Healthy Wage - Get Paid to Lose Weight??? Anyone tried this?
evilfairies
Posts: 98 Member
This showed up on the penny hoarder where you make a bet with Healthy Wage to see whether or not you can lose a certain amount of weight. You can choose how much weight you want to lose and in what time frame, and the payout is determined by these numbers as well as your weight, height, etc.
It sounds too good to be true to be honest, but has anyone tried it?
[edited by mods]
It sounds too good to be true to be honest, but has anyone tried it?
[edited by mods]
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It's real alright. You make a monitary bet to lose weight in a certain time. The catch: read the fine print - they can use your images and stats for whatever they want (advertising). Most people fail at this because of the knee jerk greedy reaction to "win" a lot of money by setting really hard goals. So, if you set a reasonable goal and don't mind the risk of one day being on thier before/after ads, it can pay off.9
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As with all forms of gambling, the house always wins. People always focus on success but since most people overestimate their ability to lose weight most people will end up losing money rather than making money.10
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Look into achievement. They go off amount of exercise, steps and food logs. It takes a while for the first payment and it syncs up to your apps.4
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I did this, it wasn't enough and I lost a lot of money, so I tend to not recommend it. If you're serious about prepping your meals, calories in and out, and being ok with being out money if you don't lose the weight? go ahead.4
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I read a review on a similar site. Many, many complaints about people not getting their money. Worst was when people did this in groups. Someone always dropped out.1
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I have Achievement installed and synced with FitBit and MFP. I only get like $10 a year because points take forever to accumulate but heck that's an extra $10 for doing nothing extra so I'll take it7
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I just signed up to do a 10% loss in 6mo. The motivation for me isn't winning money, it is not loosing what I put in. Couldn't find any motivation this time, needed something. This is better then wasting money at a gym I wont use. Start 264.5, 26lb goal. Need 26lbs by May 08, 2017. The wife will kill me if I loose $600 bucks, talk about motivation!6
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At 55, I still find myself amazed ...4
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I just signed up for this as well. I only bet $25/month that I will lose 70lbs in 8 months. My motivation is the money partly because I am going on vacation around the time of the payout and it would be nice to have that extra 800 bucks. But my bigger motivation is NOT to lose the money I am paying into it. Almost 10lbs down already.2
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I'm towards the end of my challenge. I already won a little money in one of their smaller challenges. I like healthy wage because you set your goal both in terms of amount to lose and time to lose it. I bet to lose 10% of my weight in 6 months, and I'm ahead of schedule. I'll literally triple my money, and that's a roi you just don't get anywhere else. I did a lot of research and it's completely legit.
Definitely read all the rules beforehand and set a realistic goal. That seems to be the main 2 problems I see in the people who should not have signed up and will lose their money. I see so many either not following the rules or they bet to lose 25% in 6 months or something equally crazy. That's how the company makes money though. I read that only 30ish% win their bets.
I plan on signing up for another one, again betting 10% but increasing the number of months by at least 3. This bet was my jump start, and it's been a great motivation.4 -
Curious (because of reading too many "EVERYBODY'S CHEATING" fitbit challenge threads). How do they prevent cheating on weigh-ins?1
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Curious (because of reading too many "EVERYBODY'S CHEATING" fitbit challenge threads). How do they prevent cheating on weigh-ins?
They give you a few options for weigh ins. You can get a form filled out by a doctor or you can use their app to weigh in. I did the app weigh in and it basically involves wearing the right clothes, using a full length mirror so they can see you from head to toe, and following steps that include twisting around so they can see you don't have weights on you.
They also have you weigh in every week to see if it's a realistic rate. They make you send before and after pics and measurements along with id/dl that shows height.
If they suspect a weigh in then they can require you to go to a doctor of their choosing (on their dime) to get weighed in. They make it clear they will take legal action against cheaters.
I'm sure there's still ways to cheat, but considering the low win rate it doesn't seem many figure it out or want to risk it.
And this isn't like diet bet where you split a pool of money... each individual wager had its own prize amount. So even if someone cheats, that wouldn't effect anyone else's payout.5 -
Curious (because of reading too many "EVERYBODY'S CHEATING" fitbit challenge threads). How do they prevent cheating on weigh-ins?
They give you a few options for weigh ins. You can get a form filled out by a doctor or you can use their app to weigh in. I did the app weigh in and it basically involves wearing the right clothes, using a full length mirror so they can see you from head to toe, and following steps that include twisting around so they can see you don't have weights on you.
They also have you weigh in every week to see if it's a realistic rate. They make you send before and after pics and measurements along with id/dl that shows height.
If they suspect a weigh in then they can require you to go to a doctor of their choosing (on their dime) to get weighed in. They make it clear they will take legal action against cheaters.
