I have struggled to manage my weight all my life.  At one point in my 20s I was around 350 pounds.  But I began to get a handle on things and for the past 15 years or so I’ve floated between 230 and 250.  I tried many years to get myself down below 200.  Literally 10 years of New Years resolutions.  I could never get myself to that final push.  DietBet was the final ingredient in the secret sauce to effectively managing my weight (along with a food journaling app and fitness tracker).  I started in August 2014, hit my goal weight May 2015, and am still under 200 today.  Even when my weight drifts up, I’ve done a couple Kickstarter games and its put right back to where I want to be.  

My buddy David sent me a text message telling me the bet was starting and did I want a chance at a $700 pot.  Immediately I wanted the details to understand how it would work.  But then I thought “If I say no to this, its pretty much admitting that I’m okay with being obese.”  And I didn’t like how that made me feel.  And so I decided it was time to stop with excuses and start with the hard work.  

DietBet worked for me because the goal was something I really wanted.  Not being able to reach a goal repeatedly really feels like failing.  And I had tried other things — but this constantly set my mind to think about the future.   I didn’t want to be overweight in the long run, and having the DietBet in place really made me stop and think before I had that extra burger or dessert.  Secondly, I’m a tightwad.  Overtime I would think about losing my “ante” to the DietBet, I really had a tough time with it.  I know all about loss aversion — and so I immediately understood how powerful have that potential for loss of $25 out there could be.

As I lost more and more weight, I realized I needed to teach myself new tricks or “hacks” to satisfy my hunger (and nutritional needs), my love of great tasting food.  So I ended up seeking out new recipes and new foods and being more conscious about what I was eating.  Ditto for new workouts.  Some stuff I liked — other things I didn’t.  But the foods and workouts, which worked ultimately, became habits.  So DietBet was the catalyst that helped me seek out better habits for healthier living, which worked for me specifically.  Also, its obviously great getting compliments from people about looking better.  But about 2 weeks before I finished my big 6-month DietBet I saw my friend and she said I probably added 10 years to my life.  That’s the best compliment I received.