With spring break and summer travel planning looming, many are starting to sweat the imminent budget bump needed to make their hopeful getaway a reality. Helping alleviate the stress, financial assistance is available from an unexpected source.  Those would-be wanderers who’d benefit from shedding some extra pounds can parlay their weight-loss into monetary winnings to readily fund a fab vacation. This as HealthyWage—the pioneer and industry-leader in fiscal prize and incentive-induced weight loss—has spent over $20 million dollars to date rewarding dieters with cold hard cash for their weight-loss success.
Need proof? Here are a few notable examples of travel-focused folks—a woman and a man—who dieted-for-dollars with HealthyWage and spurred their ability to get out of Dodge for doing so.

The first is Ashley Hayward from New Castle, Delaware. She won a whopping $2,591.14 for losing 65 pounds in just 8 months – her before and after photo can be viewed here. “I used my HealthyWager winnings to take a 2-week trip to Kauaii!,” Ashley said. After browsing the Internet for fitness and weight tips, Ashley came across HealthyWage. “I got really excited because it seemed like something that would help motivate me really well [to lose weight] because I’m not one who wants to put out money and then not get it back. So, it was a good way to help motivate myself other than just seeing the progress or the numbers on the scale. It was nice to actually be like ‘if I don’t [meet my goal] then I’m basically spending money for nothing,’ which helped pushed me get to my specific weight loss goal within a specific time.”

Another big winner is Brian Young from Maple Valley, Washington. who earned $1,974.95 for losing 120 pounds in 12 months – his before and after photo can be viewed here. “Next month my wife and I are taking a trip to Italy for our 20-year anniversary and I will be using my HealthyWager winnings for the trip,” Brian notes. “After having 3 siblings pass away within 7 years, I found myself weighing the most I ever had at over 346 pounds. I decided it was time to get the healthy to make sure I will be around for my family for a long time. I signed up for HealthyWage to help keep me motivated since my sedentary desk job can make losing weight difficult. I tracked my calories and committed to exercising at least five times a week. It wasn’t easy, but I worked hard and stayed committed for the entire year and lost over 120 pounds in the process. I am much healthier and happier.”

Answering the foundational question as to why these people have realized such success, HealthyWage co-founder David Roddenberry explains, “HealthyWage is founded on research and ‘double-incentivization’ methodology that proves cash rewards triple the effectiveness of weight loss programs. Studies show that monetary incentives serve to enhance the effectiveness of, and duly complement, weight-loss programs of any and all sorts, especially when paid out quickly like our various programs.”

One of the company’s programs is called “HealthyWager,” which allows participants to make a wager upfront ranging anywhere from $20 a month to as much as $500. Participants then commit to a specific amount of weight loss in a specific timeframe, for which they’ll receive a cash prize payout if they achieve their goal in the allotted time. “The average participant roughly triples their investment if they are successful at achieving their goal. The financial upside potential is impressive,” Roddenberry notes.

Various study findings ostensibly substantiate HealthyWage’s approach. One study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine further proved that money is an effective motivator to “increase both the magnitude and duration of weight loss.” The same holds true in business for staff wellness initiatives. Results from one study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicated that “’Loss Incentive’ Motivates Employees to Take More Steps, ” finding that financial incentives framed as a loss were most effective for achieving physical activity goals.

“These studies, and throngs of others, reiterate the importance of the ‘stick’ in the design of a wellness incentive program, whether for individuals at home or for employee groups,” notes Roddenberry. “Many studies have demonstrated that the threat of losing something of value is much more effective than the opportunity to win something of equal value. That’s precisely why we advocate that program participants ‘pay to play’ and make an investment out of their own pocket in order to win rewards—in our case large cash prizes—for losing weight and getting more active in the program.”

Speaking of staff wellness, HealthyWage is also a prolific corporate and group wellness purveyor. Roddenberry says that, since 2009, the company has worked with an array of hi-caliber participants on workplace and staff wellness initiatives, including Old Dominion Freight, ConocoPhillips, and more than 25 percent of the largest school districts in the country. HealthyWage also reports that it has, in fact, formally created competitive, cash-fueled programs for more than 700 Fortune 500 and other public and private companies, hospitals, health systems, insurers, school systems, municipal governments and other organizations throughout the U.S., and their program has been more informally run at more than 3,000 companies and organizations seeking to bolster staff health and well-being, and boost bottom lines in kind.

So whether you’re motivated to lose weight and gain cash in order to pay for a travel endeavor or just generally profit from your pound-shedding plight, HealthyWage is one way you can get paid for successful weight-loss…and even have some competition-fueled fun in the process.

***Some or all of the accommodations(s), experience(s), item(s) and/or service(s) detailed above may have been provided at no cost and/or arranged to accommodate this review, but all opinions expressed are entirely those of Merilee Kern and have not been influenced in any way as per the disclosure policy on our “Legal” page***