Getting Paid for Fitness

I've talked about the power of social networks before. The power of peer pressure doesn't always have to lead to teens smoking or drinking; it can lead to adults getting healthier. In fact, it's because of that after-school special feeling that the words peer pressure evoke, that I have renamed it social-psychological external conflict avoidance, or SPECA for short. I offered to make your New Year's Resolutions mine and tried to challenge you to take mine on as yours. That was my small contribution to peer pressure. There are now sites that use this same power to encourage weight loss, but with financial incentives added.

Healthy Wage allows you to bet on yourself. You invest money in yourself and if you hit your weight loss goals, that investment pays back. Like SPECA, it makes your desires public and rewards you for achievement and punishes you for lack of achievement. They also require an outside confirmation of your weight loss numbers, so you can't just claim to have lost 10% of your body weight.

Health Rally allows people to donate money to motivate you to achieve your goals. It's like kickstarter, but for health, not art. Plus, they accept every rally that is submitted and have various reward options.

CFG is another site based on this same concept. Everywhere I look on the site they keep saying that it's a simple exchange, but I can't seem to understand it. They do have a monthly fee.

So, unless you're famous and willing to share your weight loss story in commercials, but still want to get paid to lose weight, check out the links above. I just think the concept is pretty cool in theory, but am not sure if any of them have executed it well. Have any of you tried any of these?

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

With today being the first day that people are getting back to work and routine after the holidays, it's also the day that they start to tackle their resolutions. Because many people have resolved to exercise more, lose weight and get healthier, there is a lot of talk on facebook about these topics. Sadly, many conversations seem to be about how overweight people are doomed to be overweight forever. Even if they lose weight, they'll never keep it off. Along with those negative thoughts are the theories of how exercise won't help you lose weight, how gyms know about this and how they're conspiring with the medical profession to keep us all spending money on weight loss when it's not obtainable.

This all boils down to making excuses for not achieving resolutions before making any effort to achieve the goals. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come 'true'. People claim that weight-loss is impossible, so they don't make the full effort to lose weight, and they end up not losing weight.

I am not saying that losing weight is easy or that it will happen quickly, but, please, don't give up on getting healthier. It is possible. If you move more, you will get healthier, even if your weight doesn't plummet. Your blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol and other indicators will show that you are healthier. In addition, being more active will help your mental health, something that everyone can benefit from.

Instead of setting up negative prophecies, please follow the attached diagram and expect success. It will lead to actual success. Don't just have expectations yourself, but seek out others who have been successful. They will reinforce your feelings that you can succeed.