Well apparently we little Westerners are a materialistic, money-grabbing lot!
I was listening to the news in the car yesterday and a news anchor was talking about how many of her friends use money (and gambling it) as a very effective weight loss tool.
What inspired this chat on the radio was a study that shows people lose more weight if there is money at stake.
Taking several groups - including a control group - and offering them the chance to win (or lose) money, based on their weight loss, as well as offering bonuses to those who reached their goal, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that people who received monetary compensation were far more likely to reach weight loss goals than those who did not receive a financial prize.
The two groups that had financial incentives lost 13 and 14 pounds respectively and the group without financial compensation lost 4 pounds - an admittedly big difference.
Once the 'competition' had ended and the opportunity to get money was over, researchers saw the groups (all of them) begin to gain the weight back.
This raises some very interesting questions. What about addiction or genetic components? This study would appear to place doubt on some of those claims. Or does this simply show the immense power of money in our society?
For more on this study, click here : http://www.healthnews.com/nutrition-diet/weight-loss/making-weight-loss-worth-your-while-2262.html
Tell Us
Would the opportunity to make money from losing weight be an incentive for you? If not, why not? What is YOUR best incentive, aside from the obvious health benefits?