Dieting for Dollars
We just saw Michelle on The Biggest Loser shed over 100 pounds and win $250,000. We’d here at DTBMULF would like to congratulate all the contestants on the show. They’re inspiring and watching their bodies change is riveting. While I take a lot of inspiration from how they change their bodies it’s hard to actually “do” their plan.
They don’t show much on the show about how the contestants actually lose the weight. Jillian yelling certainly gets the exercise ramped up but she won’t come to my house when I ask. Maybe they could sell her yelling orders on iTunes?They also offer food education when celebrity chefs visit and demonstrate how to grill stuff in spray instead of butter. They also advise you chew gum instead of eating a cookie. Check and check and check. But it’s the CHECK that may be the biggest motivation to losing weight.
A recent study came out that paid dieters by entering them in a lottery if they lost weight AND matching money they put in each week. Over 16 weeks, subjects in the money for weight loss incentive groups lost 13 to 14 pounds, on average, compared with 4 pounds of those in the weigh-in group.
Turns out feeling healthy down the road just doesn’t cut it with most people. People will tell you they feel so much better after losing weight but it’s not something you know for sure until you do it. You know for sure that cash in your pocket DOES feel good. I have no idea what having killer abs is like but I do know it feels nice to have an extra Benjamin in my wallet, awe yeah.
So while The Biggest Losers have the right food, exercise and environment to lose and I LOVE watching them do it, it appears the moola might be the biggest motivator for any of us.
Since no one seems to want to pay me to lose I’m going to buy a Mega Millions ticket for every pound lost. See then I could when 50-million dollars to lose weight right?
How about you.. would money be a good motivator?
A gal at church told us about a weight loss challenge her sister organized that awarded $1,000 to the one who lost the greatest percentage of body weight. They had 30 participants pay $50 as an entry fee. Some of the money went to little prizes along the way, but at the end of their challenge, the grand champion walked with $1,000 bucks! And they didn’t have to appear on television in a sports bra and biking shorts to get it. That’s something I could get serious about. (Oh, and I’ll also be reminding myself that women can beat men at weight loss. The Biggest Loser is proof positive of that!)
Christies last blog post..Honest Scrap
no. when I was working to lose all my saddlebagfluff all the money in the WORLD wouldnt have motivated me.
and though Id like to say ‘it was all about how I felt inside’ (cue crappysappy music) I regained it all —so that obviously didnt help either…
MizFits last blog post..MizFit’s Halfassed Friday Rhyme. (subtitle: Im emptying the wallet, People, & need your help.)
I have a sneaking suspicion the only way to stick to a program is to want to do just that – and to want to do thata more than anything else that might interfere.
For me the hardest part of any program is actually starting it. Once I get started each day of exercise or of willpower leads to the general feeling that this IS who I am, the person who DOES exercise and DOES NOT over indulge, and bit by bit it becomes true.
The tricky bit is where something happens that interrupts the exercise program (like a broken bone in a foot hypothetically) and/or the weight once lost comes back, and then suddenly that becomes who I am.
A person who is not (even for a legitimate reason) working out and who now is again already over the desired weight so now that is who I am. Somebody who is not exercising and weighs more than she wants.
I swear there is a switch in my head. In one position I will do what I know will get me to the weight I want, healthily, in the other position I will do that “later”. Money or yelling either one has nothing to do with it.
Debs last blog post..Good News/Bad News
i must admit, money would be a major motivator. for instance, I know I should drink more water – I am chronically dehydrated – but I am so so bad about doing it. If someone told me they’d pay be a dollar – heck, a dime – for every glass, I totally would drink more. anyone wanna help?
NeverSayDiets last blog post..Dress the body you have…..
Ok, I can tell you in my case this is 100% true. I don’t seem to have much motivation in the weight loss department, because my health…BP, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc..are all fine. Yeah, I have to buy big girl clothes, but whatever. My husband loves me the way I am and I have a hard time caring what anyone else thinks.
However: 2 1/2 years ago, I was in Virginia visiting my brother and his family. My brother had beered and chicken-winged his way up to 310 lbs. At the time, I wanted to lose weight too so I suggested a Biggest Loser contest. I also suggested that we include my parents, and my brother’s wife (who only wanted to go from like 160 to 130), but I wanted more money in the pot. Hehe. So all five of us threw in $50, so $250 to the winner. This was in July of 2006, and we all posted a starting weight. The winner would be decided when they all came west to AZ for Christmas. So it was like 5 1/2 months. Well, we went by percentage of weight loss, and my parents weren’t really trying so much I don’t think, they just wanted to see my brother and I do it. I think my SIL ended up losing about 15 lbs. I lost 40 lbs, and my brother, that bastard, lost 60 lbs and won the contest. But I totally lost 40 lbs in 5 1/2 months, with my only motivator being that $250 prize.
Of course, here we are in Dec of 2008, and I’ve put 20lbs of that 40 back on. *$&*%&&*$$%#! But anyway, my point was, if someone told me that they’d give me $25,000 if I lost 50 lbs in six months? You’d better believe I could do that. My biggest problem is that I have this disease, I think it’s called Hateus Exercisus? It sucks.
Shelleys last blog post..Merry Christmas?