So. I'm kind of becoming a veteran at these. I have played a total of 10 DietBets over the past 2 1/2 years (I usually play two at once), and have won eight times and lost two. I don't know how helpful this will be for others who have done this frequently, but for those of you doing this for the first time...maybe?
Things I've learned:
-- The best move I make during each DietBet I enter is to swear off all snacks and desserts. I realize this isn't for everyone, but I can somehow do it.
-- I have pretty good discipline during each contest, and I'm horrible after it ends. My weight on the profile graph looks like an accordion turned sideways...up and down repeatedly. I haven't tried a Transformer yet, but maybe it's time.
-- Being hungry for a while is not the end of the world.
-- There are awesome people on these. In November I signed up for a "BWLW Dietbet," not knowing what it stood for. Then I started looking at the photos of those who entered. I noticed nearly all of them were women, which is not unusual. I also noticed nearly all of them were African-American, which is. I said "Hm." Upon further review, I learned that it stood for "Black Women Losing Weight." Since I possess neither of those attributes, I wasn't sure what to do. So I asked, and was graciously told that "all are welcome." And these turned out to be some of the nicest posters and commenters you could hope for. I enjoyed it a great deal. (And I won.)
-- Make sure the battery in your scale is good. My two losses happened because my scale, with a dying battery, was basically lying to me, and I was getting better readings than I had earned. The battery died near the end of the contests (two at once), I replaced it, and my actual weight wasn't close to the goal. Lesson learned.
Best of luck!
Pete