It’s been just weeks since I found out about Italians getting bribed to lose weight. And just today, more scientific studies and programs are being conducted to see how money can affect the drive of people to lose weight.

One is a study on providing financial incentives for employees to lose weight:

“Lots of companies are experimenting with rewarding people for weight loss, and this study provides evidence that paying people to lose weight works,” says Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with RTI International, a non-profit research organization in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

He teamed with researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to recruit more than 200 overweight or obese employees in North Carolina. A third were given no financial reward for their weight loss after three months; a third were given $7 for every 1% drop in their body weight; a third were given $14 for every 1% decrease. The participants were not given a structured diet and fitness program.

After three months, those who received no money lost an average of 2 pounds. Those in the $7 group lost 3 pounds; those in the $14 group lost 5 pounds.

Participants in the $14 group were more than five times more likely to lose 5% of their weight, an amount shown to provide health benefits. The findings are reported in September’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.Source

Another is a proposal from Australian doctors to provide subsidy of $170 for obese people to commit to an accredited weight-loss program.

The network’s Dr Tony Hobbs says the proposal would help address Australia’s obesity problem by making it easier for people in lower-income brackets to get help.

“We believe that this will go a long way to helping people get access to accredited weight loss programs where the people will be supported,” he said.

“They’ll have goals set, they will be expected to come back at the end of the 12-week program and be measured to see whether or not they’ve been able to succeed with their weight loss program.” Source

I’m not sure about these efforts because if you are to really lose weight, getting paid to do it should not be your best motivation. But if it works, its sustainability doesn’t seem so sturdy.

What do you think?

Tags: weight loss program