HealthyWage Review: 10 Tips That Will Make You A Winner

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Most of us start to put on extra weight as we get older, which can have a negative impact on our health. In addition, it’s no secret that medical costs are going up, requiring us to save even more for retirement. Finding ways to improve health and make some extra money to stretch retirement savings is a winning combination.

Why not try HealthyWage, the website and online app that will pay you to lose weight?

What Is HealthyWage?

HealthyWage is a company that specializes in making it fun to lose weight and get fit. After the company’s founders stumbled across academic research that proved even small cash incentives could make weight loss programs more effective, the idea for HealthyWage was born.

Adding to the effectiveness of cash prizes, research showed that people were more successful at losing weight when their own money was at stake. Wager some of your own money, but hit the cash jackpot when you win your weight loss bet!

The idea of getting paid to lose weight is powerfully motivating. Even more exciting is the chance to double your money! Where else can you get such a great return on your money, while getting healthier at the same time?

How Does HealthyWage Work?

Simply put, HealthyWage allows you to bet on yourself. As Warren Buffett would say, when you put some of your own money toward a goal, you’ve got “skin in the game.”

Being invested in the outcome is important because the folks behind HealthyWage believe motivation is powerless without structure. That’s why they help you identify your reason for wanting to lose weight – whether it is to look better, to feel better, or to minimize health risks.

HealthyWage then provides the structure to help you lose weight by offering cash prizes, a fun online app to track your progress, and a supportive network to cheer you on. Plus, there are deadlines! If you don’t lose the weight by your deadline, you lose the money you paid to place your bet, and forfeit any prize money, too.

Your motivation to lose weight, plus the structure provided by HealthyWage through their online app, deadlines and cash prizes can all add up to that sweet spot called success!

HealthyWage Rules

To win your weight loss bet, you must follow the rules. If you are participating through an employer sponsored challenge, or any other special challenge, there may be specific rules in addition to the HealthyWage official rules.

However, the majority of HealthyWage participants will be following the official HealthyWage rules. Here are the highlights:

Participation is open to those who are 18 years old and older in the United States, the UK, Canada, Mexico and Latin America, Australia, and most of Europe and Asia. See the official rules for a list of countries that are excluded.

You will have to get your weight verified at the start of your weight loss challenge, and again at the end.

It’s OK to participate in multiple challenges (up to 10) at the same time.

Deal Breakers

Participants will be disqualified if they are found to be cheating, trying to game the challenge with unhealthy tricks, harassing other players, or doing anything illegal.

In addition, you’re not allowed to participate while pregnant. If you get pregnant during the challenge, your challenge can be postponed. You also can’t have any type of weight loss surgery during the challenge or within one year prior to your challenge start date.

Simple Steps To Get Started With HealthyWage

It’s easy to get started. Use the HealthyWage Prize Calculator to determine your bet. Verify your starting weight and place your bet. It’s as simple as that! You will only have to do one more weigh-in at the end, but it’s motivating to do weigh-ins throughout your challenge.

Step 1: Use The HealthyWage Prize Calculator

You can estimate how much you’ll win before placing a bet by using the HealthyWage Prize Calculator. Play around with different weight loss targets and dollar amounts to come up with an achievable but lucrative bet.

Step 2: Verify Your Starting Weight

Thankfully, HealthyWage makes verifying your starting weight easy and painless. You can do it from the comfort of your own home in less than 30 seconds! Using your phone, download the HealthyWage mobile app for on-screen instructions to guide you as you go.

You will film yourself stepping on the scale in front of a full-length mirror and do a couple turns. Then just upload your video and you’re done! HealthyWage will review and verify your video.

Step 3: Place Your Bet (Upfront vs. Monthly Payments)

There are two ways to put your money on the line when placing a HealthyWage bet. You can place your bet upfront with one single payment. Or, you can spread out your wager over time with monthly payments. Either way, you have to pay to play.

Step 4: Weigh-Ins

Although you can track your progress as often you want, you are only required to complete two official weigh-ins. You will verify your weight at the beginning and again at the end of your weight loss challenge.

