Obese people more likely to slim down if they are paid

A US study has says that obese people may be more likely to slim down if they have money riding on their success through financial incentives - but the weight might creep back once the monetary carrot is gone.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh discovered that a programme in which people stood to lose cash if they failed to lose weight appeared to motivate them, but the motivation didn't last, reports the Daily Mail.

Nine months after the study ended, the group who had received financial motivations to shed the pounds had regained most of the weight.

Researchers said the reasoning behind an incentive program is that people respond more readily to the immediate threat of losing money compared to the distant threat of weight-related health problems.