I'm sure there's still ways to cheat, but considering the low win rate it doesn't seem many figure it out or want to risk it.
And this isn't like diet bet where you split a pool of money... each individual wager had its own prize amount. So even if someone cheats, that wouldn't effect anyone else's payout.
Thanks!2 -
Hey, I got paid today! I did my final weigh in just 5 days ago. Pretty sweet to make about $840 profit for losing weight I was going to lose anyway!
Eta: I checked the agreement and no, they don't have the rights to use your images for ads
They don't even require before/after images. 17 -
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Eta: I checked the agreement and no, they don't have the rights to use your images for ads They don't even require before/after images.
No.
See #9 on this list: https://www.healthywage.com/legal/terms-and-conditions
They can use and even modify any of your images literally forever, with no limits. Read the language, they are pretty careful to cover every possibility.
Good luck to all participants.
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Congratulations on the win!
The less weight you have to lose the harder it is to lose it.
A faster weight loss rate may or may not be a good thing for (any random) you.
If your deficits exceed 20% of your TDEE (say 25% while you have enough fat reserves to usually be classified as obese), then you may be trying to lose to fast.
Do take this into account when setting up subsequent bets, especially if it would be a hardship to lose the money you're betting.
And once again, congratulations on raking in the dough!
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I just made my bet yesterday. I bet to lose 50 pounds in 6 months (right at 1.92 pounds a week). I bet $20 a month and my payout will be $550 so really $430 after you take my bet out. Figure I can use it as a reward for weight I was planning on losing anyway!0
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I considered doing this, bit choose not to as it sounded dodgy. I've lost a lot, so part of me is now regretting not taking it up0
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Eta: I checked the agreement and no, they don't have the rights to use your images for ads They don't even require before/after images.
No.
See #9 on this list: https://www.healthywage.com/legal/terms-and-conditions
They can use and even modify any of your images literally forever, with no limits. Read the language, they are pretty careful to cover every possibility.
Good luck to all participants.
Besides all the other red flags, this alone is a deal breaker.1 -
I just signed up to do a 10% loss in 6mo. The motivation for me isn't winning money, it is not loosing what I put in. Couldn't find any motivation this time, needed something. This is better then wasting money at a gym I wont use. Start 264.5, 26lb goal. Need 26lbs by May 08, 2017. The wife will kill me if I loose $600 bucks, talk about motivation!
Wow this guy will lose weight in the past.4 -
I just signed up. This website is featured on NPR and many other news sources, and all complaints against them I've dug up seem petty. I am very thrifty and motivated by money, so I knew this would light a fire under me.2
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stonefox86 wrote: »I just signed up. This website is featured on NPR and many other news sources, and all complaints against them I've dug up seem petty. I am very thrifty and motivated by money, so I knew this would light a fire under me.
Yep! I read the reviews and complaints. I went with it too! BTW, if anyone wants to sign up they gave me a referral link where it adds $40 to your pot. If you want it, message me and I'll send it to you! I did one and got additional money to mine as well.1 -
I just went to the site and entered my stats and potential weight loss in a sensible amount of time (losing 25 lbs in 7 months), and my net earnings would be $57. That alone would not be a big motivator, but I guess trying to earn back what I already had put in would be more so ($175).
I wonder how others are earning so much more? I haven't played around with the numbers, but it must be by paying in more money, or choosing a shorter (and less realistic) timeframe.0 -
Those terms are outdated (from 2014), the terms I agreed to make clear that verification photos are private and cannot be used for anything but weight verification. Of course, if you post photos on the forums or other areas of the site, they are fair game, just like on pretty much all social media sites.3
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You can post photos on social media sites and retain your copyright, FYI.0
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NorthCascades wrote: »You can post photos on social media sites and retain your copyright, FYI.
True but you grant those sites free license to use your copyrighted photographs. Facebook, I know, has narrowed down their own publishing licenses after some bad PR. I'm honestly not current if others have followed their lead or retained full publishing licenses. Doesn't really bother me tbh because I don't post anything super private on any sites. I doubt they'd want my profile pic lol1 -
I did a similar site, DietBet, to lose 15 pounds a year or two back, and it motivated me, and I won some money.2
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lightenup2016 wrote: »I just went to the site and entered my stats and potential weight loss in a sensible amount of time (losing 25 lbs in 7 months), and my net earnings would be $57. That alone would not be a big motivator, but I guess trying to earn back what I already had put in would be more so ($175).
I wonder how others are earning so much more? I haven't played around with the numbers, but it must be by paying in more money, or choosing a shorter (and less realistic) timeframe.
You get higher payouts depending on the odds of losing it. So if you have a higher loss amount in a shorter time then that is a higher payout. Mine is 50 pounds in 6 months. I'm putting $120 in and I'll get $550 out so I am guessing they dont think I'll do it.
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