HealthyWage

What is HealthyWage?

HealthyWage is a behavioral finance company that uses betting and challenges to help people exercise more and lose weight. You essentially wager on yourself and earn money if you win — i.e. lose the stipulated amount of weight or meet the exercise goal.

How it works

The site has two sides — one for corporate challenges and group challenges; and one for individuals.

Corporate challenge rules depend on the sponsoring company. And group challenges vary based on the group’s goals. We’re dealing only with challenges here that you can join as an individual.

Individuals are able to participate in “jackpot challenges,” “step challenges,” or a “HealthyWager.” In all cases, if you win, you’ll split the pot (minus HealthyWage’s fees) with other winners.

If there are an unusual number of winners, HealthyWage says it will waive its fees to ensure that all winners at least get their money back.

HealthyWagers

Those who choose to sign up for a “HealthyWager,” are led through a process that asks about your weight loss goals and how much you’d bet on yourself monthly. You choose how many months you’re willing to spend to reach your weight-loss goal and how much weight you want to lose.

However, HealthyWagers have some minimum requirements. Specifically:

• HealthyWage requires that you bet at least $200 over the betting period
• And that you spend at least 6 months getting to and maintaining your goal weight.
• You also must pledge to lose at least 10% of your body weight

Jackpot Challenges

With Jackpot Challenges, the weight loss goal and the time involved varies by the contest. So, too, do the bet and jackpot amounts. Each challenge posts its own rules, fees, start and end dates. Generally speaking, these contests range from one month to three months and can involve losing from 3% to 6% of your total body weight.

Step Challenges

Step Challenges, meanwhile, are all about boosting your activity level. With these challenges, the site creates a personalized goal for each participant by having you link either a Fitbit or an activity tracker on your smart phone.

HealthyWage will then look at the last 45 days of your activity to find median exercise level. Your challenge is to boost that level by 25% for the duration of the contest.

Commissions and fees

The site keeps 25% of the wagers, unless there are a lot of winners. In that case, all winners will recover their investment. And the site’s fee will take the rest.

HealthWage review

HealthyWage is all about addressing the obesity crisis through behavioral economics. The theory is that people will engage in healthy change, if they’re provided with incentives and support. And that’s what this app is all about.

So it’s not a traditional side hustle. But for someone who is attempting a lifestyle change that involves losing a significant amount of weight or increasing the amount of exercise they get, it could be an effective and rewarding way to go about it.

Once you sign up, you pay a set amount every month on your “bet.” And you gain access to the site’s weight loss community through the app and social media. This community supports each other with healthy, low-calorie recipes and emotional support.

Notably, participants are generally enthusiastic about the site, which gets a 4.4 (out of 5) rating on SiteJabber. Indeed, SiteJabber lists HealthWage as the 12th highest-rated weight loss app on their site. (It’s also the only one in the dozen that you could potentially get paid to use. The others require you to pay them.)

Weigh-ins

If you participate in a weight loss challenge, you’ll need two “verified” weigh ins. One at the beginning of the contest and one at the end. Weigh-ins are video-taped, following a specific process to ensure that no one cheats. If your video is unclear or doesn’t follow the formula, you could be asked to submit another — or have the weight loss verified in another way.

Those who participate in step challenges will need to keep their activity tracker synced to the HealthyWage site throughout the contest.

Failure to submit weigh-in or tracker data would disqualify you from the contest, without the possibility of getting a refund.

Risk vs. reward

With large pots, where there are few winners, the jackpots are substantial — amounting to thousands of dollars. However, modest bets tend to generate modest returns.

Using a sample where someone bet just $20 a month and wanted to lose the minimum 10% of body weight on a HealthyWager, for instance, the site estimated that this person’s winnings would add to just $20 over the amount they bet.

That said, if you reach your weight loss goals, the worst you could do is get your money back.

For someone who is determined to meet their weight loss goals, HealthyWage may be a great way to get rewarded for doing so. But keep in mind that you put your own money at risk, upfront.

So, if you’re uncertain whether you’ll stick to the diet — and keep the weight off through the weigh-in period — you should be prepared to lose the money you bet.

While a few participants say they actually bet more than they comfortably lose to give themselves added incentive to succeed, that’s a risky strategy.

…But what if….

What if you get pregnant during a challenge? The site will suspend your challenge, if you provide proof of pregnancy. After the baby, when your doctor says it’s okay, you can start over or reinstate your challenge.

What if you need more time? You can buy an additional six months by paying those additional months, without changing your goals. But, even though you’ll pay more for this challenge, the prizes remain the same as in the original challenge.

What if you get sick? Normally, illness won’t impact a challenge. But if the illness is serious and affects your ability to participate, contact the site at [email protected] within 14 days of the medical diagnosis. you should be prepared to provide formal documentation. What if you don’t want to provide your medical information? You lose the bet.

What if you change your mind and decide not to lose weight? There are no refunds.

Getting paid

If you win your HealthyWage challenge, you’ll have the option of getting paid by PayPal or paper check. There’s a $7 fee to get a paper check and checks usually take 3 weeks to process.

PayPal charges about 3%, but makes payments available within 3 to 5 business days.

Recommendations

We love this site, even though this isn’t a traditional side hustle. The site works much like DietBet and StepBet, which are also viable options for people trying to lose weight by betting on themselves. You can sign up with HealthWage here.

However, if you’re looking for a more traditional side hustle, check out our Quiz. It will lead you to one or more money-making opportunities based on your interests, skills and resources.

What their users say (from SiteJabber)

I was ready. And bet a bit more than I had to spend…actually waged my vacation money so if I lost, there would be no Alaska cruise this summer. They set me up to succeed. I wanted to win the money so I took advantage of all they had to offer! Joined the Facebook page and fully engaged in the in-app chat support. Learned many new recipes, ways to stay motivated, and new habits to shoot for. I’m soooooo happy that I FINALLY found something that worked for me! Thank you HealthyWage!

I started my HealthyWager in July 2022, and just won $6,540 on January 12th of this year! So thankful for the motivation and accountability HealthyWage gave me.

All good

I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience with HealthyWage. I tried to lose weight for many years without any long-term success. Betting on myself was the motivation I needed to finally meet my weight loss goals and make a sustainable lifestyle change. I lost over 90 pounds and won nearly $10,000. The investment I made paid off in so many more ways than one.

I was unsure at first whether or not HealthyWage was everything it said it was. But today I’m $5484 richer and 75lbs lighter because of the app, and the HealthyWage community. It was worth taking a chance on it and I’m the healthiest I’ve been in as long as I can remember.

Lost the weight and healthy wage paid as promised. Thank you for providing the motivation to keep going.

3/18/2024