The easiest way to verify your weight is with the HealthyWage mobile app. On-screen instructions guide you step-by-step. It takes about 30 seconds and you can do it independently in the privacy of your own home.

How Does HealthyWage Make Money?

HealthyWage makes money from unsuccessful bets. No one said losing weight was easy. Up to 75% of people who place a weight loss bet don’t win. All those lost bets help HealthyWage remain profitable.

However, HealthyWage notes that about 25% to 40% of people DO win their bets, and they want to see YOU in the winner’s circle. Join HealthyWage now & be a weight loss winner!

Can You Cheat HealthyWage?

This seems to be a common question, but why would anyone want to be a deliberate cheat? It’s not worth it to try and game the system because anyone caught cheating will lose their bet, forfeit any refund, and possibly face legal repercussions.

HealthyWage reviewers carefully scrutinize official weigh-in videos to verify identity and weight. Digital scales and mirrors are required for weigh-ins to ensure identity and accuracy.

Is HealthyWage Legit?

You might be wondering if HealthyWage will really pay you to lose weight. It sounds too good to be true, right?

Thankfully, HealthyWage has been around long enough to have developed some impressive social proof.

HealthyWage has been featured on the TODAY show, The Doctors, ABC and NBC. It’s also been featured in TIME magazine, The Washington Post, AARP, The New York Times, Women’s Day, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Forbes, Consumer Reports, and more.

The company has been paying people to lose weight since 2009.

So, what’s the catch?

There is no catch. If you follow the rules and lose the weight, you win the money.

My HealthyWage Review

I’ve done other weight loss challenges before, but no big cash prizes were involved. After trying to lose weight without much success, I knew I needed to try something different. Something that would motivate me to stick to a weight loss plan.

HealthyWage was the perfect fit. It offered a powerful double motivation factor: incentive and loss aversion. Cash prizes are a great incentive. Who doesn’t want to win free money, right?

HealthyWage goes one step further and adds a fear factor. You may lose the cash you put down when you placed your bet. Not only do you miss out on the prize, you forfeit your bet.

For this reason, I made my bet large enough that it would hurt if I lost the money. My wager was $300. Enough to keep me inspired not to lose my bet, while offering a prize worth working toward. My final winnings added up to $607. A pretty nice return on my money!

I enjoyed using the app to track my progress and did frequent unofficial weigh-ins. It kept me committed to my goal. Also, I discovered the online community was very supportive.

Although it was great to win my bet for the extra cash, I was also really happy that I lost 30 pounds! I highly recommend HealthyWage as a motivational tool for losing weight.

Other HealthyWage Reviews

You don’t have to take my word for it. Many people have written HealthyWage reviews. A simple Google search will turn up a bunch. Maybe that’s how you found this review!

If you are reading HealthyWage reviews, you may be thinking about doing your own weight loss challenge. What’s great about my review is that I’ve actually done the HealthyWage challenge.

I won my bet and I want you to be a winner, too! That’s why I’ve included 10 helpful tips to make you a winner in this HealthyWage review.

10 Tips To Make You A HealthyWage Winner

1. Place A Realistic HealthyWage

Experts recommend losing up to 2 pounds per week for healthy, sustainable weight loss. Once you get the weight off, you want to keep it off, right? Yo-yo dieting, where you lose a bunch of weight only to regain it (and then some) jeopardizes your long-term health.

It can be tempting to place a big weight loss bet with HealthyWage. Afterall, the more you lose, the more cash you can win. However, to win your weight loss bet, you need to make sure your weight loss goal is realistic. Planning to lose 100 pounds per month is not realistic or healthy.

2. Choose A Healthy Eating Plan

To lose weight and keep it off, choose a healthy eating plan. It will make all the difference. By following a healthy eating plan, you will be more likely to lose weight consistently and reach your goal. More importantly, you will have created new habits that will support your long term health.

No matter which dietary approach you try, focus on fresh, whole foods over processed food. Getting enough fiber is key, as high fiber foods will fill you up. Even if you decide to go with a low-carb or keto plan, make sure to hit healthy fiber targets. Fiber rich foods come from plants, which are loaded with antioxidants and nutrients that support health.

