My family is in the medical industry (nurses, physician’s assistants), and I am personal friends with doctors, so I knew medically the road I was headed down. At my heaviest I had acid reflux, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure, and I was working on a nice set of varicose veins. But it wasn’t until a friend sat me down and told me why he was losing weight that I felt the need to make a change. We both had young kids at the time, and the conversation about how his weight loss positively affected his relationship with his wife and kids triggered me to do something.

I was doing well on my own, but wanted some extra motivation to stay on track. Betting on myself seemed like a natural motivation. The message boards with other participants were also very helpful. People were positive, uplifting, and motivational. Weighing in weekly [using the Token weigh-ins available in Transformer games] kept me on track, and even though I didn’t win any of the prizes, the accountability was important.

Since losing the weight, I’ve been able to do so much that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’ve run a 5K, a ten mile race, a half marathon, and a trail half marathon. I don’t fear sitting in booths at restaurants, I can shop off the rack at “regular” stores, I can play sports with my kids, I can hike mountains. I have self esteem, and I get compliments! The sleep apnea, acid reflux, and high blood pressure are all gone. I have so much energy and am thinking about a full marathon!

It’s taken me three times, but this time the weight loss is sticking. Healthy diet and exercise is now a lifestyle--I am not passing on my bad habits to my children. In fact, my weight loss inspired my father to lose weight, and he’s been able to keep it off. Also, doing the beta of StepBet helped me set higher daily goals for activity and not settle for the preset 10k steps in my Fitbit.