Word: moneyitis
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...between 30 and 80 lb.) Members can either sign up for free - according to a company rep, the final deadline to enter the next 12-month challenge is Jan. 20 - and win $100 or "super-size" their weight-loss incentives by putting as much as $300 of their own money on the line in order to up the stakes...
...Sure, I'd like to look and feel better," Sisson says, "but it is so subjective. Money is a better motivator because it is tangible. You can hold it in your hand." (Watch TIME's video about exercising with a hula hoop...
HealthyWage, which makes money through advertising and sponsorships, claims it can save the health care system $1,150 in obesity-related costs for each person who slims down to a healthy BMI. But the challenge is hardly an easy payout. Sisson, who tips the scales at just over 200 lb., will have to lose 50 lb. in a year and check in with the site about her food intake and physical activity every week. She also has to get her physician to call HealthyWage to verify her weight at the beginning and end of the challenge...
...stickK.com, a site founded by Yale economics professor Dean Karlan, whose research has shown that signing commitment contracts and publicly announcing a goal helps people stick to it. (The extra K in stickK is shorthand in legal writing for "contract.") Users are not required to wager any money when they sign up, but the serious ones do. Some 30% fork over their credit card information upfront and specify how much money should be automatically charged if they fail to reach their goal. These users also designate a recipient: a person, a charity or, as an additional incentive, an "anti-charity...
Telling your friends about your goal and staking some money on your success is a powerful combination. Says Karlan: "It increases the price of vice and lowers the price of virtue. We think of it as Facebook with a purpose...