Just like you need to set saving targets on the road to financial independence, you need to follow a healthy eating plan to help you reach your weight loss goal.

Related: Weight Loss & The Path To FI

3. Support Your Second Brain

Have you ever felt like your good intentions were sabotaged by uncontrollable cravings? I know I’ve given into that little voice that says “a little bit of ice cream won’t hurt.” There is a reason food cravings can take over – it’s because our gut bacteria signals our brain to eat!

The digestive system has been referred to as our second brain. Different types of bacteria take over the gut depending on the foods we eat, signaling our brains to crave more of those same foods.

Surprisingly, we can exert some control over our cravings by creating an environment that fosters good bacteria instead of the bacteria that prompts us to eat carbs and junk food.

Choose high fiber, unprocessed whole foods including greens and vegetables. Add probiotic fermented foods like raw sauerkraut or kim chee to improve digestion. Avoid artificial sweeteners like aspertame, which can kill off healthy gut bacteria.

4. Reduce (Or Eliminate) Alcohol

When trying to lose weight, consider giving up alcohol. Drinking alcohol will make it harder to lose weight because alcohol contains empty calories without any nutritional benefits. Plus, it is easy to consume a lot of extra calories when drinking since alcohol lowers inhibitions.

In addition, alcohol can interfere with the body’s fat burning and sleep signals. Having a drink at night might seem like it would be relaxing, but it actually has the opposite effect. Alcohol increases alpha brain waves, leading to poor sleep and disruption of the hormones that control appetite.

Save the champagne for after you’ve reached your weight loss goal and won your HealthyWage bet!

5. Increase Hydration

Most of us are dehydrated. We are so dehydrated that we mistake the body’s cue to drink water as hunger pains. Drinking water throughout the day can help curb your appetite, making it easier to avoid snacking.

A study from the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that drinking 500 milliliters (a little over two cups) of water about a half hour before meals lowered study participants appetite and helped them to lose weight.

6. Find Exercise You Enjoy

Do you love exercise? If your idea of loving exercise involves watching it all day, you may have discovered that diet alone makes weight loss challenging. That doesn’t mean you have to work out like you’re about to enter a marathon.

Pick an exercise you enjoy and you’ll be more likely to stick with it. That might be walking, riding a bike, dancing, yoga, or gardening. Anything that allows you to move your body and increase your heart rate will help.

7. Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is vital when you are trying to lose weight, because sleep plays an important role in helping regulate hormones like grehlin and leptin.

Grehlin is the hormone that signals your body to eat. Leptin sends the message to stop eating once you are full. Without adequate sleep, grehlin levels increase, while leptin levels decrease, causing you to eat more.

Plus, staying up late provides more opportunities to eat food since you are awake longer. Reduce your risk for overeating by getting enough sleep!

8. Use HealthyWage Supports

The folks at HealthyWage really do want you reach your weight loss goals. There are built in supports to cheer you on. For example, the app allows you to pick Lifelines (like your mom, spouse, or best friend) to provide you with support, encouragement and motivation.

With the HealthyWage mobile app, you can also connect with an entire online community for additional social support. Click on the chat tab whenever you need a little extra encouragement. It’s a great place for weight loss tips and ideas for overcoming a plateau.

9. Track Your Progress

Although official weigh ins are only required at the beginning and end of your weight loss bet, you can do unofficial weigh ins anytime. Be sure to track your progress by weighing yourself on a regular basis. You’ll see just how far you’ve come, and how much you have left to go.

Stepping on the scale gives you objective feedback and helps you become more aware of the habits that help or hamper your weight loss.

If you’ve fallen behind, the app will let you know so that you can work on getting back on track for reaching your weight loss goal on time. Tracking your progress can increase your chances of winning your HealthyWage bet.

10. Plan To Finish Early

If you can, plan to finish early. You want to give yourself enough time to reach your weight loss goal and make sure you win your bet. You can complete your ending verified weigh-in anytime during the final two weeks of your weight loss challenge. Don’t wait until the last day only to discover you have another pound to lose!

