January Jumpstart w/ Ilana Muhlstein MS, RDN

Over the past 11 years I have been married to an amazing man who is soon to be retired from 20 years in the Air Force. I had 2 amazing kids and I gained 110 pounds. Two years ago I realized I wasn't losing the weight on my own. I went to the doctor and found I had a Hiatal hernia, due either to my high weight increase or pregnancies. I had to have surgery to fix it. That made me get serious, I did not want it to slip and ha...

My work life and social life leave me without a lot of "me" time! Because life has been so busy for a few years now, I hadn't invested much time in making healthy food and exercise choices. Then in 2014, as I was about to turn 30 and had officially crept into the obese category, I decided to make a goal of losing 30 pounds before my birthday. With the help of DietBet, I met that goal and then som...

I’ve known for a long time that I needed to drop the extra weight I had on. More importantly, I knew that if I wanted to be a part of my children’s active lives I needed to change how I was living my own life.

I decided to give DietBet a try after a coworker mentioned that he used it to help him lose weight for a half marathon he wanted to run. The social aspect of DietBet is very helpful. There are tons ...

After injuring my back last year, I gained a lot of weight and was the heaviest I had ever been in my life. I became depressed and withdrawn. I lacked energy and had a hard time doing anything with my four children. Seeing the disappointment on their faces when they wanted me to play with them or run around on the playground was one of the biggest signs for me that I needed to make a change. I also knew that I wouldn’...

I first started my weight-loss journey when I signed up for a free 5k in my area. I've never been a runner, but I knew I needed to make some changes in my lifestyle if I was going to get fit. I lost 10 pounds while training for the race. I tried counting Weight Watchers points, but I found that it didn't actually lead me to make healthier choices, just points-based ones. I became obsessed with point values for food over the...

The moment I knew I needed to lose weight was in 2013, when I was living in Florida and went to Orlando with my wife and daughter. When I took my daughter to the theme parks, I knew I’d never be able to fit in any ride, and when we picked oranges in the groves I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. But the worst moment was on the way home, when we stopped at a diner. I sat down at the booth and it was so pain...

I am a 50 year old, single parent of a 16 year old. I have been fat my entire life, fattest kid in the 2nd Grade. As I approached my 49th birthday in January of 2013 I thought that if I ever wanted to be thin it was now or never. I felt like I had tried everything.

I learned about DietBetter through Chris Powell’s Facebook page. I am very focused on my next DietBetter goal of 177 by 06/24 and I have a perso...

I got my "before" picture taken at work. When I went to pick it up, it was laid out on a company table with some other pictures and I couldn't find myself anywhere. Then my coworker said, "It's right here!" I didn't even recognize myself, but others did. Wake-up call!

I had found DietBet through my sister. It worked for her, so I decided to give it a try. Having money in the game was a good motivator for me, and taki...

About two years ago, I was 270 pounds and absolutely miserable. I had no energy and was depressed about it.

Being overweight wasn’t new. At just eight years old, I was on my first weight loss program. Then at 26, I was diagnosed with PCOS. I tried for 15 years to lose the weight and not let PCOS “win,” but I failed over and over. I went to Weight Watchers, was under doctor-supervised diets…ev...

I had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do when I graduated from college. But over the years, I let myself go and eventually reached my highest weight of 283 pounds. On top of that, I have a poor family history in terms of heart disease, diabetes, and possibly cancer, and had recently started to take medication for high blood pressure—a huge disappointment. So as I approached the age when my father had his first open hear...

My dad's side of the family is all overweight. They have high blood pressure, weak knees, diabetes, etc. I realized that I didn't want to end up like that. My husband is in the Air Force and stays physically fit. I didn't want to hold him back from doing anything. I want to be able to keep up with him on all the adventures we go on.

I decided to try DietBet because I liked the accountability it provides. I had ...

My entire life I've been overweight. My parents were the type that wouldn't let you leave the dinner table until your plate was clear regardless of how full you were.

In 2010 I got pregnant with my first son and took full advantage of it. Eating chili cheese fries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My sweet tooth was out of control and I gained the weight to prove it, weighing about 244 at the end of my ...

I’m passionate about the outdoors, and have lived a very active life because of that. I’ve worked as a guide through rivers and mountains and with horses, and even met my husband while backcountry skiing!

After we married, we moved to an amazing property just outside Chicago where we live with our horses. I was also pregnant during our move. Between the move and the pregnancy, I put on over ...