NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Nov 2, 2015) - Weight-loss wagering industry pioneer HealthyWage, the world's leading purveyor of corporate and team-based weight loss challenges and financially-induced diet contests for individuals, today announced the advent of its first holiday-focused weight maintenance challenge, Maintain Don't Gain, that uses cash prizes to promote healthy weight maintenance throughout the seasonal gauntlet of travel, parties, shopping and the litany of other holiday activities that often result in unwanted and unhealthy weight gain.
The Maintain Don't Gain Challenge is the newest addition to HealthyWage's roster of evidence-based, highly effective team and personal weight loss challenges -- most of which leverage the power of "social norms feedback" and other key behavioral economics principles.
The Maintain Don't Gain Challenge will be a particularly great source of motivation for those already struggling to manage their weight. One National Institutes of Health study of holiday weight gain found that, while people who are in the normal BMI range (< 25) don't gain excessive weight during the holidays, people who are already above the normal BMI range will gain more. This key population clearly needs a different approach, and it is one that HealthyWage is now offering.
The HealthyWage Maintain Don't Gain Challenge kicks off this holiday season on November 16th. The challenge runs 60 days, pre-Thanksgiving through the New Year. Challenge participants will form teams of five to nine players with a goal of maintaining each participant's weight (within 2% of their starting weight) through the duration of the challenge. Each participant invests just $1 per day ($60 paid in full or over two $30 payments) for a chance to win. Winning teams, where each team member has maintained their weight within 2% of their starting weight, will split the cash jackpot so everyone earns their share. Participants will not be penalized for losing more than 2%, as healthy weight loss is always advocated, however the focus of the challenge is on weight maintenance.
HealthyWage Maintain Don't Gain Challenge is also available for companies interested in offering a private contest for their employee group. Many existing HealthyWage clients, including Rooms-To-Go, Fort Bend Independent School District, and Lovelace Health System are offering the challenge to their employees this season.
Interested participants can pre-register for the HealthyWage Maintain Don't Gain challenge online at https://www.healthywage.com/maintain/Holidays2015.
About HealthyWage™
Industry-leading health and wellness, HealthyWage, provides cash incentives, social and expert-based support, tools and resources, and goal-setting and tracking technologies to address our nation's obesity epidemic and improve America's collective health. HealthyWage is at the forefront of the weight wagering movement, having formally created competitive, cash-fueled programs for more than 90 Fortune 500 and other 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. The company was founded in response to academic research that proves even small cash rewards triple the effectiveness of weight-loss programs; that people are more effective at losing weight when their own money is at risk; and that social networks play a large role in the spread of obesity, and will likely play a large role in reversing obesity. Learn more online at https://www.HealthyWage.com.
Sources:
Yanovski, Jack A. et al. "A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain." The New England journal of medicine 342.12 (2000): 861-867. PMC. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
Contact Information:
Merilee Kern
Kern Communications
858-577-0206