Developing and implementing a new methodology to test the affordability of currently popular weight loss diet meal plans and healthy eating principles

Table 1 Summary table of the cost of meal plans per week based on ingredients and absolute grams, the cost of the total food shop per week, and, cost of each diet expressed as a percentage of average income ($)

Diet	Cost of Meal Plan Per Week ($/g)	Total cost of food shop per week ($)	(%) average income^b
Ketogenic	111.70	475.90	28.7
Palaeolithic	114.30	435.00	26.2
Intermittent Fasting	118.90	475.90	28.7
8 Weeks to Wow^a	192.40	345.30	20.8
Optifast	125.10	624.90	37.7
MedDiet WL	112.00	452.00	27.2
AGHE WL	93.10	404.40	24.4

($/g) refers to the cost per gram of all ingredients in the meal plan while ($) cost of total food shop refers to purchasing of entire food or beverage unit
^aCost based on average of eight weeks for 8WW, individual weekly costs may differ
^bAverage income (before tax) based on 2019 ABS Australian data Published 20th February 2020 ($1659), WL weight loss, AGHE Australian guide to Healthy Eating

ISSN: 1471-2458