Money Can Help Motivate People to Lose Weight

Filed in archive Weight on September 25, 2007

When I needed to drop an unwanted 5 pounds, everyone asked me about my motivation. What's your motivation to lose the weight? For me, it was simple. I bought a pair of jeans I wanted to wear. For others, their motivation was to fit into a wedding dress or to become more healthier. But, according to a study, money can be a growing factor for dropping pounds.

Research published in the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine concluded that people will lose weight more money. Even more, the amount could be as little as $7.

The study involved about 200 overweight employees at several colleges in North Carolina, divided into three groups. One group received no incentives while the other two groups received $7 or $14 for each percentage point of weight lost.

For example, someone in the middle group weighing 200 pounds who lost 10 pounds, or 5 percent, would get $35.

Participants didn't get any help on how to lose weight. In the end, employees who received the most incentives lost the most weight, an average of nearly 5 pounds after three months. Those offered no incentives lost 2 pounds; those in the $7 group lost about 3 pounds.

Those in the $14 group were more than five times as likely to lose 5 percent of their weight - the amount research has shown to be clinically significant, according to the study.

Finkelstein and co-authors Laura Linnan and Deborah Tate, professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health, are currently analyzing data from a follow-up study that observed about 1,000 participants for a year. In that study, financial incentives were tested against a Web-based weight-loss program and changes in the office environment, such as healthier cafeteria food.

Linnan said more research is needed to determine the ideal dollar amount and whether incentives work in the long term.

"It's clear that one of the biggest challenges is to help people who lose weight keep the weight off," she said.