HealthyWage
A program that pays you to lose weight.
Pros
The company is legit with a strong trust rating
Based on a proven scientific fact
Real verifiable testimonials, including from third-party sources
You're in full control of the outcome of the program
You always earn more than you put into the program
Cons
No refunds (there is a justified reason why though)
Weight loss advice offered is not enough, you'll need outside help
Not available in every country
HealthyWage is a weight loss program that has caught my attention. This program is rewarding those who join it by paying you for losing weight … and the prize money involved is up to $10,000! But is this program legit or a scam, and do they really pay people for losing weight? Well in this review, you are going to find out all you need to know about this program, the company behind it, and why you should seriously consider joining this program if you’re indeed serious about losing weight but lost your motivation along the way. So let’s begin!
HealthyWage: What is it?
HealthyWage is a company that has been around since 2009. They claim to help you achieve your weight loss goals by motivating you with cash rewards. These rewards do not come easy though. You’ll have to place a monetary ‘bet’ that you may lose if you do drop out of the weight loss challenge you set for yourself. But if you do achieve your goals, your initial investment will be refunded plus your cash reward.
Now as crazy as this sounds, I’ve done my background check on HealthyWage and they are the real deal. HealthyWage has a BBB rating of A+ and has been featured favorably in reputable news outlets like Wall Street Journal, NPR, and several others. HealthyWage also works with large companies and organizations. These establishments enroll their employees in the challenges set up by HealthyWage and they have been doing this for years. However, you don’t need to be in a company before you can use HealthyWage.
Bottom Line: HealthyWage is a legit company with a proven track record and high customer trust as seen in their very high BBB rating.
Now on to how it works.
How Does HealthyWage Work?
HealthyWage works via the following simple steps:
- Calculate your prize
- Make your bet
- Lose the weight
- Win Money
Now let’s discuss these steps in more detail.
1. Calculate your Prize with HealthyWage Calculator
Start by using HealthyWage’s Free Prize Calculator to see how much you will win if you set a weight loss goal. Please note that the size of your prize money depends on all three parameters listed:
- The amount of weight you plan to lose (Important: Must be at least 10% of your current body weight. So if, for example, you currently weigh 200 lbs, the amount of weight you plan to lose must be at least 10% of that, i.e 20 lbs)
- The time period you’ll need to achieve your goal (minimum of 6 months)
- The amount of money you’re willing to place as a ‘bet’ per month for the time period you chose (Important: Total amount must be more than $100)
You can play with the calculator for as much as you like. Generally speaking, the higher numbers you enter, the higher the rewards.
My Recommendation: Don’t enter a dollar amount that won’t hurt you if you lose it for dropping out of the challenge. Doing that will defeat the idea of the program, which is to put you in a position where you have to achieve your goal (lose weight), or else you’ll lose something valuable, in this case, a significant amount of money. So do enter an amount that hurts or pinches a little. Remember that at the end of the day, you’ll earn more than you invested.
Enter your Health Stats
Once you’ve made your decision, enter your desired goals plus the dollar amount and proceed to the next step. Then you’ll be prompted to enter the following details:
- Your gender
- Current weight (Important: This will be verified later so don’t artificially inflate the numbers)
- Height
- Your top motivation (or reason) for losing weight
- What you plan to do with your prize money (go on vacation, shopping, etc). Don’t worry, you can choose ‘other’ if you prefer not to say 🙂
Once you’re done, hit the ‘Calculate my prize’ button.
See your Prize Amount
Hitting the aforementioned button will take you to a page containing your prize amount. But before you can see it, you’ll need to sign up using your email or Facebook amount. Don’t worry, you’ll not be entering any card details at this point.
For the sake of this review, I entered a weight loss goal of 50 pounds in 9 months and a $15 monthly bet (I’m cheap, sorry). Then I signed up using my email. Once I was done, here is the prize money I was shown:
So as you can see, I made an extra $15, which represents approximately an 11% return on my investment. Not bad at all, but I’ll understand if you say that the return on investment percentage is too small. But remember the main reason why you’re considering this program in the first place. You want to lose weight and you need something to keep you focused on the goal. Making money should be an extra perk, not the main reason why you should join this program in the first place. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme after all.
That said, the average prize money people win using HealthyWage is $1,331. Also, remember that the percentage return on investment (ROI) can vary from individual to individual. That I got 11.11% does NOT mean that everyone receives 11.11% ROI.
2. Make Your Bet
At this point, you decide whether to make your bet or calculate another bet. If you’re satisfied with your current bet, you can then pay using your card. You can pay monthly or all at once, whichever suits you better.
