Care to Place a Wager on Your Weight Loss Goal?

By Jason Knapfel - DietsInReview.com

If you don't eat properly and don't exercise, you are gambling with your health. Now, you can quite literally gamble on your health, with the help of a dieting website called StickK.

It's referred to as "bet dieting," in which participants wager on a specific amount of pounds they want to lose. If they don't make their goal, they lose their money. Presumably, if you win, the reward is your weight loss. All weight loss is verified by a referee.

The founders of the StickK bet dieting website claim an effective way to encourage people to lose weight is to get them to nominate a charity whose views they disagree with to receive money if they fail.

"We chose some highly contentious issues, for instance global warming, abortion and gay marriage," says Jordan Goldberg, StickK co-founder.

"The idea is you choose an organization whose views are contrary to your own as an added incentive to stay motivated to succeed."

StickK involves your friends and family, adding that important weight loss support aspect. You simply choose a goal, make a wager and recruit a referee to keep you honest. The goals are primarily health related- losing weight, quitting smoking, running a marathon, or bettering your exercise routine. You can also customize and hold yourself accountable for things like finishing your degree, being more creative or paying off credit card debt.

While the betting idea is inventive and people have seen success, some experts remain skeptical.

"The problem is once the incentive scheme has finished we don't know if they carry on being successful after that," says Professor Richard Ashcroft, of the Centre for the Study of Incentives in Health in the UK. "We don't know if people manage to stay with the weight loss or exercise regime once the incentive is taken away."

Learn more about the Bet Dieting Trend and find more diet tips at DietsInReview.com.