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I have no idea if he will be successful in a business sense. However, I do think it is unlikely that he will help many people. The economists at Marginal Revolu

I have no idea if he will be successful in a business sense. However, I do think it is unlikely that he will help many people. The economists at Marginal Revolution point to research indicating that betting on weight loss is generally ineffective: people don't lose the weight: http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/should-you-bet-on-your-own-ability-to-lose-weight.html http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09... Ultimately, if you're taking money from people with the expectation that the vast majority of them will fail, well, that doesn't seem like the kind of business that will generate lots of referrals from happy customers. People generally don't like to share their personal failures. Beyond that, focusing on weight per se seems problematic from a public health perspective. It is extremely difficult to lose weight but also not strictly necessary for health benefits. If you can run 10 miles in an hour, it really doesn't matter what your weight is, and the ability to do is a much better predictor of future health.

Watts 16y ago
I used this site starting around February of this year. I thought it was really helpful and I ended up losing close to 30lbs in 10 weeks because of it (I've also kept it off since then, too). It wasn't really the money that mattered - I guess I saw it as sort of a game and it was fun to try and beat the goals from week to week. Also, having my friends cheer me on helped a lot (you have to have a couple of friends sign up with you to keep you honest). Perhaps I could have done it on my own without this site but the idea really worked for me.
d0mine 16y ago
Casinos, lotteries, etc are taking money from people with the expectation that the vast majority of them will fail. These businesses are so successful that they are made illegal in some countries.
lachyg 16y ago
I think it's not really the money that will be the motivator here, I think it will be the 'public' nature of it. If you're seeing that I'm failing, you may think I'm week, or I may want to impress you. I think it's about fail / impress vs. money. Would be interesting to see some actual statistics from him in a month or two.

Watts 16y ago

I used this site starting around February of this year. I thought it was really helpful and I ended up losing close to 30lbs in 10 weeks because of it (I've also kept it off since then, too). It wasn't really the money that mattered - I guess I saw it as sort of a game and it was fun to try and beat the goals from week to week. Also, having my friends cheer me on helped a lot (you have to have a couple of friends sign up with you to keep you honest). Perhaps I could have done it on my own without this site but the idea really worked for me.

d0mine 16y ago

Casinos, lotteries, etc are taking money from people with the expectation that the vast majority of them will fail. These businesses are so successful that they are made illegal in some countries.

lachyg 16y ago

I think it's not really the money that will be the motivator here, I think it will be the 'public' nature of it. If you're seeing that I'm failing, you may think I'm week, or I may want to impress you. I think it's about fail / impress vs. money. Would be interesting to see some actual statistics from him in a month or two.