5 Signs Your Fad Fitness Program Is Really a Money-Waster

There’s nothing wrong with paying for a fitness regime. If the program works, isn’t driving you into debt or causing any health problems, its costs could be negligible.

Unfortunately, fitness fads are a dime a dozen and many programs, plans or products don’t work as advertised. In fact, plenty are downright bogus. Do a quick search for “weight loss scams” on the Federal Trade Commission website, and you’ll see what I mean.

To help you avoid falling prey to a useless or predatory pitch, here are five signs a fitness fad will have you losing dollars, not pounds.

1. It Claims You’ll ‘Lose Weight … Effortlessly!’

Exercise, by definition, requires effort. To lose weight, you need to burn calories, which are units of energy, so expect a fitness regime to be accompanied by sweat, deep breaths and discomfort. If a workout involves little time, zero effort and minimal movement, it’s probably not worth the cost. Yes, doing a few minutes of crunches is better than nothing — but it’s still very close to nothing.

2. It Claims You’ll ‘Burn X Number of Calories!’

A popular — and effective — sales tactic in the fitness industry involves advertising the exact number of calories a client can burn over the length of a particular exercise program. But there’s more than one reason to disregard that promise.

For starters, the number of calories you burn during exercise can vary enormously. Second, it’s hard to tell what that number means in relation to actual weight loss. You’d have to be tracking your calorie consumption and keeping a regular log of your weight to have a frame of reference. Plus, even if you lost the exact number of calories promoted by a program, it might not matter. Remember, diet is a critical factor. What happens if you’re consuming twice as many calories as you need to burn to lose weight?

3. It Claims You’re ‘Guaranteed to Lose X Pounds in a Week!’

As in life, there are no guarantees in fitness. No one can know how you will respond to a given exercise. Educated health professionals and medical practitioners can’t make guarantees regarding your health, so be skeptical when some voice on the TV claims it can. Often the burden of success lies exclusively with the customer.

4. It Has an Asterisk Anywhere … or Everywhere

Qualifications abound in the fitness industry and a little star or cross can signify a number of things. “Only $29.99*!” Expect hidden fees. “Free Trial*!” Be prepared to enter credit card information that’ll get auto-charged if you don’t cancel the program before the promotional period ends. See “testimonials*”? Those claims may be unsubstantiated or only accurate under a narrow set of conditions.

Bottom line: If you come across an asterisk, read the fine print and ask plenty of questions before shelling out money. (Keeping track of your finances? You can view two of your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)

5. It Uses a ‘Secret Proprietary Blend’

There are plenty of fitness companies out there, particularly those hawking supplements, that do their best to make you believe they hold some super-secret, space-age, chemical formula developed by a team of sleep-deprived engineers in a lab 5 miles below the earth’s crust that’s totally essential to losing weight. But there are no secrets in fitness, just the truths you may refuse to accept, so there’s reason to be extra discerning when a company drops the “p” word.

Food and Drug Administration regulations don’t require manufacturers to include how much of each ingredient in a “proprietary blend” is actually in their product, just the weight of the mix itself. In other words, the term is often code for caffeine pills, plus some unpronounceable, inert filler chemicals that do nothing to advance your fitness goals.

While getting in shape can take hard work, the formula is basic: diet and exercise. Plus, you can get fit without breaking your budget. Here are a few ways to get started.

Image: BogdanBrasoveanu