Other Ways To Make Money With HealthyWage

There are several other ways to make money with HealthyWage besides placing an individual weight loss bet. Maybe you are the type of person who enjoys working toward health and fitness goals with a group of friends – you can join a group weight loss challenge.

Team Challenge

A team or group challenge is exactly what it sounds like. You can sign up with a group of five friends, join a team or get matched with a team. You can win BIG if your team has the greatest percentage of weight loss in the challenge. The top prize is $10,000!

Step Challenge

Instead of counting calories, you might like counting steps. Yes, you can get paid for walking! How about getting paid for walking and for winning your weight loss bet? HealthyWage allows you to do both types of bets at the same time.

Refer Friends & Family

Finally, if you’ve crushed your goal and won your bet, you want to share the good fortune, right? HealthyWage will pay you for referring friends and family to the program. It’s another way to gain a little more extra cash for retirement, even after you’ve won your weight loss bet.

Here’s how it works – HealthyWage will provide you with a referral link to share with your friends, family, co-workers, or even on social media. Once someone signs up using your referral code, you can earn a commission! If you have a blog, you can also apply to become an affiliate for HealthyWage. It’s a great feeling to help people reach their weight loss goal.

Here’s my referral / affiliate link:

Start your HealthyWager today and get paid for losing weight.

Alternatives To HealthyWage

HealthyWage is not the only game in town. Other options are available that will encourage you to improve health and wellness, but HealthyWage is the most popular. Here are a few alternatives to HealthyWage:

Diet Bet

Similar to HealthyWage, Diet Bet gamifies weight loss by allowing you to bet on yourself. The idea is to turn weight loss into a game. You can start a game with your friends, or join a game someone else is starting.

First, decide if you want to play as a Kickstarter or a Transformer.

In the Kickstarter game, you place a bet that you will lose 4% within 4 weeks. To start, you’ll chip in the money with the rest of the group. At the end of four weeks, whoever has lost four percent of their body weight gets to split the pot!

The Transformer game is for those who want to lose 10% in 6 months. At the end of the game, everyone who’s lost ten percent of their body weight gets to split the cash equally.

Sweatcoin

Sweatcoin bills itself as the fastest growing health app ever. Although it doesn’t pay actual cash, Sweatcoin allows you to earn points or “coins” simply for walking or running. The steps you take become a digital currency that can be exchanged for goods and products through the app.

By downloading the app on your phone, Sweatcoin tracks your steps as you walk or run outside. Log 1,000 steps and you’ll earn about one Sweatcoin. You could potentially earn between 150 to 600 Sweatcoins each month, but it could take awhile to build up a balance.

Health Plan Incentives

Another option that many employers have embraced are workplace wellness plans. Designed to encourage healthy behaviors, employees enroll in plans to improve their health in exchange for cash payments or insurance premium discounts.

Health plan incentives reward employees for losing weight. Other positive changes such as quitting smoking or more effectively managing chronic health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes are also incentivized.

Employers and health plans work together to encourage employees to take a more active role in their health – and they are willing to pay them to do it because a healthier workforce saves money.

Workplace Competitions

My employer also allowed employees to organize workplace competitions. We pooled our cash to create rewards for reaching exercise and weight loss goals. Employees contributed a small amount of cash to the pot, and those who reached their goals split the cash.

It was fun to walk with coworkers during work breaks, and it created a supportive environment as we cheered each other on toward our goals. Like HealthyWage, we were motivated by betting a little of our own money – we had skin in the game.

HealthyWage Review – Final Thoughts

In summary, HealthyWage can help you reach your weight loss goal, improve your health, and put cash in your wallet. It is not a scam, but it is not a magic pill, either. Make a realistic bet about how much weight you can lose in a reasonable time frame. Then, to win your bet, you must put in real work to lose the weight on time.

HealthyWage provides inspiration, motivation, and an accountability factor to help you achieve your health and wellness goals. Once you’ve won your weight loss bet, be sure to add the cash prize to your retirement account!

Are you ready? Join HealthyWage now and get paid to lose weight!

