Get Paid to Lose Weight

Struggling to make that diet last another day? When you get paid to lose, you've got twice the motivation to stick it out.

The way people talk about weight loss isn't always helpful. "If you just had a little more willpower, you'd have those abs by now."

If only it were that easy.

Looking for a different way to approach weight loss? Consider an enticing reward.

No, we're not talking about a "cheat meal." How about a little cash?

With this list of legit apps that pay you to lose weight, you just might transform yourself and your pocketbook at the same time.

1. HealthyWage: Wager and Win for Weight Loss

The biggest threat to weight loss is your own head. We prioritize comfort, we're easily influenced by what others are doing, and we're great at rationalizing bad decisions—after all, what harm could one cookie do?

HealthyWage leverages another aspect of human psychology to help you lose weight: incentives.

Their method is simple. Verify your weight, make a wager, and if you manage to lose or maintain your weight, you win money.

If your weight goes up, though, the money you wagered will be awarded to those who met their goals.

What you can earn:
The most you can earn on HealthyWage is $10,000, through their annual $10K Team Challenge. It lasts 3 months, costs $33 per month to participate, and requires a team of 5 people.

At the end of the challenge, the team that's lost the most weight collectively wins the $10,000. (You're also required to verify your weight throughout the challenge, so no cheating.)

According to HealthyWage, the average wager is $60 for 9 months, and the average prize is $1,200.

You can also earn money for referring friends. For every friend you refer, $80 will be added to your prize, and $40 to theirs.

Prizes for Weight Loss

Click Here to Calculate Prize

2. DietBet: Gamify Your Health Goals

DietBet, from the WayBetter apps group, is another platform that offers financial incentives to help you meet your weight loss goals. Instead of going it alone, you participate in games with other users.

How much you win depends on the game you choose and how many of the other players in that game met their goals. At the end of each game, the pot is divided evenly among all of the winners.

DietBet currently has two types of games:

• Kickstarter: Lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks
  The Kickstarter game is geared toward people trying to lose a small amount of weight quickly, for example, shedding a few pounds in time for a wedding, or finishing off the last stretch of a long-term weight loss goal.

• Transformer: Lose 10% of your body weight in 6 months
  The Transformer game is designed to offer a healthy approach to more significant weight loss. By spreading the goal out over 6 months, it helps ensure players don't lose dangerous amounts of weight too quickly.

What you can earn:
Bets can be anywhere from $10-$100, but the average is $35. According to DietBet, Kickstarter players take home 1.5x to 2x their original bet, while the average winner of Transformer games takes home $175 if they win the final round, and $325 if they win all six.

Some games offer other prizes, like home makeovers, gift cards, and prize bundles.

3. Stickk: Motivate Yourself with Charity Goals

Stickk is all about creating "commitment contracts" with yourself. It isn't just about weight loss, but it is a great tool for facilitating it.

Designed by behavioral economists at Yale University, this app pulls out all the stops to help hold you accountable.

Take, for example, their most popular feature: Anti-Charity. It works like this: if you fail to meet your goal, the money you wagered goes to a charity that you strongly oppose. If you'd rather not choose to play this way, you can also choose to fund a charity that you support.

What you can earn:
Stickk is great for meeting your weight loss goals, but you can't actually make any money on the platform. You can, however, determine where your money goes if meet your goal or fail.

4. Walgreens Balance Rewards: Move, Earn Points, and Save

Already a Walgreens regular? If so, did you know you could earn points for healthy activities with Walgreens Balance Rewards?

1,000 points gets you $1 off when you shop in store or online with Walgreens. You'll get 250 points for linking a health-tracking device like a Fitbit, 20 points for each mile you jog, cycle, or walk, and even 20 points each day just for logging your weight.

What you can earn:
You can earn up to a limit of 1,000 points per month for these healthy choices. Coupled with 1,000-point rewards for vaccinations and other rewards for shopping at Walgreens, it's an easy way to save a little cash on your health and household purchases.

5. Achievement: Earn by Logging Meals and More

You can earn points doing all sorts of healthy activities with Achievement, like walking, biking, logging your meals, meditating, and answering questions about yourself, among other things.

