Originally Posted by weightlosschamp

Michelle, I googled to see if there are any weight groups that have a monetary or donation incentive. I guess Weight Watchers had a "Lose for Good" program that worked to donate food to the needy, but it ended already. I also found a guy who has a website dedicated to his weight loss/donation story. He even has a page for people to pledge their own weight loss donation. Kind of neat!

Originally Posted by phatcat

I don't think there can be a single answer to obesity - there are many reasons people become overweight, and why they have trouble losing weight. But I think some pretty simple changes could really impact obesity rates.

- Making nutritional information clearly visible on the menus of chain restaurants. It won't stop anyone from ordering Wendys, but it might make a difference in WHAT and HOW MUCH is ordered if a person is confronted with the calorie count BEFORE food is eaten.

- Make access to gyms and fitness centers available to everyone. A lot of rural areas don't even have gyms - not even YMCAs (I know my parents' town doesn't). Moreover, even where they are available, they're often expensive. My gym membership is currently $25/month, and that's SUPER cheap, but at my heaviest I could have never even afforded that little. Statistics consistently link obesity and poverty, and I think the three key elements in that are cost of food, cost of fitness, and culture.

- Make healthy foods more affordable. This is slowly happening as more and more people demand organic/natural foods. However, it's still hard for people on tight budgets to eat healthy. The cheapest products are also heavily processed. My parents really struggle to keep my dad's diabetes at bay while keeping in budget.

There are certainly a lot of other things that could be done to help. But I don't think that taxing junk food is going to do much good at all - having a negative with no positive alternative isn't going to encourage people to get healthier. We need to make a healthy lifestyle the norm of our culture, and make it available for everyone.

Originally Posted by weightlosschamp

I'm not too keen on imposing a tax. I'd still keep buying chocolate, and I'd probably eat less vegetables just so I could afford the junk. (Yes, I know it's my biggest downfall. Trying to change, but it is slow going.)

I think I'd consider giving up chocolate (well, at least some of it) if there was a monetary incentive for losing weight. Like, $1 for each pound lost that has been kept off for a year. Or something like that. Maybe even having to donate money or time to charity for each pound I volunteered to lose by a certain date but didn't would be an incentive. I wonder if there are any weight loss groups that do this sort of thing ... I'd join!