Put your money where your mouth i$! 30 Day Challenge

Peaceandwater

So I've been struggling big time with staying consistent. I'll eat well for a few days and then fall into binging patterns where I don't track and eat whatever I want. I know HOW to eat healthy but I struggle with motivation like most of us.

I recently heard a piece on NPR about the effectiveness of financial incentives on maintaining healthy habits. For example, some insurance companies are paying pregnant women to stop smoking, or paying obese patients to lose weight. It turns out, not only does it work most of the time, but in the long run paying people is actually cheaper than treating the conditions that result from the unhealthy behaviors.

So here's my master plan:

- I pony up $300 from my savings account and give it to a trusted person (boyfriend).
- Every day I track my food, I get $5 of my money back.
- Every day I track my food and I'm within my calorie goal, I get $10 back.

That's pretty much it. If I track and stay within goal every day, I will get my whole $300 back. If I eat too much one day, it will cost me $5. If I don't track it will cost me $10. It's a big experiment but considering I hate losing or wasting money, I think it will work for me.

So what do people think? Has anyone ever tried a financial incentive? How did it go?