Please bear in mind that this amount of money is NOT refundable and you can’t cancel the challenge either once you pay. This, according to HealthyWage, is to ensure that you do the challenge. It essentially forces you to achieve your weight loss goal or else you lose your money. But hey, remember that if you DO lose the weight (and you can), you gain all your money back plus interest!
Once you are done making the payment, then the next step is weight verification.
Verify Your Weight
Verifying your weight (the one you entered earlier in the prize calculator) is easy. All you have to do is either:
- Download the HealthyWage app (IOS|Android) and have one of their remote referees see you weigh in; or
- Make a video of yourself stepping on the scale and upload it to the HealthyWage website. Make sure that the scale reading is visible in the video.
Now for some of you wondering why you need to verify your weight, here is why: Prevention of fraud. You see, if this verification measure wasn’t put in place, then people will game the system by inflating their weight numbers in order to win more cash. So it makes perfect sense that you must verify your weight – and it must tally with the number you entered earlier -before you’ll be allowed to proceed with the challenge.
Next Step: Begin the Challenge (Lose Weight)
After you’re done with verification, you can then begin the challenge. Now while HealthyWage does not determine for you how you wish to carry out the weight loss task you set for yourself, there is one exception: You must not have any weight loss surgery during the challenge. The only allowed methods are diet and exercise. The use of drugs is only accepted if it is sanctioned by a physician (I’m not that physician).
You’re also not allowed to begin the challenge if you’re pregnant. If you got pregnant after signing up, then your challenge will be paused until after the pregnancy ends.
Remember that this challenge lasts for the time period you set for yourself. Once that time runs out, the challenge ends and you get paid, provided you met or exceeded the goal that you set.
Well if you’re considering taking up this challenge but are unsure of what to do to lose weight, don’t worry, I got you covered. I’ll leave some tips for you in this review so keep reading. For now, though, let’s talk about how HealthyWage plans to pay you after you’re done.
How Do I Get Paid?
Once you successfully complete a challenge, you’ll be awarded HW Points. I HW point is valued at a dollar.
With these points, you may do the following:
- Cash out
- Join a new challenge
- Use the HW Points to pay the monthly installments of a new challenge (you’ll need to contact HealthyWage’s account department via email to set this up)
HealthyWage pays you via paper check or PayPal. The paper check method carries a $7 processing fee. PayPal may charge processing fees also, but I don’t think that you’ll be bearing that cost.
Science Behind HealthyWage: Does it Work?
HealthyWage relies on the scientific fact that people are motivated to do something when there is either a reward for doing it or a negative consequence for not doing it. When it comes to weight loss, it has actually been proven that offering financial incentives for losing weight leads to greater success when compared to not offering any rewards.
In 2013, the Mayo Clinic conducted a study of 100 participants, divided into four groups. All of them were tasked to lose up to 4 pounds per month for a year. Two groups (the incentive groups) were paid $20 per month if they met the goal, while those who failed had to pay a $20 penalty. The other two groups (non-incentive groups) weren’t offered any financial rewards.
After one year, the following findings were made:
- Study completion rates for the incentive groups were significantly higher compared with the non-incentive groups: 62 percent vs. 26 percent.
- Mean weight loss in the incentive groups was 9.08 pounds compared with 2.34 pounds for the non-incentive groups.
- Participants in the incentive group who paid penalties were more likely to continue their participation in the study than those in the non-incentive groups.
This study actually confirmed earlier studies done on the subject, like this one conducted at Philadelphia VA Medical Center, PA in 2008.
So in conclusion, science supports HealthyWage. And they have tons of testimonials to prove it.
Tips on How To Succeed with HealthyWage
If you have decided to join the HealthyWage challenge but don’t know what to do to begin losing weight, don’t worry, I got you covered! Here’s how to get started
Begin with the Simple Things
I always recommend starting with the simple things first before going to the advanced stuff. So start by doing the following:
- Examine what you eat and cut out all the junk food. Believe me, it’s easy to do. Replace the junk food with home-cooked meals.
- Get rid of fizzy drinks and substitute them with real fruit juice, tea, coffee, and water.
- Add lots of fruits and vegetables to your diet.
- If you haven’t started already, begin going on 30-minute walks daily. Believe me, it’s fun soaking up the fresh breeze and nice scenery outside walking around the parks and public squares. Later on, you may include shorter, more intense exercise activities like, for example, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for faster results.
- Be active and include your hobbies in your weight loss journey. For example, if you love dancing, then dance. That in itself will help you lose weight and make you happy at the same time.
