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I’ll Bet You $20: The Research Behind Diet Bets

I just put $20 down on a bet that I will lose 4% of my body weight (around 6lbs) in four week. I’m participating in this Diet Bet hosted by Erica House. Diet Bet claims a 90% success rate, which got me to thinking about why it works so well. Let’s explore the research and psychology behind diet bets briefly, shall we?
1. Monetary awards motivate dieters: As this article explores, financial incentives seem to be quite effective for weight loss goals. Competition that involves money seems to spur people to action–at least more action than they would perform if going it alone. It seems to work for participants on The Biggest Loser, doesn’t it? Of course, the fame and high dollar amount attached to those winnings differ significantly from throwing $20 in a pot with a few coworkers. But that doesn’t mean a few extra bucks in your pocket isn’t effective.
2. But only in the short term: The long-term effects of diet bets are a bit discouraging though. Since bets are typically temporary, the motivation to continue the weight loss plan is temporary too. Studies have shown that the effects may not hold up long term. Even though people are successful at losing weight with diet bets, many people gain the weight right back once the bet is finished. The immediacy of money earned creates a stronger reaction than the long-term effects of healthier living. Once you’re done with the bet, you must transition from external motivation back to intrinsic motivation unless you want to keep signing up for bet after bet. Or you need to find a way to change your “diet” mindset to a “lifestyle” mindset. Diet is temporary. Healthy living must become a complete lifestyle change.
I have an example of these concepts living right under the same roof with me. Hubster lost an impeccable amount of weight about a year ago with a Biggest Loser Challenge hosted by his employer. Hubster won not only the team component, but also the personal component, taking home well over $100. The weight stayed off for a few months until Hubster went back to his old ways of eating and not exercising. Now he’s back to where he started. The monetary incentive was definitely effective in the short term, but without carrying those new habits into the future, the weight loss won’t stick.
3. Use bets for habit formation: Speaking of habits–habits are generally said to be formed in 21 days (or 66 days by some). If you’re really committed to working out five days a week and planning out meals for each week, you could make your newfound habits stick. According to Psychology Today, you should also incorporate triggers (keeping running shoes by your bed) and rewards (money, new magazine, etc.) into your new routine to make it habit-forming. However, if you’re of the mindset that this “diet” is just temporary, you will likely have trouble once your bet is over. Diet bets are an amazing premise for healthy habit formation, but only if your intentions are set for the longer-term.
4. Peer encouragement can have a profound effect upon your results. When you’re committing to something like a diet bet or a lifestyle change, consider making it public. Tell your Facebook friends, shout it out on Twitter, let your friends know at brunch and get your family in on it. Heck, why don’t you just blog about it? The more people you tell, the more deeply entrenched you become in the healthy cycle. Peers are great for keeping you accountable. Participate in the friendly chatter on the betting sites. Find a few pals on your diet bet site and keep in touch after the bet is over. Research shows that the more you log on, the more successful you’ll be at hitting your weight loss goals.
5. Positive vs negative reinforcement: Positive reinforcement seems to be the winner for creating long-term changes in behavior, although negative reinforcement is effective in the short-term. Diet Bet offers positive reinforcement for weight lost–a bigger dip in the money pool. However, on the betting site stikK.com, if you lose the bet, your money is given to an anti-charity (a democrat donating to the republican party, etc). Whichever form of reinforcement you choose, be sure it is something that really pushes you to make changes. If you’re passionate enough about the outcome, you have more chances of succeeding.
6. Diet bets really keep you honest. On Diet Bet, for example, your entry must be officially verified by a live person. You take a picture of yourself in “airport” apparel (no shoes, belts, etc) and a picture of your scale reading with a password. You can’t cheat yourself out of the results. And I think that is one of the reasons why participants’ success rates are so high.
Ready to make a bet on your weight? Here are some betting websites to check out and get started:

Four Simple Goals

FourSimpleGoals

Following in Elsie’s footsteps, I decided to post four simple goals that I will be dedicating myself to for the remainder of the year.

1. Spruce A Space once a week: We are a typical family with typical “piles” in unsightly places and little non-beautiful messes. I would like to take time once a week to clean at least one little nook of dust and randomness. If I really want to impress myself, I might even add something beautiful in its place (a scented candle, a picture? We’ll see). *Reward for finishing: one small Etsy print purchase

2. Find Balance (in my checkbook): This is a boring one, but one I constantly struggle with and wish to overcome. Because, you see, my wellbeing depends on a balanced checkbook. When I have handfuls of receipts poking out of nooks in my purse and have that uneasy feeling of not quite knowing where we’re at, I feel unnerved. Even though its boring, this goal is dedicated to my personal happiness. I’ll sleep better, believe me. *Reward for finishing: a new checkbook cover

3. MOVE: I have a desk job and I often find myself coming to the realization that I haven’t moved from the time I punch in until lunchtime, except to take a bathroom break (oh, that sluggish feeling!). I need to get up at least once an hour to rest my eyes and move some blood around. This is a simple goal that I know I can do, I just need a silly written commitment like this to make it happen. *Reward for finishing: a new tea flavor

