Many working professionals today seem to be on a fitness and health drive -- you only need a look at the gyms in your city today to realise that. Great, but do you know how much you are really spending on fitness drive? We decided to ask a few people and do some quick math.

She can spend any amount to lose weight!

NAME: Priyanka Jethwani
Age: 22
What Priyanka does: Process Executive at at MNC bank

Priyanka often looked at herself in the mirror and sulked at the fact that she was not slim enough to fit into that little black dress which her colleagues often wore on Saturdays.

So she decided to join a gymnasium.

She went to a well-known gym only to find the membership fees were exorbitant. "I had read advertisements of various gyms claiming how people lost 15 kilogrammes to 20 kilogrammes in no time. I wanted to try it out, but wasn't sure if these were just advertisements to promote themselves or the truth. I thought over it for a couple of days before investing Rs 15,000 for a year," says Priyanka.

Juggling between gym and work, Priyanka worked out for five months with no difference in her weight.

"It was not very encouraging to see the weighing machine stuck at the same number for five months. I was not sure whether I would lose weight, but continued going to gym since I had paid for the whole year."

Then came the realisation: working out is great but it needs to be supplemented with the right diet to get into the right shape. "It took a long time for me to realise that dieting is as important as working out. By dieting, I don't mean starving but eating the right kind of food," she says.

She also enlisted a personal trainer. He helped her shed about 6 kg in two months. She says, "It was all worth it!"

Priyanka spent around Rs 70,000 (that is 40 per cent of her annual income), to lose that 6 kg. Here's how;

Total amount spent in one year: Rs 69,625
Weight loss in one year: 6 kg
Cost of losing one kilogramme: Rs 11,604

That means Priyanka spent about Rs 11,000 to shed each kg!

That's the amount a person can survive on for a month; buy a new mobile phone or maybe an iPod, and use it for years!

Is spending Rs 1,000 per 100 grams really worth it?

"It did feel like a waste of money initially. Now, I think it is worth it. I know it is a bit too much. But if, at the end of the day, I look thinner and better, what more can I ask for?" smiles Priyanka.

She says life was hell for those few months when she was on a diet: "When I was cutting down on all my favourite food, I often wondered, is life only about looking good and not living it to the fullest? It was frustrating. I stopped going out for dinner with friends. I refrained from anything that might tempt me to eat fatty foods. But the results showed soon."

Photograph: Kamiya Jani

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e-mail: Kamiya Jani

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