I have NEVER spent 30 freakin' bucks on a salad and the closest I've ever come to $90/day on fitness is during my yearly trip to the running show store.

I found that a healthy eating habit are actually cheaper than a poor one. It's because of the planning it takes and the smaller portions.

When I actually manage to stick to my diet, I usually plan a few days ahead with food and this cuts my number of visits to the grocery down to one time a week. I still get fresh veggies from a nearby farmers' market, but that's different from shopping in Wal-Mart, because... well, a farmers' market is just a farmers market. You get your tomatoes and broccoli there and won't be tempted to buy all kind of super-sexy unhealthy stuff you don't actually need. And the less of the extra stuff you buy, the more you save, right?

As for portions: In the past half a year, I went from borderline obese to just-normal BMI and noticed that I eat a lot less, maybe just a little more than half of the previous amount. The less you eat the less you spend.

Sure, I'm not from the US, so your mileage may vary, maybe veggies and healthy food costs a lot more than here. Yet I find the $30 for a decent salad hard to believe. The ingridients for a recipe of mine goes like:
premium salad mix ($4), a few veggies like tomato and cucumber ($4), half can of feta cheese ($2), a slice of toasted bread ($0.30?), premium quality black olives ($2), sprinkled with basil olive oil ($0.01?). That's $13 for two persons and it's pretty good. [I wanted to add that your Ben & Jerry's 16floz costs more, but apparently you guys in the US can get it for a lot less -- I paid $13 for one yesterday... Eh, Europe is expensive ]

This article is the biggest crock of shit I've ever seen.

"If you only have $5 in your pocket, you can’t afford to buy a piece of grilled salmon with a side of steamed asparagus. But you do have enough for a value meal at McDonalds, don’t you? I’ve never seen a fruit cup for sale that cost under $3. But I can buy a candy bar for 50 cents."

If you're really this destitute then buy some fucking rice and beans. Or possibly some lentils, which you can buy dirt cheap. Just because one's short on cash doesn't mean that McD's is the automatic fallback. And if this is what people think, then it's their fault that they have their head so far up their ass that they can't see the bigger picture.

"Around this time of year, people spend a lot of time resolving to lose weight. But what dooms them to failure year after year is that they don’t set enough money aside to accomplish that goal."

Are you kidding me? Seriously? Push-ups, calisthenics, plyometrics, RUNNING, WALKING at a fast pace, doing pull-ups at the local park, etc... are all FREE or pretty damn close to it.

All this article adds to the fitness world is yet another excuse as to why people cannot get fit. Add this to the laundry list of pathetic excuses, such as "I don't have time", "It's too hard", "I have an addiction to food", blah blah blah.

Fucking christ, how could anyone EVER take themselves seriously for stooping to such a low intellectual and physical level? This country is becoming chock-full of people with this type of mentality, and quite frankly I'm fucking tired of it.

People need to learn how to fucking pick themselves up by their bootstraps and fucking achieve. JUST DO IT.

What a crock of s*!@!!!!!!!!!!! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, what a rubbish excuse.

I'm glad to see everyone debunking most of the stuff she said. I was in a particularly foul mood yesterday and her writing style came across so confident that I found myself getting caught up in it. Still, she does make at least one point that I agree with, and that is that it is easier to be thin if you are wealthy.

Anyways, thanks for all the interesting comments guys.

The general aversion to this article makes me proud that traineo may be getting somewhere these days.

Wasn't there just a long discussion post on how it was the diet part of "Diet and Exercise" that was the most important in loosing weight. I eat at McDonalds and I still loose weight. Its about the calories. I for one have spent significantly less on food since I started my diet.

This is a crock. It provides yet another excuse for people to be victims and not take responsibility for their weight.

obviously alot of you must have comfortable incomes and live places where they don't overcharge because shipping is expensive to an isolated area.
The money i spent on buying the ingredients for the salads with tuna would be about $25, it would last me maybe two days, three if do the starvation thing. i take that same $25 buy a couple of loaves of bread a couple of packages of beef bologna or hot dogs, a large container of skim milk, some cans of tuna for variety and i have enough left over for a couple of pieces of fresh fruit(which is expensive around here) and whatever they might be having a sale on in the canned veggie and soup department and i got myself food to last me awhile. except for the tuna,veggie and fruit none of the other stuff is that healthy and can be quite fattening(especially when you gain two pounds just LOOKING at heavy carbs). meat is a treat and sometimes a person can only afford it twice a month if there is a sale. frozen veggies and fruit here cost almost as much as the real thing.
it's not all bull, it's difficult but you can have a semi decent diet not the perfect one everyone says you need to have but you can still make healthy changes.
try to keep in mind that some people do live in poverty(i'm sinking deeper as time passes and student loans want thier money that i can't pay) and live in areas where food is expensive to ship to so what is cheap for you might not be cheap for them. you wouldn't believe the price of potatoes here recently. you get what you can afford and quite often it is the unhealthy stuff.
Don't tear my head off and say i am making excuses. this is the way it is. not everyone is lucky to live in places with cheap food or have enough of a income so they can buy the foods that they WANT to buy.
i am telling you the viewpoint of someone who IS poor and struggles to have a healthy diet.

