Make $$ to Exercise and Lose Weight!

Best of both worlds, right? Workout, lose weight, GET PAID.

Let me tell you this right at the top: you're not going to get rich with these phone apps. You're not going to quit your job. But you can get some nice extra spending money that can come in handy.

Two ways to make money from exercising and losing weight:

1. GymPact

I've been using GymPact since January 2011. It's had some growing pains, but overall it's a good app, and it's come a long way from where it started. GymPact pays you to work out. You tell it how many times a week you're going to commit to working out (minimum of three days a week) and how much you'll pay if you miss a workout (minimum $5 per workout missed). If you miss your pact, you pay. If you keep your pact, you get a split of the money from people who missed.

When it started, you could only use GymPact in a gym -- it locates you on your phone's GPS, and you have to stay there for 30 minutes. Technically, you could just sit in the locker room for 30 minutes, but really, if you're there, shouldn't you just work out?

New to GymPact since I joined: you can merge it with RunKeeper to count runs, walks, hikes, or bike rides you do outside, or you can wear it and use the altimeter to track a workout at home. I use this option when I do Zumba at home.

GymPact started as an iPhone only app, but the Android version released late last year, so yay! I've made about $130 from GymPact since January 2011. Not enough to pay my gym bill, but it pays for my Hulu+ and Netflix subscriptions :-)

2. DietBet

DietBet calls itself "social dieting." You join or create a bet, and everyone who joins is trying to lose 4% of their starting weight. You buy in to the bet, usually about $25-$35. You take a picture of your weight at the beginning and end so that DietBet can confirm it.

There's a social aspect where you can post your progress and workouts for people in the bet with you to comment on, but I think that would only be handy for small bets, where you actually have a chance of getting to know people. I choose the large bets, with the highest number of players for a large pot. There's a greater chance for people not to win than with a small bet, which means bigger payout.

I've done four DietBets and won three of them. And let me tell you, losing that one hurt. A lot. I just didn't get my act together in time. Thanks to DietBet, I've stayed pretty steady in my current 10-pound range. You can join up to five bets at a time, and I'd like to try that as a way to get out of this plateau. It's just hard because of the initial upfront cost -- two bets at $25 is $50 I don't really have to spare! But it would definitely keep me honest. Losing money is a very powerful motivator for me, even stronger than making money!

I've made $44 from DietBet. The most recent bet I won hasn't been tallied yet, but I'll edit this post as soon as it is to give an updated total. [Edited to add - I won $16 from the most recent DietBet!]

Join the newest game with me! It starts on September 24 and ends on October 21. It's got a big pot with lots of players, so if you win, it should be a decent payout! Are you ready to make a change?

DietBet is currently only available for iPhone.

Would the prospect of making or losing money motivate you to lose weight?

Start Small

Yesterday I did very well with my goals! I only had one decaf americano with caramel and half and half at work -- a far cry from my two or four drinks with lots of syrup and calorie-filled toppings.

I can feel myself getting addicted to the caffeine even in the decaf though, and I don't like it. I'm going to cut it back to just one shot of decaf espresso.

I ate 56g of sugar yesterday -- my current goal for the week is to eat fewer than 80g of sugar. That's a LOT of sugar, but it's not at all unheard of. Start with fewer than 80g. Work it down until it's around 40g. Sounds a lot better than just cutting it off alltogether!

I ate very lightly yesterday, and I mostly focused on eating proteins instead of carbs and sugars. I was still hungry when I went to bed, but I had a DietBet to win this morning! I weighed in at 6 ounces less than I needed to win the DietBet, so as soon as it gets verified, I'll let you know how much money I won off that ;-)

I've won two out of the three DietBets I've finished this year; this win would be number three. It hasn't really helped me break out of this plateau I've been in for over a year, but it does help me from going any higher, plus I win some money! I won $11 with the first one, and $17 with the second. Nothing to quit my job over, but it's more than I had before, and it kept me honest when I'd binge!

I try to join the big, popular games over a small game with people I may know, because the odds are better with a big group and a big pot of money that more people will fail and my payout will be bigger :-) This isn't the only way I monetize my weight loss! Tomorrow I'll write a summary of all the things I do to make money off weight loss.

Do you track your sugar intake? Do you feel like you eat a lot of hidden sugars during the day? You'd be surprised!

Kryptonite

Uh oh. They're back.

Mwahaha, I'm going to haunt your thoughts until you eat me!

Russell Stover chocolate marshmallows. They (and Frosted Flakes) are my kryptonite. I don't buy Frosted Flakes because I will pretty much eat the entire box in one sitting. Oh, there's some milk left over. I'll just add a little more cereal. Now I'm out of milk. I'll just add a little more. Now there's milk left over. I'll just add more cerealREPEATUNTILBOXISGONE.

Russell Stover chocolate marshmallows aren't quite as bad, but they're still irresistible. I would show you a picture of the actual product, except I ALREADY ATE IT. These chocolate marshmallows come in a variety of shapes from Halloween through Easter -- chocolate pumpkins, chocolate turkeys, chocolate Santas, chocolate hearts, and chocolate eggs or bunnies. The day after Easter this year I went to 8 different Walgreen's hoping to buy up their stock. I didn't think I'd be seeing them again so soon...at 3 Points apiece, they can not become a daily habit again!

But oh, the chocolatey goodness. The chocolate marshmallow is so soft and melts in my mouth, and then the chocolate coating adds a little bit of crunch and just enough sweetness -- excuse me, I have to go to Walgreens.

What's your kryptonite? How do you deal with it? Do you refuse to allow it in your home (like Frosted Flakes) or do you try and ration it like chocolate marshmallows? Mmm....chocolate marshmallows.

Product Review Tuesday: Trader Joe's Mini Cones - 2 WW PP

Oh. My. God.

If you're looking for a quick, low-point chocolate fix, look no further. The chocolate Mini Cones from Trader Joe's are the best diet snack I've found.

They're tiny, so they're not going to be very filling. But if you're just craving chocolate now, now, NOW, this will silence that craving. The chocolate shell is rich and melts on your tongue, and the chocolate ice cream is so perfectly creamy. I love ice cream. I always crave ice cream. It could be -40 degrees, and I'd want ice cream. This is good ice cream. The cone is soft and chewy, which actually goes well with the creamy ice cream.

Why should you listen to me? I come from a city FAMOUS for ice cream. Graeter's ice cream in Cincinnati is beloved by celebrities and regular folk for being rich and creamy. THIS ICE CREAM RIVALS GRAETERS. It feels so naughty, which kinda feels good.

These cones come eight to a pack, and they're not individually wrapped. Good for the planet, bad for temptation. Of course I don't want to stop at just one, and at only 2 points, I could probably get away with having two. There's better things to spend points on, I have to keep repeating. These are a treat you don't have to feel guilty about!