Pound for lb – paying people to lose weight would help tackle obesity

Published on Sunday 6 June 2010 23:08

PAYING obese people to slim can lead to substantial weight loss, according to research published today.

An NHS-backed scheme has paid out tens of thousands of pounds to reward dieters in a bid to tackle the obesity crisis.

Now more people are being recruited to the programme, which pays up from 80 to 3,000 for those with the most to lose.

Under the Weight Wins scheme, overweight people sign up to a slimming programme and have monthly weigh-ins at their GP surgery, pharmacy or fitness centre.

They earn cash payments for every pound they lose while dieting, and then a 50 per cent "bonus" if they manage to keep the weight off for several months.

People can either pay a monthly fee to join the programme or they can be sponsored by their employer, insurer or local NHS trust. Successful dieters receive more in winnings than they pay in any membership fees.

Figures published today on 745 dieters found that people lost more than a stone on average – 7.2 per cent of their body weight. This was more than double that of traditional dieters in a control group, who lost an average of 5.5lb.

The results include 402 people sponsored by the NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust as part of a pilot, one-third of whom were men.

Only one in ten of the dieters joined a weight loss group to reach their goal and just 24 per cent belonged to a gym. Two-thirds succeeded on their own by eating sensibly and taking moderate exercise.

Weight Wins does not prescribe a specific method for weight loss but offers practical tips on dieting and exercise, validated by NHS dieticians.

Weight Wins founder Winton Rossiter said:

"I urge the NHS and employers to adopt such schemes widely for the benefit of their patients and employees. I am so confident this works that, for our part, I am willing to guarantee results."

Hilary Askew, a 54-year-old teacher, lost 32lb on the scheme. She said: "I have dieted before on my own but have never been able to reach my target or maintain the weight loss. The programme made me accountable to someone else and set me realistic targets."

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: "There are any number of people with a master plan to help you lose weight but this scheme pays you back for sticking to it.

"Schemes that give you financial reward as well as long-term weight loss must be appealing on both counts."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We will look at the full evaluation of this pilot when the results are available. In Scotland we are already tackling obesity with a wide range of initiatives to get people excited about being active and eating healthily.

"As well as helping people who are already overweight, we are ensuring children develop healthy habits which, evidence suggests, they will carry through to adult life.

"We are investing 56 million – 40m of this new money – to do this, which is a sign of how serious we believe the scale of the challenge isand how determined we are to turn the tables on obesity."