My DietBet

I know this isn’t typical to my usual food and/or wine post, but I just couldn’t resist some shameless self-promotion. So, please accept my apologies in advance, but I hope you appreciate what I am about to tell you!

My friend told me about this unique online dieting tool in January called DietBet. I had been looking to start a healthy new year, so I was certainly interested to see what DietBet was all about. Basically, you bet yourself X amount of money (usually anywhere from $10-$45 depending on the game) to lose 4% of your weight in 4 weeks. There are usually at least a dozen games going on at once, so you have your pick of when you want to start and how much money you want to bet. Or if none of the current games suit your schedule or budget, you can create your own and invite friends.

Once you pick your game and pay up your bet, you will get an email from DietBet a couple days before the game starts with a code that you use to weigh in – which you also need to record with two simple photographs that are reviewed by the DietBet team. Once they approve the photos, you’re all set to start losing! You can also track your weight along the course of the game, or you can choose to just weigh yourself at the end of 4 weeks. You can choose to make your profile confidential so nobody else in the game sees your weight or your progress, or you can make it public. There is also a community board where people comment and post their progress, so it’s very encouraging to see other people doing well!

Once the game is up, everyone weighs out. If you have not lost 4% of your weight by the end of 4 weeks, your money gets thrown into a pot that gets dispersed to the winners; the people that did lose the 4%. So if you win, you get your money back plus a little extra from the losers pool.

I won $15 on my first DietBet by losing eight pounds, and my second one is about to start this Thursday. This time around, I decided to create my own game for $25 from March 7-April 4. I also invited a bunch of friends and colleagues, who in turn invited their friends and colleagues, so the game is now up to 32 players and counting (my first game was hosted by SarahFit and had about 600 players). It will be a smaller pool of money, but I am still very pleased with the amount of players that joined my game.

I love DietBet because it’s a great motivational tool, but I also love the community aspect of it. Everyone is supporting each other and encouraging healthy weight loss. I remember on my last day of my first DietBet I only had .5 a pound to lose, but I wanted to make sure I would be able to do it! I went on the community board and asked people which would be a better lunch: Progresso soup or turkey slices and a bowl of Special K. Unanimously, everyone suggested the latter because the soup has way too much sodium which converts to water weight. I wonder if I would have won the game if I had opted for the soup… who knows?

So if you’re looking to shed a few pounds, and get a little money while doing it, join my DietBet here. The Game starts this Thursday, so act quickly! Any questions? Leave them in the comments section.

And I promise to post a story about some delicious wine or food later this week 🙂