Lose Weight and Get Paid With Diet Bet and Healthy Wage

Image: Scale
Magnus D under Creative Commons

The process of losing weight is not something most of us consider fun. Sure, it’s fun to drop sizes and fit into smaller clothes, but does anyone really enjoy giving up the food they love to get to that point?

If you’re not feeling very motivated to lose those extra pounds, in large part due to the lifestyle change that goes with it, here’s a nice little consolation prize that might help change your mind: cash.

What if meeting your weight loss goals actually meant money in your pocket?

Now there’s something that may motivate you when nothing else will! In fact, a recent Mayo Clinic study confirms that money is in fact a very powerful weight loss motivator.

Introducing Diet Betting Sites

Diet betting is exactly what it sounds like. In a nutshell, you bet on yourself to lose weight. If you succeed, you win back the money you put up, plus a little more. If you fail, you lose the money you put up. But don’t think of this as a bad thing — the fear of losing money is yet another motivator to keep you from cheating on your diet and should push you that much further toward meeting your weight loss goals.

These betting sites also have a social aspect. You’re encouraged to participate in weight-loss challenges with other users. When you’re playing with others, everyone puts some of their money into the pot. The people who meet their weight loss goals will split the pot while the people who fail get nothing.

And here’s another motivator for you — consider creating your own betting games with friends and family who are also trying to lose weight! Most people don’t like the idea of losing a challenge when they’re playing with people they actually associate with in real life. You may work even harder simply because you don’t want your friends to watch you fail.

Does this sound like something you’d be on board with? If so, here are two popular diet betting sites to consider: Diet Bet and Healthy Wage.

About Diet Bet

When you sign up at Diet Bet, you either create your own weight-loss betting game or join one that’s already in progress. DB offers two different types of games: lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks, or lose 10% of your body weight in six months.

If you start your own game rather than join one already in progress, you get to decide how much players have to bet upfront and whether the game is invitation-only or open for anyone to join. Depending on which active game you join, your bet amount may be as low as $10 or as high as $100. Participation can be very affordable, even if you’re strapped for cash.

When betting games end, everyone submits their final weight and the winners split the pot evenly. Payouts are made via Paypal a few days after weights have been verified and winners are determined.

About Healthy Wage

This site is very similar to Diet Bet, but you don’t have to play with others, although that is an option. If you prefer to go it alone, you can bet on yourself and Healthy Wage will reward you if you meet your weight loss goal. Bet whatever you like, but the more you put down, the higher the payout if you’re successful. (Like this idea? Click to tweet!)

Healthy Wage’s handy online calculator allows you to determine roughly what your prize will be: simply put in the amount of weight you want to lose, the money you want to bet, and the length of time the betting period runs (minimum six months). The website states that your exact prize will depend on your individual weight-loss stats, but their calculator gives you a range showing what you can expect. In most cases, the prize won’t be less than $100.

If you want to do a Healthy Wage team challenge, you will have to put up the entry fee which is currently $25 per month for up to three months. The team challenges advertise much larger payouts — up to $10,000. But this is only awarded if your team is the most successful and has a higher percentage of weight lost than any of the other teams that are participating.

Healthy Wage pays out winnings via mailed check, Paypal or Amazon credit.

Are These Sites For Real?

Healthy Wage and Diet Bet are both the real deal. They’ve each enjoyed lots of great press coverage lately and testimonials are popping up left and right. For example, Halina Zakowicz, a writer at I’ve Tried That (and contributor to The Penny Hoarder), recently participated in several games on Diet Bet and won some cash. Healthy Wage also has a page dedicated to their press coverage and a link to a testimonial one of their users published.

But Wouldn’t It Be Easy to Cheat?

You can’t really cheat on Diet Bet or Healthy Wage. Both sites have special verification methods in place to make sure the scale actually says what you claim it does. Healthy Wage requires 30-second home videos showing your weigh-ins, or you can have your weight verified through a doctor.

Diet Bet requires you to take a photo of yourself standing on the scale along with a piece of paper showing a unique secret verification word that confirms it’s your weight in the picture.

What Are You Waiting For?

If squeezing into smaller clothes just isn’t incentive enough for you to go through the hard work of weight loss, then making money while you do it should be. And when it comes to losing weight, you’re going to always wish you got started yesterday.

Good luck fitting into that favorite pair of jeans!

Anna Thurman is a work-from-home mom and blogger. Each week, she researches and reviews the best work-from-home opportunities on her blog, Real Ways to Earn Money Online.