DALLAS — The desire to drop pounds, look thinner and feel fitter has spanned generations and produced a seemingly never-ending list of fad diets, trendy workouts and weight-loss drugs.
Methods and results may vary for each individual but an engineering firm in Addison found one that worked like magic in 1977.
A WFAA story archived in the SMU Jones Film Library took a look at a new weight-loss program started at Forney Engineering Company after nearly a dozen employees suffered heart attacks.
Nearly 60% of employees took part and waistlines started shrinking by nearly 1000 pounds between all of them combined. A map of the country charted how many total miles the staff walked on their lunch break and posters throughout the office reminded them to watch what they eat.
A healthier lifestyle is nice. But the real motivation?
Money.
Forney started the program with the promise of paying a silver dollar to an employee for every pound of weight they dropped. Employees weighed-in at the beginning of the program and then stepped on the scale again at the end to determine their payout. Adjusted for inflation, a dollar a pound would come out to around $5 a pound today.
The program may have cost the company an extra expense but they did not seem to mind. Their staff was healthy and, as management put it, a dollar a pound is a bargain for anything.