Begin a Healthy Eating Pattern that you can Sustain for Life
Once the above-mentioned easy steps have become part of your normal routine, the next step is to develop an eating pattern that you can sustain for life. Mind you, doing keto is NOT the answer as it is highly unsustainable. Here are the sustainable options I recommend:
- Watch the quantity of food you consume per meal and how many times a day you eat. I suggest that you reduce the overall quantity of proteins, carbs and fat you consume and increase the amount of fiber. Increasing the amount of fiber you consume will help you feel full faster.
- Consider doing intermittent fasting. This is a proven method of weight loss that you can sustain for life. There are several methods of intermittent fasting, but the one I recommend to everyone is the Eat Stop Eat method by Brad Pilon. You can read my review of this method.
As you may have noticed, I didn’t include any strict dieting or intense exercise. This is because you don’t need them to lose weight, at least not when you’re just starting. You may begin intense exercises around the tail end of your challenge. The one I recommend is high-intensity interval training.
Other Challenges by HealthyWage
What we have been discussing so far is HealthyWager, which is the standard challenge. Apart from that, HealthyWage also offers the following challenges:
- Jackpot Challenges: These are challenges that depend on the seasons and holidays. You can do them either by yourself or in a team. In these challenges, you pay around $10-20 per month for 3 months and the money is collected into a pot. Whoever loses 6% of their body weight within these three months wins the pot and the cash in it.
- Step Challenges: These are similar to the Jackpot challenges but this time the goal is to achieve a specific percentage of walking steps within three months to win. You can participate either individually or in a team.
- Corporate Challenges: These are challenges for company employees. Your company needs to work with HealthyWage for you to participate.
- $10,000 Team Challenge: Teams of 5 each are formed to compete with each other. All participants who achieve their goal receive rewards, but the best team walks away with the $10,000 top prize.
Frequently Asked Questions about HealthyWage
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Is HealthyWage legitimate or a scam?
At first glance, many people will think that they have stumbled upon a program that is too good to be true. But in this case, I assure you that you don’t have to worry about that. As I pointed out earlier, HealthyWage has been around since 2009 and they have been working with large companies to offer wellness programs for their employees. These wellness programs are actually beneficial to these companies as it keeps their employees happy and reduces the chances of them requesting paid sick leaves. Again, this company has a BBB rating of A+ so you can rest assured that they are the real deal.
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How does HealthyWage make money?
HealthyWage makes money via corporate sponsorship and also from those who fail to complete their challenges. Let’s face it, not everyone who signs up for the challenges succeeds, that’s just how life works. But from what I can see, most of the money HealthyWage makes comes from the companies and government health agencies they work with.
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Who Should Join HealthyWage?
Anyone who is serious about losing weight should join HealthyWage. But I recommend this program, especially to those who just can’t stick to the task of losing weight due to a lack of motivation, laziness, or lack of determination. Even if you have all the motivation you need to lose weight, you might as well decide to get paid to do it!
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Is HealthyWage legal? Is this not gambling?
Yes. They are 100% legal. No, it is not gambling. This is because you’re in full control of the outcome of the exercise (losing weight). In real gambling, you don’t even know for certain what the outcome will be and you can’t control it. For example, in sports betting, no one knows for certain what the final score of a match will be and they can’t control it. But in HealthyWage, it is up to you to determine how much weight you want to lose. So you know the outcome and you can make it happen.
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Does HealthyWage Work?
Absolutely. I can confirm that all the testimonials featured by HealthyWage are legit and that people indeed get paid for losing weight. In fact, their testimonials are so impressive that this scammer decided to steal them in order to use them to market his program.
Pros
- This is a program by a legit company with a proven track record and a high trust rating
- It is based on the scientific fact that people lose weight more when there is a financial reward attached to it than when there is none
- Real, verifiable testimonials, including from third-party sources
- You always earn more than you put into the program.
- You are in full control of the outcome.
- Support groups are available.
Cons
- No refunds. Once you’re in, there’s no going back. Even though there is a good justification for this, it can also have a counterproductive effect, especially on those who really tried their best to meet their goal but failed due to situations beyond their control.
- Even though HealthyWage provides some weight loss advice and exercises, I don’t think it’s enough. You’ll still need outside help from other sources. You can start with the tips I gave in this review.
- HealthyWage is not available in every country. It only serves people in North and South America, parts of Europe and Asia, and Haliburton employees in any part of the world. HealthyWage is not available in Africa.
Final Conclusion: YES, Join HealthyWage!
Whitelisted!
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Thank you for understanding!