# Workplace Biggest Loser Competitions **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948 "2013-04-17T17:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/1 "2013-04-17T17:03:53Z")
I pit my workplace’s Biggest Loser competition. We awarded a cash prize for the winner. Where the fuck is my cash prize for already being in shape? Reminds me of that old Simpsons episode where Homer asks everyone in the family to give up a little something to help the family through a financial burden. Bart chimes in saying he will take up smoking, then give that up. Homer rewards him with a dollar for his efforts. It wouldn’t make me so mad except the health insurance rates are already so high because of those unhealthy fatty fatty’s\*. \*Note: This isn’t aimed at overweight people with medical problems - I totally get that. Also, I don’t hate fat people, I just don’t like carrying them. ETA: I know this is a weak pit, and my anger on the issue is weak in general, I just had to vent about it, so feel free to call me petty and retarded. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/2 "2013-04-17T17:15:33Z")
There is no “we” if you didn’t participate. The people involved pay a sign up fee, and a nominal “consequence” each week they gain weight. Person at the end of the competition with the highest percentage of body fat loss wins the pot. Were you so stupid that you signed up for it without knowing it? Or do you just begrudge these people for needing extra assistance (group support, financial incentive ) to get healthy? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/3 "2013-04-17T17:17:07Z")
If your workplace is sponsoring it, they probably believe that paying people to lose weight will be more than offset by the future healthcare expenses being lessened. Yeah, it’s not fair. But you still benefit (in future health insurance rates) by indirectly paying the fat people at your company to lose weight. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/4 "2013-04-17T17:18:27Z")
Shoot, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that: Yes, it was an opt in program, but with no fee. It isn’t structured like the real biggest loser. Basically: you opt in if you are interested, and whoever loses the most percentage-wise wins. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/5 "2013-04-17T17:23:05Z")
> [@bup](#): > > If your workplace is sponsoring it, they probably believe that paying people to lose weight will be more than offset by the future healthcare expenses being lessened. > > Yeah, it’s not fair. But you still benefit (in future health insurance rates) by indirectly paying the fat people at your company to lose weight. You are absolutely right about that! My only caveat to that is; isn’t this a “quick fix” solution? In other words…will this have any long term effect on their diet? Or did we just pay someone to not eat cookies for the month? ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/6 "2013-04-17T17:25:42Z")
Everybody step away from the tracks. This train is coming in fast and loaded. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/7 "2013-04-17T17:41:59Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > You are absolutely right about that! > > My only caveat to that is; isn’t this a “quick fix” solution? In other words…will this have any long term effect on their diet? Or did we just pay someone to not eat cookies for the month? It could be. I’m speculating. It may have worked with smoking cessation, where people really tend to stay away after quitting for a while. It’s how I would rationalize it so I wouldn’t get all pissed, anyway. Even though they’re earning money for having not cared for themselves before, maybe it will help me. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/8 "2013-04-17T18:39:51Z")
Would you be pissed off if you had already had all of your vaccines, but your company decided to start offering free vaccines to their employees who had, for whatever reason, missed some? Obesity is one of the major health crises of our time. I can’t fault a company that is doing some small part to combat it. (Says the obese woman who has succeeded in losing 25% of her body weight and keeping it off for 4 years, but won’t join her workplace Weight Watchers program, because who wants to hang out with those people?) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/9 "2013-04-17T18:44:51Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Yeah, it’s not fair. But you still benefit (in future health insurance rates) by indirectly paying the fat people at your company to lose weight. My workplace (a hospital) has been doing this by providing health insurance discounts to employees who are tobacco-free and have good blood pressure, lipid panels, and HbA1C levels (checked yearly, opt-in). Next year they’ll be phasing in discounts for being at a healthy weight. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/10 "2013-04-17T19:14:56Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Yes, it was an opt in program, but with no fee. It isn’t structured like the real biggest loser. So they weren’t exercising 8-12 hours a day, seven days a week, for three months straight, using questionable dietary plans and under suspect medical supervision? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/11 "2013-04-17T19:16:28Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Where the fuck is my cash prize for already being in shape? They’re handing out incentives, not rewards. Small, but important, distinction. ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/12 "2013-04-17T19:40:36Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > They’re handing out incentives, not rewards. Small, but important, distinction. Okay, so on the same basis, where is my incentive for staying in shape? