"Hi I'm Neil Ylanan. I lost 49 pounds in 90 days."
"I'm Andy Davis. I lost 56 pounds in three months."
"My name is Ben Levine. I lost 57 pounds in 90 days."
"My name is Andrew Travosh. I lost 52 pounds in 90 days."
"My name is Michael Sutter. I lost 52 pounds in 90 days."
They call themselves the dream team of weight loss. Their name: "All About the Benjamin's."
Benjamin's - as in Benjamin Franklin - who is on the $100 bill.
Cold, hard cash is after all, what got these guys to lose weight.
"I'm not going to lie, it was a great motivator," Ylanan admitted.
He convinced four co-workers from SkyChefs to join the HealthyWage challenge - to diet for dollars.
HealthyWage is one of several online programs where dieters gamble on themselves to lose weight. Contestants each put up about $100 upfront.
"All of us have different types of motivation to help us achieve a goal," said Branden Smythe, Vice-President of HealthyWage. "Financial risk is one of those pieces. And so, if you don't hit your goal, you lose that $100."
Risk can also equal reward. Dieters that hit their weight loss goal can double their money or more.
To make sure no one cheats, dieters have to verify weight loss at specified clinics or health clubs.
All About the Benjamin's joined a team challenge, brought to their attention by their company. They monitored each other's eating habits. They even put a scale in the hall outside their offices, for positive peer-pressure.
"The cash payout was initially the motivator," Michael Sutter said. "But it didn't take too long into the competition to realize that the motivation was going to be the team."
"We all stayed focused on each other," Andy Davis said. "We had stats. We all knew what everybody should weigh at the end of every day."
"I wasn't going to be the one that didn't hit the target, and not win because of me," Andrew Trabosh said. "I think that was probably one of the key drivers."
In 90 days, the fab five lost 266 pounds and won $10,000.
"I've been trying, and trying, and trying since I was in junior high to lose weight," Ben Levine said. "[I] never got that motivating factor, that drive to go over the top."
Each plan to spend part of their cut of the winnings on new, stylish, smaller-sized clothes.
But the guys admit their wives, who are all thrilled at thinner husbands, who no longer snore, might be the real winners.
E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com
