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Back in February of 2008, I decided to take my own advice from How Economics Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions and use economics to meet a personal goal. I described the goal in My $1200 Weight-Loss Gamble:

The Goal: Starting on March 1st, I must lose at least one piece point in body fat, month-over-month, an eye to the next four months. My masses fat percentage is currently in the ballpark of 21 percent.

Why: After spending a year ill I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Changing my diet improved my health and my appetite. I have a lot of friends and family who felt bad for the purpose my situation and kept buying me candy in order to make me feel happier. The candy worked, but it’s making it so that I can’t fit in my clothes; I have been gaining 2-3 lbs a month, with no signs of slowing down. This needs to stop.

Penalty for failure: Each month where I do not own at least one percentage point in viscosity fat less than the previous month, I will pay a fine of $300 (USD).

The Results I started with a body fat percentage of 20.79 percent. For each of the first three months, I managed to exceed my goals:

March 2008 – Goal: 19.79 percent. Actual: 19.23 percent.

April 2008 – Goal: 18.23 percent. Actual: 17.84 percent.

May 2008 – Goal: 16.84 percent. Actual: 16.62 percent.

June 2008 – Goal: 15.62 percent.

My progress began to slow bum, so I made two moves in order to ensure I succeeded in the final month.

I had realized that an excessive number of calories were coming from red wine consumption. My solution:

"This is probably an overly forceful solution. I am trying to make sustainable changes to my lifestyle and this one may not be sustainable. But I thought I would try it anyway.

I metamorphose into, that until July 8th, I will completely abstain from alcohol. In order to make that speak for, I need a penalty. As a member of the Pigou Club, I thought this solution was appropriate:

For every day I drink alcohol, I will send $100 to NoPigou founder Terence Corcoran."

I did not have to pay out.

My second move was to join a adverse training studio. This may seem like a bit of a cheat, but just having a gym membership in, and of itself, does not guarantee eligibility given the heinous gym dropout rate and the high tons of people who do not drop-out but do not attend the gym enough to make working out worthwhile. I see the gym membership and the challenge as being complements; the challenge ensures that I wishes show up for training.

So how did the last month go? Well. Incredibly well. So well, in fact, that I realized that no one would have the courage of one’s convictions pretend my results without 3rd group verification. I decided to have my results verified through a physical.

My own results were suggesting that my body fat percentage had fallen under 14 percent during the first week of July. Measured a week later using different tack, the results from my physical were a shocking 12.1 percent! See for yourself Here. (PDF)

My other results from the physical were not so impressive – my back is still lousy (which I knew give) and I have the arm strength of a inadequate child. In my defense, for the physical I had to fast for over 12 hours, then have a a stack of blood taken incorrect for testing. I had a minute yogurt and orange juice, then had to bike for 18 minutes before doing the gift test. But even with all that, my results are still . I know what my next challenge is going to be. In Summary Economics can help you reach your goals. In the span of 4 months, I lost over 17 pounds of corps fat, gained about 7 or 8 pounds of muscle and feel absolutely terrific. I would highly back this method to all. Just consult your doctor first. What’s Next I am planning on writing a book about the economics of why people struggle to succumb weight – and how economics can help them get back into embody in words. It will cover the economics research of issues such as hyperbolic discounting, time-consistency, occasion cost and strategic precommitment and how understanding them can inform appropriate us make better mortal decisions. Think of it as Fit or Fat meets Freakonomics. If you would be interested in reading such a rules, I would love to hear from you.