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/13 "2013-04-17T19:47:21Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Okay, so on the same basis, where is my incentive for staying in shape? I don’t know - what am I, the fucking incentive fairy? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/14 "2013-04-17T19:53:39Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > It wouldn’t make me so mad except the health insurance rates are already so high because of those unhealthy fatty fatty’s\*. > > \*Note: This isn’t aimed at overweight people with medical problems - I totally get that. Also, I don’t hate fat people, I just don’t like carrying them. I don’t actually think that’s the reason insurance rates are high. [See here](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2136864,00.html). ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/15 "2013-04-17T19:57:40Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Okay, so on the same basis, where is my incentive for staying in shape? It’s the rest of your life, dude. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/16 "2013-04-18T00:46:17Z")
Can I pit them for a different reason? They are fucking stupid. Creating incentives for rapid weight loss is about the stupidest thing ever. Rapid weight loss is easy, and pointless. It creates no good habits–you don’t have to come up with anything sustainable when it’s got an end date and you know it–and it teaches bad ones, like binge eating when it’s done. It teaches you to feel good about yourself because you starve yourself to the very edge of your willpower. It teaches you to judge your success or failure entirely by the numbers on the scale, which are confounded by any number of factors: you got away with “cheating” if the scale didn’t go up after a night of overeating, and you are a failure if the scale sticks even though you are on plan. I fucking hate these things and can’t come up with a nice way to tell our nurse at work. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/17 "2013-04-18T04:08:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t know - what am I, the fucking incentive fairy? Actually, _I_ am the fucking incentive fairy. [sub]…just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/18 "2013-04-18T15:25:03Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I fucking hate these things and can’t come up with a nice way to tell our nurse at work. I work at a chemical plant where most of the employees are… not healthy. Our plant nurse is so used to high BP and pulse that when I come in (low BP, low pulse rate) she freaks out and thinks I’m about to faint or keel over dead. So they’ve been pushing more health stuff at the employees – exercise equipment, yoga and exercise classes, etc. Safety meeting before last, we had a dietician come in to talk about healthy eating. Much of her presentation was about making reasonable, sustainable changes to diet that you could live with – as crash diets and rapid weight loss lead to an increasing loss-gain cycle that ends up with people _gaining_ weight in the long term, end up even more unhealthy. End of the safety meeting, the wellness committee asked for suggestions on how to improve employee health. Everyone wanted a “Biggest Loser” competition, where the winner would get an iPad or something. With the dietician there trying to remind people that sort of crash dieting was a _bad idea_. Utterly oblivious. Next safety meeting: ice cream bars and cookies for snacks. And discussion about a pizza lunch for an upcoming safety meeting. :smack: Really, at this point I’m resigned to listening to everyone complain about how out-of-shape they are and how horrible they feel and why don’t we have snacks for meetings. It’s the aggressive stupid I’d like to go hang. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/19 "2013-04-18T15:46:04Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I fucking hate these things and can’t come up with a nice way to tell our nurse at work. Why not tell her exactly what you said in the preceding paragraph (minus the Pit language)? As a health professional, she ought to know why these sorts of contests are such a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948/20 "2013-04-18T16:09:19Z")
It’s not exactly what the OP says, but **AnthonyElite** , I think I agree with what you’re getting at. There’s a lot of applause for people who lose significant amounts of weight. Whether it’s by the media (“Look at these before and after pictures!”) or just by coworkers saying good job, people tend to act really impressed with someone who succeeds in losing a lot of weight. And you know what? They deserve it. Losing weight is really hard. But the people who lose weight put forth tremendous effort for, I don’t know, a year or however long it took them to lose the weight. I have friends that watch what they eat day in and day out for YEARS. Friends who have been going to the gym several times a week for YEARS. These friends worked so hard that they stayed at a healthy weight the whole time, and for some reason, this accomplishment isn’t considered nearly as commendable or impressive as losing weight. At least, it’s not verbally commended as much. And I could see why it would seem unfair to offer cash to someone who has let himself get out of shape and then makes an effort to reform, when other people have been diligent in their efforts day after day, year after year, to keep from getting to that point. A years-long effort is, to be honest, more commendable than a months-long effort. Which isn’t to say that the months-long effort isn’t commendable, but still. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/workplace-biggest-loser-competitions/655948.md?page=2)