Jesus Christ, does every thread you post in have to turn into a big pity party "whataboutme" fest?

I am not lucky because I earn a decent income or live where I live, I got here because I work hard and I chose to make something with my existence.




Where do you live? Juneau? That's the only place I visited where shipping is expensive, and it only matters with large, bulky, and heavy items. Spinach is light. TP is expensive. If you eat less, you'll crap less and save money. Honestly, we don't use the pony express any longer so I sincerely doubt shipping costs are going to accrue much more than an additional 10% of your bulk food cost.

Ground turkey is usually 2.99 a pound. I would assume you don't require more than 3 or 4 lbs a week, thats not much money. Money is not a treat, wild salmon is. Canned tuna, ground turkey, and chicken breasts continue to be dirt cheap.

piss off!
and chicken breast isn't cheap! why am i going to spend 14 bucks on four chicken breasts when i can buy sandwich makings that will last me a hell of alot longer!!!
I live in northern canada practically in the middle of a damn forest so ya your pretty close! maybe your american stuff is cheaper i don't know.

I DON'T HAVE MUCH MONEY!
i have to stretch out what i got!

and i said i buy tuna, jerk, i'm saying the fresher stuff and certain items aren't cheap where i am.



there's always gotta be one jerkoff that makes me reconsider being a part of something like this, i met one today. i may have a woe is me viewpoint, it's the way i am, of the world but it doesn't mean what i am saying is any less true.

I am originally from Idaho. I didn't see a $20 bill until I was about 16 years old. The largest money I saw before that was a $5 bill. We never ate at McDonalds. Walmart didn't exist yet. We ate what we could get with food stamps and government commodities. But, most importantly, we grew a lot of what we ate.

Most of the reason nobody in my family got to be too overweight was because my father, a disabled veteran, couldn't feed the family without everyone contributing to the only way we could get money over the course of a few years, other than the meager subsidy the government gave us --- driving a three ton truck out into the boonies, cutting wood all day every weekend during the school year and all summer and selling it at $50/chord. When you're 12 years old, it's 8 degrees outside, you've been stacking wood for 9 hours, and all you want to do is be warm and watch TV and you have government cheese and Aunt Gertie's tomatoes for dinner, you don't get to gain too much weight. Everyone has a sob story. Everyone thinks everybody else that has it even a little bit better was born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Fourteen bucks on chicken breasts? I don't know where you shop, but at Whole Foods in Cupertino, California, they're not that expensive. Sure, they have food in California, but they also have higher prices for it than anywhere else, because Cupertino is home of Apple Computer and the average per capita income here is $95,000/yr and the average family earns over $200k/yr. If it's not that expensive here and we're all rolling in filthy lucre, you should shop around more frugally wherever you are.

I hate to be an asshole, but I'm with Bourblaster. Looking for solutions beats looking for excuses. If you live in a place with a significant amount of poverty, you have a Walmart somewhere nearby. If you live in a place where chicken, the most ubiquitous food animal in the world, costs $14, you should move out of Barrow. Because the North Slope is the only place in America I can think of that's even close to that remote.

But, I could be wrong. After all, I grew up on welfare. I can't be that smart.

Just because you have a "woe is me viewpoint" doesn't mean that it's automatically correct or legitimate. When it comes to your health and physical well-being, YOU'RE in control, no one else is. Barring an accident or traumatic illness it is up to YOU to be healthy and fit. In essence, it is YOUR responsibility to take the steps necessary to achieve your physical fitness goals.

Your so-called "woe is me viewpoint" is entirely antithetical to the ethic of self-responsibility, which makes me think you're truly grasping for excuses.

Okay, so food is obnoxiously expensive where you live. What do you do for exercise? Do you push yourself? Or do you let yourself coast along at minimal effort? Do you plan your life around being healthy? Or is it merely a blip on your seemingly "hijacked" life? Contrary to the bullshit spreading around here, exercise is a key factor in fitness and weightloss. If food is indeed fairly expensive, do what you can and bust your ass during your workouts so you can make the best of your situation.

