As I was talking with a friend yesterday about how my fitness journey has been going, the topic of costs came up. When you think of a program like P90x, Insanity, or P90X2, to some people the cost seems prohibitive. I personally used to spend over $100/month on a gym membership, so $120 for a 3 month workout program that I can do at home and use over and over is a great deal.
Anyway, getting back on topic, there is a cost that I hadn’t factored in and it has been significant. I’ve had to buy new clothes. When I started my fitness journey in July of 2010, I was sitting at 215 lbs, and really pushing the limits of my 34” waist pants, the ones that had the extra wiggle room elastic band in them. My choice at that point was move up a size, which my ego was strongly against, or start to get fit. I started with simply eating less, and lost about 15 lbs. At that point I was comfortable in my clothes. Over the next year of various Tony Horton programs and less than strict eating, I hovered around the same weight and got a bit stronger. Insanity kicked my butt into gear with burning more calories and wanting to do a better job of fueling my body.
When I started P90X2 in January of this year, I decided to stick closer to the meal plan. I wanted to stay realistic due to my work travel schedule and not alienate my wife or family, but I had to eat better to meet my personal goals. So, at 60 days into the program, I’ve dropped 14 lbs, on top of the 40 I’d lost since I started working on my fitness and I found that my clothes were falling off me. I had no pants, shorts, or jeans that fit and many of my shirts were billowing in the wind, signs of being stretched around my previous pregnant-looking gut.
I had to buy a full set of new pants for work. I bought 32” waist pants that are already fairly loose. I’ve been buying slim fit shirts in medium. I bought 30” waist shorts and now 30” waist jeans. The biggest kicker for me was when I was cleaning out my shaker cup from Shakeology at work and my wedding ring fell in the garbage can. I was able to dig it out, but I immediately went to the jeweler to get it resized. I went from a size 10 ring that I got when I got married and was nowhere near my max size, to a size 8 ring. That was amazing to me.
So, over the past few months, I’ve had to spend 100s of dollars on clothes, but that is a good problem to have. I’m healthier than I’ve ever been; I’m stronger than I’ve ever been; and I’m thinner than I’ve ever been. The price of the Beachbody programs that I have been done has been miniscule compared to the benefits I’ve achieved in my health. The new clothes are just an unplanned consequence of the process, but I’d rather buy smaller sizes than a bigger size any day.
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