Most of us are not happy with the circumstances in which we find ourselves!

“If I were just a little taller”, “If I were a little fatter’, “if I were just a …” Most common is “IF I WERE JUST A LITTLE  THINNER”.

As though dropping a kilo or 10 kilos will change our lives, we continue to make this statement. If you watch the selling channels you will believe that removing one pimple or reducing the size of your hips, or even change some obscure part of your body will bring Nirvana! However, it may just be some wishful thinking.

We may not be willing to give up the gulab jamun, the morning sleep (which stops you from going for exercise or a walk), etc. Your inner voice is not wanting to reduce the body weight, so the weight remains the same.

However we are in such an acquisition mode that we go out an acquire a lot of things.  Let us say we go and join a gym. It better be a nice branded one – so it is ‘Gold Gymkhana’ or a ‘Talwalkar’ or a “Leena Mongre” to start with. That means about Rs. 35,000 for a 1 year membership. Obviously the pricing is done by the gym at Rs. 4000 a month, but Rs. 35,000 a year – and it looks cheap. On the way it is a Nike shop where they stop next. The full package – suit, sleeves, knee support, socks and shoes – well only Rs. 22,000. Ha now the soul feels satisfied.

Then they go to the gym on the first day – no trainer pays attention to them after the first fifteen minutes. So to get more attention they sign up for “Personal Training” – where a trainer is assigned to them. Cost only Rs. 5500 a month, they sign up for a quarter – Rs. 15,000.

Then they go for 7 days in the first month, and are not happy with the impact on their weight.  In the second month a dietician is roped in who says “70% of your weight is because of what you eat” – so the dietician’s bill is Rs. 3500 a month, again signed up for a quarter Rs. 10,000 (saved Rs. 1500 you see). The dietician recommends a protein supplementary – Rs. 10,000 for a big drum.

Vow! Now the total spend has been Rs. 82,000 and not a kilo has been lost! Why? they have been to the gym only for 12 days in 3 months.

Then the company sends them for a 15 day trip to Europe – so no gym. They come back….and the gym is forgotten.

The cost per day has been Rs. 82,000 /12! I will let you calculate.

Then they rationalize – “Oh I could not get time to go to the gym”.

So what to do? Buy a treadmill. How much does a treadmill cost? Well a mechanical treadmill (ouch you must be joking) costs Rs. 8000. A nice electronic treadmill costs Rs. 50,000.

You know which one got bought….surely….

And the weight of the yuppie went up from 84 kilos to 86 kilos. Only the weight of the purse came down by Rs. 82,000 + Rs. 50,000 + Cost of travelling to the gym. Not bad, eh?

Is Rs. 132,000 too much to lose? Well like all finance people let me say “It depends…”. Depends on what? Well let us say you were 30 years of age when you did this. Instead of this if you had kept this money in an index fund which let your money grow @ 18% per annum, this small amount of Rs. 132,000 would have been worth Rs. 1,89,24,919. It actually means you could have perhaps retired about 3 years earlier. Again Not bad, eh?