"Diet betting" is becoming popular in work places, colleges, among friends, and on the Internet. Participants challenge each other in a weight loss competition, and the person who loses the most weight wins an agreed-upon sum of money.

Diet betting may actually work for some people. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that financial incentives could be an effective tool in helping people lose weight or quit smoking.

One diet betting website reports more than 23,000 participants, who use their credit cards to register. If a player does not lose weight during a certain week, his credit card gets charged. Some bettors who fail to lose weight have to give money to a charity that they do not support.

Prof. Geoffrey Greif of the University of Maryland said believes diet betting is helpful to one group in particular.

"Betting makes the approach to weight loss more acceptable to men," he said.

Labels: competition, betting, competing

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

A new study has found that people who struggle with eating disorders and other forms of extreme weight loss may be driven more by competitiveness than anything else. Competitive instincts cause people to compare themselves to each other – and when taken to the extreme, can cause unhealthy behaviors.

“The study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, found that a natural competitive instinct forces people to compare themselves with those who are more successful than them. And in a society that equates thinness with youthfulness and attractiveness, competing against someone successful often means losing weight.” [Source: QMI Agency]

Understanding the role competitiveness plays in disordered eating can help medical personnel plan effective treatment strategies, and give eating disorder sufferers a better understanding of what they’re really dealing with.

 

Labels: competing, extreme weight loss

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment