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Bet You Can Slim Down In The New Year? Put Your Money On It.

By David Madden

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- With Christmas in the rear view mirror, many of us are now considering New Year resolutions. If you're thinking about the traditional promise to take off a few pounds, or more, you might be able to give yourself a little added incentive by betting on yourself.

A New York based business is prepared to take you up on that bet.

HealthyWage is an organization that has helped companies far and wide provide the extra push to get workers to slim down.

For the past year, they've taken that effort to the one-on-one level with HealthyWager. Co-founder Jimmy Fleming sets up the premise like this. You decide how much weight you want to lose, and how fast you want to lose it.

"They tell us how much money they're willing to put on the line that they'll actually accomplish their goal," Fleming says, "and then we use some actuarial data that we have to tell them what prize we'd be willing to offer them if they do achieve their goal."

The bigger the challenge, the larger the offer. Fleming says 30% of those who take part win. Of course, you have to produce pre and post diet documentation.

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