Greatist Bites examine what’s fun, weird, innovative, and downright interesting in health, fitness, and happiness — all in 250 words or less. Check out all recent Bites here.
It’s the New Year! A time for life-changing resolutions (or so they say). Unfortunately (and perhaps unsurprisingly), one in ten people will break a resolution by January 6th. But if you’re in the 37 percent of us who are resolving to improve health or fitness this year, GymPact’s makeover might be the motivation you need.
GymPact is an app that challenges people to stick to their fitness goals by putting a price on workouts — those who meet their goals are rewarded in cash by those who don’t. But today, the popular app is rebranding: They’ve changed their name to “Pact,” and they’ve teamed up with MyFitnessPal to develop a function that monitors eating habits. Users can now keep track of their calories in addition to their fitness. If they drop the ball? Then they pay up.
Pact uses a complicated algorithm (and something of an honor system) to make sure users don’t cheat. Made a resolution to eat more veggies? Pact has also developed a feature (separate from the meal tracker) that allows users to take a picture of the vegetables they eat (French fries don’t count!) and send it to the app’s online community for verification. If the meal is legit, the user receives cold, hard cash (well, 30 to 40 cents) for their trouble.
Pact’s rebranding builds upon the company’s original premise that positive and negative reinforcement are powerful motivators for success. With 500,000 users, their model seems to be working. Would you put your money where your mouth is?
Do you think Pact’s new apps will help you make healthier decisions?Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook.
