A Chinese gym has recently launched a controversial weight-loss challenge, offering a luxury car as a reward to anyone who successfully loses 50kg in three months.
While the promotion has garnered significant online interest, it has also raised serious concerns among health experts regarding the dangers of extreme weight loss in a short time frame.
On October 23, a fitness training centre in Binzhou, Shandong province, northern China, announced the bold weight-loss challenge online, which quickly attracted major attention.
According to the promotional poster, the gym promised a luxury Porsche Panamera as a prize to anyone who can lose 50kg within three months. The latest Porsche model from this product line has an official starting price of around 1.1 million yuan (US$155,000) in mainland China.
A fitness coach, surnamed Wang, confirmed to Xiang Yang Video that the campaign is legitimate, stating: “The challenge is real and already underway, and registration will close once we reach 30 participants. So far, around seven or eight people have signed up.”
Wang noted that the registration fee is 10,000 yuan (US$1,400), which covers meals and accommodation in a fully enclosed training environment with shared rooms. However, the specific details of the training regimen, dietary plans and criteria for achieving the weight loss target remain undisclosed.
Wang also mentioned that the Porsche being offered belongs to the gym owner and is a used 2020 model that he has driven for several years, not a new car.
The extreme weight-loss campaign has sparked medical concerns. A medical influencer known as “Dr Zeng, who performed the hernia surgery,” with nearly 3.5 million followers on Weibo, warned about the dangers of such rapid weight loss and emphasised the potential health risks associated with losing weight at that speed.
“Losing 0.5kg per day is far too fast,” he cautioned. “Unless someone is severely overweight, this pace leads to muscle loss rather than fat reduction, which can cause hormonal imbalances, hair loss, and even amenorrhoea in women. A safer target is losing around 0.5kg per week.”
Another expert, Pu Yansong, a gastrointestinal surgeon at Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, also cautioned: “Losing weight at such a rapid pace can strain our organs and may even be life-threatening. Scientific weight loss should be gradual, allowing the brain, body fat, muscles, and organs to adapt to the new energy balance.”
The challenge has ignited a storm of online debate among Chinese netizens.
One person commented: “If I lose 50kg, I’ll only have 5kg left. Will I still be alive?”
Another wrote: “The point is, no one can actually achieve this. Losing 50kg in 3 months? You’ll lose the person, not just the weight. But with a 10,000-yuan registration fee, the organiser could buy a new car while still saving the used one. In the end, he makes a fortune. Such a smart marketing plan.” - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
