Healthy Wage - Get Paid to Lose Weight??? Anyone tried this?
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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]
4
Replies
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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!4 -
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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