How Much Is My Health Worth?

At the end of my last blog post I said that I would talk about the costs involved in the fitness journey I am going on. Before I even look at the figures properly I know that it has not been cheap and that I have more expenses ahead.

There are cheaper (and more expensive) ways to do this sort of thing so do not consider the figures below to be definitive and please don’t see them as a barrier to starting a similar journey yourself because a comfy pair of shoes will allow you to start walking and that can be the literal and metaphorical first step.

Just be prepared that if you take up something like indoor cycling then there are a range of accessories and extras you may also need or choose to buy. Very few are compulsory (although doing indoor cycling in jeans and slippers is not recommended) and some are just indulgences.

Weight Loss

I bought myself some smart scales and went for RENPHO ones from Amazon which were £22.94. They are good but I do sometimes have to reboot my iPhone to get it to pair with the scales so that the data can be synchronised with the RENPHO iPhone app. On the plus-side, the app will share data with Apple’s Health app which makes reviewing data easier.

Cycling

By far the biggest single expense has been the Zwift Ride with Kickr Core which is £1,199.99. I did get a 10% discount which reduced that to £1,080.00 thanks to a code I got from (the now infamous on my blog) Ryan Condon via his referral link and the code RYANZWIFT10.

I also bought a Zwift Training Mat and a Zwift Tablet Holder for £79.99 and £39.99 respectively but sadly the discount code did not apply to “accessories”. I’d definitely buy the mat again but probably not the tablet holder since I now use a TV and my iPad, whilst used to watch stuff whilst I ride, sits on the same desk as it. It is also pretty flimsy and the strap which secures the tablet to the holder falls off all the time when there is no tablet in it.

And of course there is a Zwift subscription which is £17.99 per month or £179.99 for a year. I opted to pay for a year because of the small discount and because I’m expecting to Zwift throughout the year rather than it being a winter thing so there won’t be any months when I could let the subscription lapse.

The Cleva Vacmaster Cardio54 fan was £99.99 but by buying from Cleva and signing up for their newsletter I got a 10% discount code which made it £89.99. This is a really good purchase and having air blowing at you whilst you cycle indoors helps you stay cooler. My setup is in an upstairs room which faces south so it is going to be hot during the summer before I even do any exercise which makes this even more important to have. The fan also has a remote control you can attach to your handlebars which is incredibly useful and it would be an essential feature for me if I had to buy an alternative.

As mentioned above, I use an Apple TV hooked up to a TV for Zwift itself. I had an existing TV I could use but I did need to buy a new Apple TV 4K. That cost me £149.00.

My Giordana bib shorts from Decathlon cost £87.98 (£83.99 plus £3.99 shipping) and were reduced from £119.99. Padded shorts are something I would strongly recommend investing in and my approach is to buy mid-priced ones whilst I am loosing weight and when I am closer to, or at, my target I will buy a couple of pairs and maybe go for some higher-end ones if I am cycling for longer sessions by then. One pair works for now because I wash my cycling kit as soon as I have finished and it all dries pretty quickly but a second pair will give me a bit more flexibility and allow me to do things like a morning and afternoon or evening ride. And I do have an old pair of pretty basic padded shorts I can use in an emergency anyway.

I also bought two cycling jerseys from Decathlon which were £28.97 (£12.99 each plus £2.99 shipping). These are much nicer to cycle in than standard cotton t-shirts. They wick sweat rather than holding it which makes for a much more pleasant experience. They also dry quickly after washing so, like shorts, whilst two are nice, you might get away with one.

Clipless shoes and pedals are not essential but some of the Zwift workout sessions do encourage you to do things like one-legged pedalling which does require clips (or toe-straps if you are even older than me!). I have already bought some Shimano PD-RS500 SPD-SL pedals and Shimano SM-SH11 SPD-SL Yellow cleats from Halfords and cost £37.99 (reduced from £59.99) and £12.99 (reduced from £20.99) respectively. My original plan was to go and try on shoes at some local shops but I now have a revised plan…

In the next week or two I am going to invest in a bike fit for me on my Zwift Ride. I’m not entirely sure that it is necessary but I do have some knee pain sometimes whilst I am cycling and I have been getting some longer-lasting lower back pain too. I realise that a lot of this will be “new to exercise” aches and pains but I have had knee problems before and I want to make sure I am not making things worse. It’s going to cost around £200 but I will also get shoe-fitting and recommendations included in that. And the experience will hopefully make a good future blog post. As for the shoes themselves, I’m expecting them to be around £120.

And in anticipation of the cycling shoes, I’ve bought some Danish Endurance Cycling Socks from Amazon for £29.99 (this is for two pairs).

I bought three hand towels at £8.00 each and a 1 litre drinks bottle for £14.00 from John Lewis. One or two towels would have sufficed, particularly since headbands look ridiculous but are incredibly useful and effective and a pack only cost £6.07. The drinks bottle is good because of the large volume of water it holds but that also means it doesn’t fit in the bottle cages on the Zwift Ride. However having it on a table next to me is not a huge issue.

My heart rate monitor is a Wahoo TICKR FIT Heart Rate Armband which was £56.49. Some form of HRM is essential to be able to track your fitness and training effectively and I deliberately went for an arm one because, whilst they are not quite as accurate as a chest one, they are much nicer to put on (chest ones always seem to be freezing!) and get less sweaty.

Running

My running purchases so far have been limited to a pair of running shoes and some socks.

The running shoes are Asics GT-2000 13 Lite which I bought from Runners Need for £140.00.

The socks are Danish Endurance Grip Socks With Ankle Support for £19.95 (which is for two pairs).

The Luxury Treat

By day I am a software developer and I love tech and gadgets. I knew that I wanted to get a fitness watch of some description and for a brief while I was looking at sensible options. I bought a Garmin Fenix 7 and found the 47mm Pro Sapphire Solar one for £609 at WATCHO.

Still To Buy

There are a couple things I need to get in addition to the upcoming bike fit and cycling shoes. When I start Couch to 5K I will need to get some shorts but to start with I do have some tracksuit bottoms. I’ll also need some running tops but could start in my cycling jerseys I think.

The Figures

* Estimated Cost

Just by skimming the table it is easy to see that cycling has been the biggest investment so far with a total of £2,237.44. Running comes in at £219.95 and the only item related to my diet, the scales, comes in at just £22.94. We’ll skim over the Garmin watch!

The grand total comes to £3,089.33.

Is It Worth It? Am I Worth It?

Yes and yes.

And that was really easy to write.

I realise that this can all be done for a lot less and most people will make the sort of lifestyle changes I have by spending very little. This has not been a cheap endeavour for me and the amounts spent are significant. I have dug into savings and probably won’t be going on holiday this year. But then this isn’t really about spending; it’s about investing.

Investing in my future. Investing in trying to help me live a little longer. Investing in my physical health. Investing in my mental health. Investing in reducing my burden to society. Investing in reducing my stress levels. Investing in my work-life balance. Investing in my self esteem. Investing in my daughter having her dad around for a bit longer.