The Yale diet, also called StickK or the $500 diet, was created by Yale professors Ian Ayres and Dean Karlan. The Yale diet focuses not on what you eat or how you exercise but on improving your motivation so you stick to your diet goals. You sign a binding contract on website stickK.com in which you agree to donate a certain amount of money to charity if you fail to meet your objective.
What You Eat
The Yale diet does not tell you what to eat but works in conjunction with whatever diet plan you follow. You can choose to lose weight by cutting portion sizes, following a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet or selecting another weight-loss method. You may select the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate diet, which consists of filling at least 1/4 of your plate with vegetables, approximately 1/4 with fruit, at least 1/4 plate with grains and the rest with protein; you also drink a cup of milk or eat a small amount of dairy at each meal.
Effectiveness
Following the Yale diet may help you to lose weight. Tying weight loss to a financial incentive -- either a contract that results in a loss of money for people who do not lose weight or payment to people who do lose weight -- increases the rate of success, according to a study published in 2008 in “The Journal of the American Medical Association.”
Improving Your Chances
If you follow the Yale diet and register with stickK.com, you can take actions to improve your chances of reaching your goal. If you pledge to give money to a charity that you normally would not support and assign a referee to verify completion of your goals, you are more likely to be successful. Users who do not put up money or utilize referees have limited success -- approximately 27 percent of them meet their goals, compared to a success rate of 73 to 80 percent for people who risk losing money, according to stickK.com’s marketing director Sam Espinosa in an article published in “Scientific American” in March 2011.
Healthy Weight Loss
Do not set a goal to lose weight too quickly; it can adversely affect your health and may be more difficult to achieve. Set a weight-loss goal of 1 to 2 lb. per week by reducing 500 calories from your diet each day and engaging in moderate-intensity exercise for 60 to 90 minutes daily, recommends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
References
- "The New York Sun"; How Yale Professors Lose Weight; Travis Pantin; November 2007
- Yale Law School; A Different Kind of Diet -- A Commentary by Ian Ayres ’86; Ian Ayres; January 2011
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Losing Weight
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: MyPlate
- "Scientific American"; Money Over Matter: Can Cash Incentives Keep People Healthy?; Jordan Lite; March 2011
- "The Journal of the American Medical Association"; Financial Incentive-Based Approaches for Weight Loss; Kevin G. Volpp, et al.; 2008
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