Need a little extra motivation to stay on track with your exercise goals? Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? If so, Pact might be the right wellness app for you!
What is Pact?
The idea behind Pact is simple: you commit to make a weekly pact to exercise more or eat healthier and set an amount you’ll pay to other Pact members if you don’t reach the goal. If you reach your goal, not only do you get to keep your money, but you’ll also earn cash paid by members who didn’t. Rewards generally range from $.30 to $5 per week depending on the number of activities committed.
You may be wondering…why should I risk losing money to commit to getting healthier? Studies have shown that people place a higher value on something that they own versus something that they do not own. The notion of losing your hard-earned cash might be just the nudge you need to get moving!
What kinds of pacts can I make?
There are three different types of pacts you can make on the site: gym pact, food logging pact, and veggie pact. The minimum amount of money that you can set as your stake for not meeting your goal is $5 per activity. To make a gym pact, all you need to do is decide how many days you want to go to the gym and what you will pay if you don’t follow through with it. The app has a built-in GPS that allows you to check in at your gym and record the time of your workouts. If you prefer to work out outside of a gym, you can log your workout using the built-in motion tracker or connect to a partner app such as FitBit, Jawbone, or Moves. In order to get credit for your workout, you need to exercise for at least 30 minutes in a single session or complete 10,000 steps over the course of a day.
While the gym pact is the most popular feature, you can also add a pact for food logging. Food logging can help you gain a better understanding of your daily calorie intake and determine where you can make improvements to your diet. You can decide how many days you want to commit to logging your food and the amount of money that you will pay if you do not fulfill your pact. To log your food, you’ll need to download the MyFitnessPal app and connect it to Pact. To get credit, you need to log a minimum of 3 meals and 1,200 calories per day in MyFitnessPal.
If you want to simply focus on incorporating more vegetables into your weekly diet, try the veggie pact feature. You can decide how many veggies you want to consume over the course of a week and determine the amount you will pay per veggie missed. To get credit for consuming your veggie servings, you’ll need to submit photos to show proof to the Pact community that you are consuming them. You can also view and vote on other members’ photos.
How can I get Pact?
Pact is available for iPhone and Android phones, and you can download it for free from the App Store or the Google Play store. You only need to commit to a pact one week at a time, so if this app seems like a good fit, it’s worth trying out.
If you’re a Health Advocate member with access to the Wellness Coaching program, reach out to your Wellness Coach for more assistance with finding wellness resources to fit your needs and lifestyle.
