Earn money to lose weight

Money!

That's what it takes for people to stick to a meal and exercise plan and lose weight, according to a recent study by RTI International economist Eric Finkelstein.

The more money people "earn" by losing weight, the more weight they lost. Finkelstein found that over a three month period, people who were paid $14 per percentage point of weight lost were five times more likely to lose at least 5% of their body weight. That means for losing 5% of their weight (10 pounds if you weighed 200 pounds at the start of the contest), you earned $70.00.

Stay tuned for a new website, stickK.com, where you can "put a contract out on yourself". In this case, you pick a price, and if you don't lose a certain a mount of weight the money goes to a charity, friends, or family - your choice. Reach your weight goal, and you get to keep your money.

I have to say I'm skeptical, despite the research to the contrary. I've worked with a few teens whose parents offered to pay them to lose weight. The teens either didn't lose weight, or they lost weight to earn a specific amount of money, then gained the weight back.

Ultimately, having an internal, intrinsic reason for losing weight is more important and significant than a monetary reward in my way of thinking. It will be interesting to see the results from www.stickK.com once they launch. Stay tuned!