Word: weighting
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Volpp and Lowenstein concede that when the dividends stopped, so did the weight loss. About three months after the study ended, both incentive groups had put some pounds back on, though none of the subjects had returned to their original weight. (Read TIME's story on exercise tips...
...group of volunteers enrolled in a 16-week diet program with monthly weigh-ins and an overall goal of shedding 16 lb. The volunteers were then divided into three groups. The first group participated in a lottery program in which those who came closest to or exceeded the weight-loss goal received a variable cash prize determined by how many pounds they shed. The second group agreed to a deposit contract in which they anted up some of their own money as part of a pool. Those who lost the most weight split the pot; those who didn't drop...
...surprise who did best. At the end of the 16-week trial, the lottery group dropped an average of 13.1 lb., with 53% reaching the goal. In the deposit-contract group, the average weight loss was 14 lb., with 47% taking off 16 lb. or more. People in the no-incentive group logged an average weight loss of just 3.9 lb., with only 11% of them reaching the 16-lb. goal. As for the payouts? The winning lottery players walked away with an average of $272.80. The most successful members of the deposit group pocketed a cool $378.49, on average...
Still, the cash-for-fat idea proved powerful, and Volpp envisions ways it could be improved so that the weight loss sticks. If you run the programs for 12 to 18 months, for example, subjects start to reap the physical rewards of trimming down. "Their knees and back no longer ache. They start to look better in clothes," he says. "Those benefits become their own reinforcements, so you can turn off the incentive program." Employers and insurers could adopt a similar program, with monthly premiums falling along with the numbers on the scale. "We all tend to discount amorphous health...
...Mumbai carnage, he claims, the requisite political will and sense of urgency remain lacking. "We have such an incoherent and incapable leadership, and across all political parties." While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seems to understand the scale of the challenge, Sahni says, "he doesn't seem to carry the weight with his own Cabinet colleagues. And the irrational opposition has been blocking all forward-looking steps, irrespective of national interest...