Come on. Get real. Get in control. You're letting excuses get in the way of your goals.

30 bucks for a salad?! 30 bucks feeds me for a week. I disagree with a lot of what is printed in these articles. just because a cheesburger is a buck doesn't mean americans are more willing to spend the dollar on a cheesburger than they are to spend it on something healthier. It is ENTIRELY based on willpower.

I eat well for $10.00 a day. In that $10.00 is

4 Protein shakes in milk (1scoop 1 cup of milk) (49c a scoop, 26c per cup)
3 cups of chicken (1.20lb a pound)
2 Pieces of Bread (99cents a loaf like nohting a slice)
Protein Bars if wanted (45 cents or less for them from a discount store)
Random Fruit (60ish cents or less usually per serving)
4 Liters of water (free)

Dinner = Few dollars @ home per meal.

It may not be the most 'glorious' meal plan but M-F I find I meat my goals if I make stuff ahead of time and stick to it.

I also workout during lunches ($30.00 a month). I find doing this saves me $7.00-10.00 a day by not buying a lunch.

I have coworkers who complain about never having money but they go out to eat 4-5 days a week. If they 'pooled' money at work and cooked lunches for each other they would save money this way also possibly have stuff for the next day.

If where you live is that expensive that you can't afford to live, move.

What you've done is identified a problem (expensive cost of living with a low income) and you've done nothing in terms of finding a solution for it. You're here, instead, whining using numbers that just don't seem realistic and further legitimizing your "plight" when you could easily do something about it. Besides, if food is that expensive there and you're that tight on cash, how could you afford to gain enough weight that you need to lose some now?

Economists don't wave some magic wand to make crappy food cheaper to ship than healthy food and if you're in that rural an area, I'd have to imagine there's plenty of farming out there (farms produce food!)... because it doesn't sound like an industrious region otherwise. If there's TRULY nothing out there, no industry, no jobs, no money... why would you WANT to live there? Especially considering that you'd be the ONLY person living there if no one had a reason to, so perhaps you just want to be isolated... although you're online trying to be part of a community, so that can't be it... Also, internet access is not free so you're paying to be online when that money could be going towards other things.

I would also argue that if prices are THAT inflated for your basic necessities, then fast food places would also have inflated prices and would, as a result, be less affordable as well and would probably not be as common either as they'd either have to cut their losses and leave or eat into their margin by keeping the same pricing as in other parts of the world. So either way, you'd be starving.

In any case, I call bullshit. You're probably in a self-exagerrated situation that isn't nearly as bad as you say (you haven't named what town you live in, so the power of Google cannot be used to prove what you're saying is true or false), so you're spinning a web of lies so deep that you might as well be working for the Bush administration (oh yes, I went there). There really isn't anything you can say to justify the plain and simple truth that YOU are in control of YOUR LIFE and, right now, you're LETTING it kick you in the ass.



You sir, are a riot (in a good way).

i'm not in america. and yes it is that expensive, a few days ago it was $13.45 it fluctuates daily.
if i could freaking afford to leave i would! i have been trying for god knows how long to save the money for it AND IT COSTS MONEY TO MOVE!
internet and phone access is part of my rooming arrangment.



why the hell would i tell you exactly where i live. i never tell anyone where i live. i don't know you. i don't even tell people i meet on the street where i live. i have mentioned i am in northern canada.

think whatever the hell you want i am done with this!

Sorry, sweet joanne. A number of people here have overcome much more difficult hardships than you are and persevered. In this life, when faced with difficulties, we have two options.

1. Rise up.

2. Give up.

You're not really in category number two, are you?

Now granted that I am new to this whole eating healthy all the time crap, because of this I find myself really reading packaging and valuing my food purchases based on both cost as well as healthiness. But here in the good old Garden State USA, we have farmstands for fresh fruits and veggies cheap. And in a pinch we have these neat meals in the freezer section that are half the fat and or calories as a regular TV dinner or any other prepared for you foods. 300-400 calories on average. And the fabulous thing is that there are 3 or 4 different makers, so one is always on sale for the equivalent of $3 - $4 each. FAR LESS than I ever spent at Arby's or McD's. They have meat and veg and either rice or noodles. Microwave and 5 minutes later dinner. And let me point out that I have 2 kids and between my man and I we bring home $60K a year...so I can totally grasp POOR!