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 heart surgery, I had a wake up call that I needed to start taking better care of myself. I had tried various diets in the past, and once before I even lost a considerable amount of weight (50+ pounds), but I was never able to sustain the diet and exercise long term.

I decided to try DietBet based on the encouragement of a co-worker. I found it was a great motivator for me, and a huge aid in helping to keep me accountable to the scale and my goals. As time went on, it got harder to stay on course, so the encouragement and stories from the other players become more motivating. 

Over time, the support of other players in the game became what I liked best about DietBet. Whether it was encouragement of others, reading others’ bios and stories, or learning ways others eat better or participate in a more healthy lifestyle, it all helped me to sustain my weight loss. As you can imagine, losing 110 pounds took a lot of sustained concentration on my end goals without giving up and falling back into bad habits.

They say, “What gets measured gets done,” and I think that’s a perfect explanation of why DietBet works. It’s a terrific combination of competition, accountability, measurable results, and community support, plus the fun of betting (and possibly winning)…all while reaching a weight loss goal.

Beginning to succeed with DietBet, and dieting in general, also taught me about eating healthy and exercise, and I started to see these things as a life change instead of a diet. I hope I can continue on my journey to get stronger and keep reducing my body fat!