Guess who's helping you get lean?

Besides enlisting support from family and friends for your weight-loss efforts, check out how your doctor or employer might contribute. Here are some proactive (and creative!) programs across the nation:

* Joseph Chemplavil, M.D., in Hampton, Va., pays his overweight patients $1 per pound lost after they enroll (for a $10 membership fee) in his "Dollar for Pound" program. "If they lose more than 10 percent of their original weight, I also give them a $50 Wal-Mart gift certificate." The biggest "loser" wins a three-day trip to Las Vegas.

* IBM employees nationwide get $150 if they are physically active at least 20 minutes, three times a week, for 10 of 12 weeks. (They post their minutes on the company's intranet.)

* Gift certificates for $25 redeemable at various retailers are given to workers at PNM, a public-service utility company based in Albuquerque, N.M., who participate in the wellness program.

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