You'll even earn points for posting health-related tweets.

If you have an iPhone, you can earn easy points just by linking Achievement to the Apple Health app. Simple activities like tracking your heart rate and meditating will earn you around 6 points, while answering surveys on various health topics can net you 100.

What you can earn:
10,000 points will get you $10 on the Achievement app, which can be deposited directly to your bank account or redeemed via PayPal.

Based on reports from real users, moderately active people might earn that $10 payout every 3-4 months, while particularly active people could earn nearly $20 a month.

6. Sweatcoin: Earn Rewards for Sweating It Out

Sweatcoin, an app designed to help users meet their health and fitness goals, rewards your fitness activities with (you guessed it) "sweatcoins." But don't worry, you cash them in for gift cards and other rewards.

The basic version of Sweatcoin is free and allows you to earn up to 5 points a day, and as much as 150 sweatcoins a month. Paid versions will allow you to earn up to 10, 15, and 20 points a day, depending on which one you choose, but for most people, the free version is probably sufficient.

What you can earn:
You aren't going to get rich using Sweatcoin, but if you keep active, you may be surprised at how much ends up in your sweatcoin wallet. 1 sweatcoin is worth about $.05, and if you're earning 5 a day, that will net you $1.75 a week just for walking.

More Ways to Make Money and Lose Weight

Looking for more ways to cash in on your weight loss? Try one of the following options and walk, bike, or even tour your way to your goal.

1. Higi
   Higi is a health tracking service with over 10,000 "health stations" across the U.S. They offer a rewards program where you can earn points for checking in at Higi health stations, as well as for activities like walking, running, and checking in at your local gym. Your rewards can be redeemed with top health and wellness brands.

2. Rover: Walk Dogs for Cash
   If you thought this sounded like an app for dogs, you were right. Rover isn't specifically designed with your health and wellness in mind, but if you make it through their application process, you can get paid to walk dogs for people in your area, which is good for your heart in more ways than one.

3. Tours by Locals: Show Tourists Around Town
   It's all in the name. Tours by Locals helps visiting tourists connect with friendly locals who are able and willing to show them all the interesting spots around town. It's a great opportunity to meet people, get out of the house, and make some money while you get your cardio in.

4. Postmates: Deliver Takeout & Exercise
   Two words: bike delivery. Most readers probably know that Postmates is a delivery app—groceries, takeout, you name it, people can order it on Postmates and have it delivered to their door. Sign up as a delivery driver—you choose your mode of transportation—get on your bike, and watch the calories fly off as the tips roll in.

5. Insurance Rewards Programs: Get Incentives from Your Insurer
   Some insurance providers (like Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, and Humana) provide financial incentives for healthy behavior. There's no guarantee that your provider has a rewards program, but the only way to find out is to call or check online.

6. Weight Watchers: Tried-and-Tested
   Weight Watchers is one of the best-recognized names in weight loss. It isn't free, and in general, they won't pay you to participate. However, from time to time they do offer rewards (like $100 gift cards) for meeting weight loss goals. Check with your local chapter for opportunities.

7. MyFitnessPal: Log Your Daily Calorie Intake
   Your diet is actually more important than physical activity for losing weight. But recording meals without the right tools can be tedious. MyFitnessPal gets you closer to your body goals by remembering what you've eaten in the past and making it easy to log into a food diary.

   The app won't give you actual cash to lose weight but with a free account, you can track food and calories, activity, weight, and a few other metrics.

What Experts Say

CreditDonkey assembled a panel of industry experts to answer readers' most pressing questions about nutrition, working out, and weight loss.

Here's what they said:

Bottom Line

There's no denying that losing weight and getting in shape is one of the hardest things you can attempt. From your busy schedule to the snack table at work, there's plenty standing in your way. (Enough with the Monday morning donuts, Greg.)

Luckily, there are companies out there with your best interests in mind. They know that with the right motivation, you have all the willpower you need. So, try out some of these helpful programs and start getting paid to drop those extra pounds.