I work long, sometimes crazy hours. I also spend several days a week training in ballroom dance. So while I'm very active and busy I don't often have time to eat healthy or exercise a lot. I've have been trying to lose weight since high school. First it was 5 pounds then 10. By the time I got into my 20s I was 50 pounds over weight. I always wished I was healthier but it was so much work and effort it just seemed easier to love my curves. With DietBet, in a little over 2 years, I've lost 19 inches, 6 dress sizes and 39 pounds (with only 5-10 more to go for my goal end weight!). Now I have the curves I love, and they are real curves instead of just round!

I always tried watching what I ate and exercising more but I would get bored and frustrated. I never had the motivation. I wanted to lose the weight but it was just so much work and I never seemed to get anywhere.

DietBet was a different mindset - and just what I needed. Instead of focusing on "I need to lose 50 lbs." which seemed like an impossible hurdle, I focused on "I need to win this bet". It became about the game and the money instead of the diet and scale. And 4 weeks and 4% wasn't such a huge hurdle. You can endure anything if you know it's going to end soon. I started with one game at a time - one month on, one month off. I would be good, watch what I ate, and exercise for 4 weeks, then I would not worry about it for 4 weeks, then go again.  I would go down 4%, up 2%, down 4%. It was slower but I didn't get burned out that way or tired of always dieting.

As I got farther along I started to see progress and for the first time in my life the scale was going down. I never thought that I was capable of doing that. I started to track everything that was changing, my weight my measurements, the money.

I loved the way it made me change my thought process about dieting. I focused on one month at a time and after a while I stopped craving sweets, I wasn't hungry late at night, I felt good in my body. It made me want to do more and it made it easier to do more. I participated in some of the online forums for the games. It was such a positive place to celebrate your victories and commiserate your defeats. Even though everyone was competing against one another (sort of, you mostly are competing against yourself) everyone was encouraging. I loved seeing the people that lost games cheerfully give up their money to those that won and happily join the next game.