Maybe the more obvious way that diet impacts money differently for women than men (although this gap is possibly closing), is Diets with a capital D. You know, the difference when you say “I’m on a Diet” versus “My diet consists of…”

The Diet industry, this multi-billion dollar behemoth, can’t necessarily be characterized as good or bad. I’m certain there have been people on Weight Watchers who have kept it off. When I was in my 20s, I joined Weight Watchers, and lost something like 35 pounds, and kept it off for a little while. But there were plenty of ‘Lifetime Members’ who showed up at every meeting, and I’m not going to shit on the thing that worked super well for them. Those women showed up, they embraced community, they changed their own lives and the lives of others. They were, and are, inspirational. Those success stories exist. The same applies to plenty of other programs, from Jenny Craig to the Atkins diet, and I’m not even going to touch GLPs.

Ignoring promotional discounts, a traditional (digital + meetings) subscription to Weight Watchers will set you back about $660. The key difference here between the genders, I think, is that to women, that $55 a month is WORTH IT without question. Given that our income can increase or decrease based on our appearance, a successful program might actually have a significantly positive return on investment. I know that men also do WW and similar programs. I know that it’s not a women-only thing. But bear with me, because I really do think it’s different for women. Yes, studies do show that men are also somewhat impacted in terms of income – but this is substantially less severe for men (2-5% for men versus 17%-18% for an overweight or obese white woman). Race also obviously has a compounding impact.

We know, at least directionally, that our weight and appearance impacts the income side of our equation disproportionately. What about the expense side? Weight Watchers is a relatively inexpensive option for weight loss. I’ve personally done programs that cost 10 times that amount. I would say in no uncertain terms that it was worth it for me, but I also know, from a financial planner’s perspective, that this up front cost will literally cost me 10s of thousands in my retirement, assuming I had saved and invested those funds instead. Say I had put $6,000 in the S&P 500 on March 1, 2023, instead of investing in weight loss efforts? Today, June 4 2025, I’d have $8,416. At a CONSERVATIVE growth rate of 6%, in 30 years that’s $34,500. Like I said – tens of thousands of dollars of an impact to my retirement savings. I lost 40 pounds, improved my mental and emotional health, and built a better life for myself. Personally, I think the math works out just fine. But there are plenty of false promises and things that don’t work that cost this much and more, and if we continue choosing to spend in hopes of self-improvement, those tens of thousands can become hundreds.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, in the Midwest, in a family that Dieted on a very, very regular basis. So I’ve experienced literally everything from cabbage soup to keto to food combining to drinking lemon juice and on and on and on. All results were temporary, for me, for my mom, and for my dad (and siblings). Were they a waste? I don’t know – they were an expectation. Women were not to be overweight. The girls on Friends weight somewhere between 110 and 120 pounds (their weight was never actually disclosed, these are estimates). But for a girl who was 15 in 1995, I can tell you that we wanted to look like that. Or thinner. And it lingers, to this day. Eating disorders for women in the mid-1990s were more than triple what they were in the 1960s. It was expected that women be thin. Again – this is the Midwest – I can’t fathom the pressure on either coast. Diets always, always seemed to me like a non-negotiable cost, just like gas for your car or groceries.

Things are changing for our daughters, even our daughters who are now in their 20s (mine are still little and I’m still so hopeful for them), and we are teaching them better. But when I think of what I’ve spent from ages 25 – 45 solely on Diets, and then consider what that money invested would be, I could cry. I have cried. I have a male colleague who often refers fondly to his 20s when he was living on generic breakfast cereals so he could be saving most of his income. I don’t know for certain, but I’d be willing to wager his investable net worth exceeds mine by more than 2x.

Now we’re being sold supplements, hormone balancers, and plenty of other life hacks for the perimenopause years. Haven’t we been through enough?!

At the end of the day, I have absolutely zero judgement for what women have spent on weight loss, because I’ve done it too. I also still make expensive choices for the sake of my health and fitness. Honestly, I can’t say I would have been able to do it differently, given what I did and did not know at the time. What I can say is that we can make up some of this damage, by looking at our financial picture now, by saving and investing now. I love to talk to women who are ready to make this shift, and if you’re one of them, I’m right here.