You always do well at things you enjoy, when something is fun you look forward to doing it, there is no need to conjure up the willpower and strength to do, it’s more like “I can’t get enough”. When you’re having fun you don’t want to stop and you can’t wait to get started the next time, and when you add in an incentive that’s very appealing, you can easily become very addicted.
Understanding how these forces behave, you can apply them to do something good. Maybe like turning your weight loss efforts into a game, do you think you would lose weight much more effortlessly if it was as much fun as playing a game? Do you think you would be more enthusiastic to do so if your reward/incentive was money?
Well, some engineers at IBM are working on a programme to do exactly that, make weight loss fun like playing a game and reward you with money. You can get more details by reading the below extract taken from Mirror.co.uk
Play A Game To Have Fun, Lose Weight And Win Money
Would you play a video game that helped you lose weight? A team of techy engineers at IBM hopes that you might.
They decided it was all too easy to pile on the pounds with junk food, so they’ve invented a computer programme to make losing weight as much fun as possible.
As much fun as playing a video game in fact, except that it would have an added incentive… the chance to win cash prizes.
The principle of the game is very simple: players would be rewarded for eating well and “punished” for eating unhealthily. So, eating a salad for lunch could mean winning money.
Don’t laugh. Game techniques and psychology already influence behaviour in the real world. Is there any reason why they shouldn’t be used in the health area?
We’re well used to phone and iPad apps that make losing weight less arduous and more fun. Take the Weight Watchers’ app, proven in recent research to be more effective than diets and advice from doctors.
The Weight Watchers’ website on your phone is easy to navigate and refer to while you’re choosing your lunch and through its ProPoints system you can track your daily intake so that you don’t exceed your allowance.
The programme has something in common with the video game approach. You choose to spend your points on a low-calorie alternative or a high-calorie one.With the video game you’d choose between two options that have greater or lesser financial rewards, the rewards being as flexible as the diet. It could be cash but it could also be tickets to a football match, a movie or a rock concert. Full and original article here.
So, what do you think, do you think this type of approach to weight loss will see you dropping the pounds? Will the element of fun and money encourage you to eat less junk and take better care of your health?
I personally feel that this could be very effective, I mean who wouldn’t want to have fun losing weight and put a few extra pennies in their pocket at the same time, just my thoughts.
Please share your thoughts below… And give the article a “Like” if you found it interesting.
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