Weight Loss Motivation: How to Get Paid to Lose Weight

Are you trying to lose weight? Are you struggling to stick to your plan? There's no doubt about it, staying motivated day in and day out to lose weight is tough. There are always temptations to cheat, from the treats brought in to work to the weekend dinners out with the family. You need an iron will to stay with it. And what about exercise? It's equally tough to get up early to go to the gym or exercise at the end of the day when you're tired from working. So, what's a person to do? Research from a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that financial incentives can be the key to helping us stick to our diet and exercise plans and finally lose the weight. The research concludes that those with a financial incentive to lose weight were almost five times more likely to reach their target than dieters who had no money at stake. And now, there are several websites to help. Check out these websites and get paid to lose weight!

According to research conducted in 2008, financial incentives for weight loss are very effective. The study involved three groups of individuals with a high body mass index classified as either overweight or obese. All groups were given a consultation at the beginning of the program to learn about diet and exercise strategies for weight loss.

However, each group was incented differently. The control group was monitored over the 16 week program with a monthly weigh-in. The other two groups received incentives, one in the form of a lottery-like prize for losing weight and the other in the form of a loss of money deposited at the beginning of the program if enough weight was not lost. The weight loss goal for all groups was 16 pounds in 16 weeks.

The deposit program allowed participants to deposit an amount of money of their choosing from $.01 to $3.00 per day. This money would be refunded to them if they lost the weight. In addition, the money they put up was matched one-to-one if the weight loss goal was met. Participants could earn up to $252 per month. Participants in the lottery incentive group were allowed to participate in a lottery for cash winnings if they met their daily weight loss goals. There were daily $3 prizes as well as occassional larger prizes of up to $100.

The final results were exciting. The control group lost an average of 3.9 pounds in 16 weeks while the lottery incented group lost 13.1 pounds and the deposit incented group lost 14 pounds in 16 weeks. The study authors concluded that financial incentives are extremely effective in keeping participants engaged and successful at weight loss.

The news has gotten out. Since that study was published, financial incentive based weight loss is becoming more common. Companies are getting in on the act, offering their employees incentives to lose weight. And now, some web based weight loss programs have popped up and will literally pay you to lose weight.

So what are these websites that incent you for losing weight and how do they work? See the descriptions below and then check out the websites using the links to the right to learn all about them.

• HealthyWage.com: This website allows you to win money for losing weight. There are two ways to participate, as a team or as an individual. If you participate as an individual, you can do the 10% challenge or the BMI challenge. In the first, you pay $100 and then challenge yourself to lose 10% of your body weight in six months. If you meet your goal, you get $200. In the BMI challenge you move from an obese BMI of over 30 to a BMI out of the obese range, which is 25 or less in one year. If you achieve this goal, you can win up to $1000. The team challenge involves teams of five competing against other teams to meet their weight loss goals. If the team win, it could get up to $10,000. Wow! HealthyWage doesn't allow for cheating. You need to have your weight verified at the beginning and end of the program by a health professional, fitness club, or Weight Watcher's meeting.
• StickK.com: StickK is a website to help you meet your goals, any goals, not just weight loss. But it does seem like it's used a lot for weight loss. This site works by taking your credit card information when you sign up. You must also select and anti-charity, which is just a beneficiary who would get your money if you fail to meet your goal. For example, if you dislike guns, you could have your money go to the NRA. This might be enough motivation to stick with the plan. The drawback of StickK is that they don't require anyone to check your weight for you so you could cheat and say you met your goal even if you didn't. Knowing this might be enough for you to not try as hard.
• DietBet.com: Diet Bet organizes a four week game between you and some friends. You each contribute money to the cause. You have a choice to set your goal as losing either 8 pounds or 4% of your bodyweight in 4 weeks. Whoever wins gets all of the money. Even if you don't win, this could be a fun form of friendly competition that will get you motivated!
• Gym-Pact.com: This website will get you to the gym when nothing else will! You must have an iPhone to participate. You simply sign up, set your goal number of gym sessions per week and commit to an amount of money you'll pay if you don't go. When you go to the gym, you check in with your iPhone. Gym Pact knows where you are because you give them permission to see your location via your phone. If you don't make it to the gym, you pay up. If you do, you get paid, courtesy of the members who didn't make it. Pretty cool!

If you need extra motivation to lose weight, check out these websites that offer financial incentives for meeting your goals. You'll likely find that they work, just as in the 2008 study. Good luck!