We would pay £452 in order to lose weight overnight

How much is losing weight worth to you? A new study has revealed that the average person would happily hand over £452 if it meant they could lose a stone overnight. This is largely because so many lack the willpower to stick with a diet plan. Some 85% said their willpower for a January weight-loss plan would fail at some point during January, while 22% said they'd give up dieting altogether by the end of the month.

The survey was done by Whitworths, to advertise its low calorie snack 'Shots'. It is also launching Willpower Workout classes in London, where experts will encourage people to use hypnotherapy, meditation, mindfulness, nutrition and even sleep to boost willpower.

However, their research stumbled across something that even more people may find useful: that we can use money to help us lose weight, by boosting our willpower. A 2008 study revealed that those who bet money on losing weight are five times more likely to succeed - at least over the short term.

Place your bets

One great example of this was earlier this month, when Roy Leigh-Bryant, a 31-year-old from Bournemouth, revealed he had lost 70lbs in 11 months by putting a £50 bet on it at William Hill. He was offered odds of 50-1 to lose the weight by the end of 2015, and actually hit his target by November last year - taking home £2,500. He told the press: "I needed determination to get the job done and the bet was my motivation to help me reach my goal, but it was a long tough year.'

If a one-off bet like this doesn't do the job, there are a variety of websites set up that use money to force you to hit regular targets - including Healthywage, Fatbet and Stickk.

The rules vary, but they all work on the basis that people make a pledge (to lose weight), and then put money on the line. Each time they succeed, they receive a financial reward, and each time they fall short, they lose the money they put up. People may pledge to exercising a specific number of times a week or losing weight, and putting money on the line makes it more likely they will succeed.

They even allow you to set a particularly high stakes bet - such as losing £25 each time you miss a training session - which is a definite incentive to get your trainers on. It's a more effective loss than the mere thought of wasting your gym membership, because we think of our membership as something that has already been spent, so we don't feel the loss so keenly. An immediate financial punishment is much more effective.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has suggested a fairly severe financial solution to obesity. He said over the summer that he was considering telling people who were obese that they had to get treatment, or they would face a benefits cut. The first step is a review into how much obesity and drug and alcohol addiction costs the NHS. This will presumably give him the firepower he needs to introduce this controversial new approach for addicts and the overweight.

But what do you think? Would it help boost your willpower if you put your money where your mouth is? Let us know in the comments.