A Chinese gym has been getting a lot of attention for its controversial offer for gym goers – a used Porsche Panamera sports car to the first person to lose 100 pounds (50 kg) in three months.
If you’re the kind of person who needs extra motivation to hit the gym, maybe the chance to win a 2020 Porsche Panamera will get you off the couch. A gym in Binzhou City, China’s Shandong Province, recently announced that it would be giving away the owner’s Panamera as a prize to the first person to lose 100 pounds in three months. To be considered, willing participants need to pay a fee of 10,000 yuan ($1,400) and get themselves weighed before beginning the weight loss process. The mandatory fee also covers three months of intensive training, accommodation, and meals, so even if you don’t end up winning, you’re still getting some value.
“The challenge is actually ongoing, and registration will close when there are 30 participants. Seven or eight people have already signed up,” Wang, a fitness coach at the gym, told local media.
Although the gym’s promotion got a lot of people excited about the chance to win a luxury sports car while shedding some extra weight, experts criticized the people behind the challenge for putting people’s lives at risk.
“Losing 0.5 kg a day is too fast,” a medical expert wrote. “Unless you’re severely overweight, this pace will lead to muscle loss rather than fat loss, which can lead to hormonal imbalances, hair loss, and irregular or absent periods. A safer goal is to lose about 0.5 kg a week.”
“Losing weight at such a rapid pace can put a strain on the organs and even endanger life,” said Dr. Fu Yansong, a gastroenterologist at Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, adding that “scientific weight loss should be done gradually so that the brain, body fat, muscles, and organs can adapt to the new energy balance.”
Come on, who cares about health when there’s a cool car up for grabs?
