By Sarah Durant
The best way to stick to a weight loss routine is to take steps to hold yourself accountable. This is something most of us know on one level or another, but it’s also something easier said than done. Thus, naturally, people are always looking for new ways to do it. And one method that tends to bring about a good deal of debate is the idea of betting on yourself to reach a certain milestone.
The debate is basically over whether or not this kind of incentive works, and the closest thing to a consensus might just be that it depends on the wager. Studies regarding companies that have promised financial incentives to employees who practice better health indicate that these efforts largely fall flat. However, this can seemingly be chalked up to the fact that the incentives aren’t often particularly visible (or particularly large). They might show up in an insurance plan, for instance. By contrast, more individually-focused examples indicate that plenty of people have had success designing their own weight loss wagers with financial rewards of their choosing. So, to answer the question posed in the title, this can be effective, even if it isn’t always.
The next question, naturally, would be how to go about it, and there are a few main ideas to consider.
Use Friends & Family – The tricky part here might be finding a friend or family member willing to openly bet against your success. Most people in these categories will at least root for you to meet weight loss goals, even if they don’t believe you will. But if you can find someone willing to be honest and bet against you, you can arrange any parameters you want and try your own luck at using financial motivation. Naturally you stand to potentially lose money if you can’t meet your goals, but look at it this way: if you win, you basically win twice.
Find A Book That Will Take You – This can be easier said than done, but at the very least you might want to keep an eye on overviews of popular platforms and read reviews, or even inquire about examples of special bets that have been made. There are at least a few stories out there in which individuals have persuaded professional books to take weight loss bets, and been paid handsomely for meeting a goal. Naturally there’s some financial risk here as well, but it’s an interesting way to stay motivated, and it may just work wonders.
Use An App – The idea of betting on weight loss has actually been taken up by multiple app developers over the last few years. It started with GymPact (which eventually became Pact), but now there are a few different weight loss apps that can make you money. They have varying specific rules and practices, but the basic structure is that you bet on a routine, prove you’re sticking to it, and collect money (in some cases from a pool of bets made by other users who fail to meet their goals). Typically these apps deal with fairly small sums, but the competitive side of the process can definitely kick you into gear.