TO GET FIT FASTER: Put $$$ on the line

Instead of focusing on preventing heart disease or diabetes, Canadian researchers say you’re three times more likely to stick to an exercise program if you pay yourself to do it. What’s more, women who put four weeks’ worth of treat money in a jar, then “punished” themselves by removing some of that money if they skipped a workout, did the best. A University of Pennsylvania study found the threat of losing money is a more powerful incentive than earning it—a notion scientists have dubbed “loss aversion.”