HealthyWage™ Announces Winners of ‘The Wisconsin Matchup’ Wellness Initiative
Thousands of Wisconsin residents lose more than 5,000 collective pounds in ground-breaking weight-loss competition uniquely fueled by huge cash incentives; First, second and third place teams awarded $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000, respectively
MILWAUKEE, WI, July 2011 – HealthyWageTM, an online network that pays members who improve their health, today announced the winners of “The Wisconsin Matchup” – a state-wide, 3-month long weight-loss contest that recently awarded top-performing individual and corporate teams with a total of $18,000 in cash prizes. The first, second and third place teams of 5 lost more than 200 pounds collectively, with the hundreds of competition participants losing more than 5,000 pounds collectively. Thilmany Papers won the Company vs. Company division with a collective weight loss of 683 pounds (representing 7.5% percent of their combined starting body weight), also securing the cash prize and bragging rights.
More than 95 percent of The Matchup’s contestants successfully shed pounds, losing an average of 4.5 percent of their starting body weight. Participants cited the contest’s accountability, spirit of competition, and big cash prizes as major motivators, all validating HealthyWage’s founding premise that a financial incentive is one of the most effective methods for motivating health-seekers to make positive diet, fitness and lifestyle changes.
‘The Wisconsin Matchup leveraged our social network model proven to help motivate and sustain weight-loss,” said HealthyWage co-founder David Roddenberry. “While our company pays all Wisconsin residents $100 to lose weight as a standard part of our year-long program, we’ve found that the free $100 cash incentive is more effective at motivating weight loss when coupled with a matchup or other kind of contest to build excitement and peer support in working toward weight-loss goals.”
The top three winning Wisconsin Matchup teams for 2011 are as follows:
$10,000 first prize: “The Nicolet Scalebusters’” from Thilmany Paper
The winning group of 5 male co-workers employed a strong team strategy, committing to keeping their team accountable and to change their eating habits and work out.
“You didn’t want to let your team down,” said Scott Spranger of the Scalebusters. “It created good competition and you didn’t want to be the weakest link.” Spranger recently visited his physician and was taken off all his cholesterol medication because of his weight loss in the contest.
$5,000 second prize: “Foremost Fattyz” from Foremost Farms”
These co-workers credited the team accountability as helping them lose weight.
“The Matchup is the only successful time I have lost a lot of weight. Not letting down my team really drove me. My team was doing good and I had to work hard to not let them down. That was the key to my individual success,” explained participant Eric Gerndt from Foremost Farms.
$3,000 third prize: “BMI Burglars from Ruud Lighting
This group of co-workers from Ruud Lighting worked out together at their Company onsite health club and supported each other as team.
“Our team stayed close the entire contest and allowed me to lose weight,” explained Ana Romero. I dropped many pant sizes because of the competition and have a new outlook on life, not to mention extra energy to keep up with my 3 boys!”
Participants in the Wisconsin Matchup are eligible for a $100 cash prize from HealthyWage if they win the separate BMI Challenge and achieve a healthy weight (BMI below 25) in March 2012. Hundreds of participants from the contest are well on their way, having already made a meaningful improvement in their health by losing an average 5% of their body weight.
About HealthyWage™
Health and wellness purveyor HealthyWage provides cash incentives, social and expert-based support, tools and resources, and goal-setting and tracking technologies to address our nation’s obesity epidemic and improve America’s collective health. The company was founded in response to academic research that proves even small cash rewards triple the effectiveness of weight-loss programs; that people are more effective at losing weight when their own money is at risk; and that social networks play a large role in the spread of obesity, and will likely play a large role in reversing obesity. Learn more online at http://www.HealthyWage.com.
Contact: Michelle Barbara or Merilee Kern, Kern Communications, 858-577-0206, Michelle@kerncommunications.com
