Body Blog: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

You know that in order to lose weight you must eat healthy and exercise. However, I have a little secret for all of you! Recent studies have shown that there are actually 2 other proven methods that (when combined with eating healthy and exercising) increase weight loss.

By SarahFit

Did I mention they have nothing to do with food or entering a gym?

That’s right. Keeping a journal of what you eat as well as betting friendly wagers against other dieters has been shown to help people who couldn’t seem to lose weight any other way.

Let’s break these two down to figure out how you can use these techniques to shed those pounds and get in shape.

Money gets results

According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, people who have financial incentives to lose weight have much higher rates of success at dieting than those who do not. Instead of losing weight for vanity or health, the newest incentive is cash and it’s working wonders for motivating previously unsuccessful dieters. It starts as a bet against someone (a friend, coworker, or family member) that you will lose more weight. Whoever comes up short loses their money to the bigger loser. Somewhere between a competitive personality and greed, weight is successfully lost with enthusiasm.

This trend started out as grass roots after a few studies proved it a success. Its methods are now being duplicated on the internet on sites like StickK.com, fatbet.net and makemoneylosingweight.com. To learn more about online weight loss bets, check out this New York Times article.

I’m weary of anything that requires me to log on to a computer every day to keep me motivated. I don’t check my work email on weekends and I’m definitely going to lie about my weight on a Sunday. Instead, here is my get-fit betting game: All you need are a few friends who want to lose a few pounds or just keep off the senior 30. Make the announcement before the American Idol Top 15 show. Tell the gang you’re serious about shedding pounds and that you want their help. If you fail to meet your weight loss goals, they will be a little bit richer. If they want to join in, have everyone throw in money. Now, why did I say American Idol? Pick a contestant that you predict to go all the way. This can be for an additional $5, or it can be a friendly wager. Now, you can meet every week to weigh in and see who is ahead in the weight loss bet and on everyone’s favorite show. It will be great motivation and a much more enticing reason to get together for a weekly weight check.

Put it in your diary!

A recent study also proved that people who wrote down everything they ate throughout the day lost more weight than those who did not. It doesn’t get much easier than that! If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, they even have an app for this. If you want to win the money from the bet above, you better write down what you eat to ensure the cold hard cash.

Need some motivation to get started? Check out my fitness blog at Examiner.com where you can get daily updates on recent studies and fitness. Get your diet started by visiting online dieting sites like Diet.com to get a free meal plan and tracking tools to keep track of what’s going in and how many calories you are burning. Get new workout ideas over on YouTube. Find full length workout videos or short demos to mix things up in the gym, or get a new fitness videos delivered directly to you every week by subscribing to our favorite fitness channel, DietHealth!

No excuses, ladies. Get to it!