Question: After reading this HealthyWage review, do you think getting paid to lose weight would be a good option for finding extra cash to put toward your retirement? Ready to get started?

.

70 Replies to “HealthyWage Review: 10 Tips That Will Make You A Winner”

  1. I can believe that money incentives work to help people to motivate people to do stuff, I mean that’s why we all go to work in the first place right? But as a business model, this company clearly understands that meeting a weight target, rather than simply rewarding people for exercising, will provide more failures than successes, because that’s how they’ll make money. Weight loss is incredibly hard, sustaining weight loss is even harder, but now they’re offering a double whammy of demotivation, not losing weight, and losing money.

    Furthermore, this could also incentivise people to develop an eating disorder to hit there targets so they can win there bet. Because you’re betting on weight loss. Again, if this was a reward for exercise, then you might not actually lose weight as you put on muscle mass.

    Sweatcoin sounds like the better app which rewards fitness rather than weight loss

    1. Thanks for commenting, Unwanted Life! Yes, even HealthyWage admits that up to 60% of people who place weight loss bets will not follow through. As a result, HealthyWage is able to pay out large cash prizes to those who do win their weight loss bets.

      You can get rewarded for exercise with HealthyWage, too! HealthyWage also has a Step Challenge, which I haven’t tried yet. It’s similar to Sweatcoin, except HealthyWage pays out real money and Sweatcoin pays out digital “coins” that can be used in their online app.

      Thanks for bringing up the issue of eating disorders. It’s important to understand your motivation for wanting to lose weight. Ideally, it’s to improve your overall health.

      HealthyWage has strict rules against starvation diets, excessive exercise, water deprivation, unusual water consumption, self-induced vomiting, diuretics, laxatives, etc. No bet is worth jeopardizing your physical or mental health.

  2. This was a really interesting blog post. Exploring the idea of a money incentive I can see why it works. It would motivate me to work harder. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and tips!

    Lauren – bournemouthgirl

  3. This is such a great idea! Well done you for doubling your money 🙂 This could be really motivating for my husband and I. We started a new weight loss challenge around a month ago and so far we’ve lost about 3 kilo’s each. I’d love to lose another 3-4 kilo’s by Christmas. I’ll have to have a look into it 🙂 Thanks for sharing

  4. I can see the pros and cons of this, but if used responsibly, probably alongside some professional medical guidance, this could be quite the motivator. It seems like HealthyWage has a good amount of information to help it’s users, etc which is encouraging. This was really interesting as I’d not heard of this company before.

  5. What great tips! I definitely think that getting enough sleep is crucial to any kind of success. I find that when I don’t get good enough sleep, I lack energy during the day and don’t perform my best.

  6. I can understand how it works and the reason why it can be souper motivating for some people. Fortunately, I don’t need to loose any weight. I would actually need few more kilos.
    I think it is great that you let people know about it cause I am sure that it will be beneficial to lots of them.
    Thank you for sharing!

  7. What an innovative way to motivate people to get healthy and shed a few pounds with the possibility of getting winnings. This is such a great post; I have bookmarked it for when I next start a diet, possibly in the new year; maybe this time, I’ll be motivated if I put a bet on myself. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Honestly, I have never heard of this weight loss challenge! This is so interesting and I really think motivational with the fear of losing your own money. I think this would definitely help anyone who wants to lose weight but doesn’t know where to start. Thank you for sharing x

  9. I’d never heard of the Healthy Wage before reading this post. It sounds like a good idea and something I’m sure would motivate people who find it more of a struggle.

    1. Funny to hear that so few were familiar with HealthyWage. You were not the first to say that, Kelly Diane. I’d heard a lot about it before I decided to try it. I must have seen some ads for it online. I’m so glad I did because it helped me to lose 30 pounds!

    1. Interesting point of view, Smelly socks and garden peas.

      You might be right if the only motivation to lose weight was to win money. However, HealthyWage places a focus on getting fit, which is hard to do without engaging in healthy behaviors, like eating nutritious food and exercising.

      Most people who want to lose weight are motivated by the desire to improve their health, be fit enough to keep up with their kids, be able to hike that dream vacation, and avoid or turn around diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure, etc.

