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.

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. Read More »