4. Art Journal Date: I signed up for Art Journal All Year, one of Elsie’s classes, at the beginning of the year and have yet to finish more than, um, three pages. I don’t want this to become a chore, so I’m changing the curriculum a little bit and making my art journal more of a dream journal where I make lists of things I want to accomplish and ways to bring them to fruition. The thing is, the process of journaling my dreams and making pretty pages is cathartic, stress-reducing, and productive. I also believe the process of dream planning leads to good things. It’s funny how those things you love the most get pushed to the side first.
*Reward for finishing: a new roll of washi tape

I am not only posting these goals here and submitting them to A Beautiful Mess, but I am also tracking them on DailyFeats, along with a few other achievable goals. The site encourages you to make healthy habits stick by creating little goal “triggers” like “after I brush my teeth, I will drink one cup of water.” They also offer a built-in rewards system for each feat that you accomplish every day/week. Tangible prizes like $5 off coupons make really good incentives to make your life a little better. Hopefully these rewards will coincide with the rewards listed above (i.e. a $5 coupon to buy a new checkbook cover).

I encourage you to take Elsie’s challenge or just dedicate a little time to some “Daily Feats” that you’d like to accomplish. Being stagnant is suffocating. Taking action will transform your life.

I’ll meet you back here to follow up as I achieve these goals.

Last Year’s Christmas Money

There’s something you need to know about me. I NEVER make impulse buys. I like to think on certain purchases for quite awhile before I hesitantly hand over my debit card. Even today, I told Hubster that I didn’t appreciate being bullied into going out to eat. He said, “That’s the only way I can even get you to go out.” And he had to give me the weekend to contemplate changing internet/cable providers. I just like to weigh the importance of things and make sure I’m not making rash decisions.

So, remember when I told you Hubster and I had a laugh about how he’d be through his Christmas money before New Year’s, and I’d have mine gone by June? Well, close… Mine was gone in August. Ha!

three-in-one record player, Crosley Record Player

But the wait was sooo worth it. Meet my new favorite “gadget,” my 3-in-one Crosley CD player/record player/radio. I’ve been wanting a record player for years. I had a thrifted one in college, but a friend “borrowed” it for forever and returned it in “not working” condition. Forgive, forget, buy a new one. A beautiful one that totally goes with the antique chest it’s displayed on.

Oh yes!

Peanut and Hubster even got a little involved. Hubster chose a few Dean Martin and Christmas records at a rummage sale and Peanut dances to Rolling Stones with me.

New record player, My new record player and collection
Oh, stash of dust-collecting vinyls, how I’ve missed you.

Records, My record collection

My other “Christmas” in August purchases? A Bon Iver record, Feist CD, Noah and the Whale CD, Exercise and Nutrition textbook (geek alert), pretty washi tape, and my very own copy of Born to Run. Could this get any better?

Do you still get “Christmas money?” And what do you usually buy with it? This is the only time I allow myself to buy superfluously. Of course there are always things around the house that take precedence, but special money doesn’t count, right?

I Know, I’m Full of Ideas Lately

A woman’s purse is an empire.

I mean, seriously, you can find anything in there. A woman could rule the world as long as she had a nice satchel standing loyally beside her. And she’d be pretty darn lost without it. It holds practically everything we could ever need, and in emergencies everything to rig together, McGuyver-style, what we don’t have.

A woman’s purse also holds all sorts of mysteries. My mother used to chastise us if we ever looked in her purse without telling her. It gave our little imaginations something to toy with every time. I mean, what could possibly be in there that would merit such a response from her? Did she have some dirty little secrets, some little black book that we could potentially come across and accidentally betray her supposed innocence? Birth control? Another credit card dad didn’t know about? Oh, the suspense.

Perhaps it’s the delicacy of the whole money subject that makes us guard our purses with militance. If our checkbook happened to open to a particularly delicate page or the number of credit cards betray our bad habits. What then? Some deep private secret could be revealed inside a gum wrapper. Entire personalities can be gauged by what’s inside and we sure don’t want everyone knowing how much we make.

Here’s a lesson for men. You MUST condone a woman’s desire for choosiness when it comes to her empire. She will have you covered when you pop your pants button. Her entire identity rides upon the shape, style, size and material of her purse. It’s essential that she find the perfect one, no matter the price tag.

Here’s what you’ll find in my favorite Green Monkey purse, a very revealing list, I would say:

1. Moist towelettes (I have a son and I wear makeup, what more can I say?)
2. Pocket mirror
3. Cinnamon Gum
4. Nail Clippers
5. Lip gloss
6. Small notebook with to-dos and shopping lists in the front and family gift ideas and favorite (baby/character) names in the back.
7. Checkbook
8. Cell phone
8. Several envelopes of money to differentiate the baby’s Christmas money from the leftovers from the water bill, because I’m really bad at keeping it all straight.
9. Sunglasses
10. A ton of pens, because where I work, we could fill buildings with pens
11. Stamps
12. Pocket knife (dare I tell about how I forgot to take this out of my purse on the last flight I took?)
13. Various gift cards (did I mention, I’m a big saver?)
14. Various receipts (and also a tracker of every cent spent?)
15. Card holder for all my membership, insurance, credit and debit cards with a few pictures of the fam mixed in.
16. A cute change purse with lots-o-change.