      I felt like it was worth it to put up my own money in a HealthyWage bet. It was an extra incentive to help me lose weight for better health, but my end goal was losing weight rather than making money.

      It sure was nice to put my HealthyWage check for $607 into my retirement savings after I won my weight loss bet, though!

  10. A very comprehensive post infact a winner. Its an excellent idea because I agree with you that motivate none to reduce weight. But I have one reservation. The program should apply to those who are prescribed by doctors to loose weight. For instance in some cases doctors say that a certain problem is caused by weight. Otherwise it would be more of a compex the way makeup and perfect images on media is given. But great and insightful post. Xx
    Isa A. Blogger
    Lifestyle Prism

  11. This is a fascinating concept and one I have never come across! I love the idea of betting on myself, as that definitely inspires me to step up to the challenge and set out to do what I resolved to do.

    I wish I had heard of this a couple years ago, as that is when I really started to get motivated about exercising, but nothing is to say I could not make a bet on a smaller goal and see how that motivates me to keep working at what I am aiming for.
    Thanks so much for sharing this!

    1. Glad you enjoyed the post and found it inspiring, Jaya!

      Yes, betting on myself with HealthyWage really helped me to reach my weight loss goal. It seemed to add that extra motivation when other things I tried didn’t. I was happy with the results!

      HealthyWage has motivational programs to increase exercise, too. The step challenge might be the one you’d like.

  12. Using money to motivate people to workout I think is a lovely idea. I recently read another review in this and was planning on giving this a try myself.

  13. This looks great, Kathy! Accountability and support to lose weight. Your tips are excellent for maintaining a healthy weight, too. Maintaining a good weight can be just as hard as losing it.

    Thanks.

  14. OMG! This was a great read. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. But I swear that my twin and I always talk about doing a challenge where we each put some money down and set a date to lose weight. Whoever loses the most percentage weight would get the cash! I really like the idea of this challenge.

  15. This was a really interesting blog post. Exploring the idea of a money incentive I can see why it works. It would motivate me to work harder. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and tips!

    Lauren – bournemouthgirl.com

  16. This was such an interesting read, and I’ll be honest and say I’m quite conflicted on it. I can see how the incentive would get people motivated to lose the weight but I’m not sure I see it as being a healthy long term solution. Surely the business also realise that majority of participants won’t follow through with their goals as that’s how they then make a profit? Either way if it works for people then great! I guess everyone is different in what does and doesn’t work for them!

  17. This is literally one of the coolest posts I have read! It is two things I love, trying to be healthy and money. Thank you so much for sharing this and for being so detailed in your work! So many people can benefit from this.

  18. This is interesting, but at the moment I am a bit to afraid to lose 🙁 I have checked Sweatcoins few times, but in Estonia they have really few rewards. Also last time I checked they accepted only Google fit and my smart watch is not work with that. But I like the idea and still hoping they will add options. This post got me thinking that we have a lot overweight teenagers who prefer to play video games – they should partner up with Xbox/Nintendo so they can convert their steps into game bonuses to buy digital stuff 🙂

  19. This is one weight loss style/plan I never thought about. As I’m getting older I notice that it is much more difficult to lose weight, but I’m a little more old fashion in how I approach keeping it in check.

  20. I love it! I love the idea of it! For me, I think it’s just about having that goal and something else to prove something to! If it’s just up to myself, it’s so easy to fall off the wagon – but having something that I need to ‘win’ would definitely encourage me to get healthy and hopefully stay healthy!

  21. Definitely important to consult with a medical professional before starting any program especially like this. I can see the incentive but I think the important aspect is to remember this becomes a lifestyle change for your health for good so that you do not put the weight back on. Thank you for sharing this unique way to try to lose weight. 😊

    Pastor Natalie (ExamineThisMoment)
    Letstakeamoment.com

  22. I’ve never heard of anything like this before but I can see why a cash incentive would work for a lot of people. I have an app called CashWalk, in which you can get vouchers for walking, it definitely motivates me to walk a bit more!

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