my thoughts on DietBet (a review of sorts)

In early June, I jumped on the DietBet train and signed up for a Shrinking Jeans challenge. The idea of DietBet is someone is a host, and names the bet. You put in that money and you must lose 4% of your body weight. If you lose the weight (and you must lose the entire 4%), you “win” your money back. The money from the losers (those who did not lose the 4%) is divided among the winners.

DietBet verifies your weight by sending you a code word that you write on an index card and photograph with your scale (with you on the scale.) You also have to submit a photo of yourself in “airport attire” on the scale. It’s the same for the weigh-out at the end of the 28 days. They send you a different code word and you photograph the scale/word and yourself and submit.

I’ve been struggling with two pounds. I was a little heavier at the beginning of June, and had to lose roughly 6 pounds to meet my goal. I made it to that two pound mark I had been struggling with for weeks. And then I was stuck. The week before we went on vacation I started cutting back SO much on what I was eating. While we were traveling, I made sure I was drinking so much more water and continued to watch everything I was eating. (One day, we went to McDonalds. I ate lunch, but skipped the fries. I actually didn’t miss them, so I felt like I was making real progress.)

We had two travel days leading up to my weigh-out day. I hit my goal the day before we traveled again and I just prayed I could keep the weight off for another 48 hours until I got the code word and could safely weigh in.

On Wednesday morning, I was a little confused about the weigh-out. I didn’t realize that I had to submit everything on my computer versus the app and the app didn’t show my updated code word, so I actually submitted photos with the wrong code word. Within 15 minutes I received an email that my photos were rejected and I had to re-take them. Unfortunately, I had started eating breakfast at that point and I really worried that I would be too heavy. (Seriously. If you don’t lose the 4%, you get nothing back.)

Luckily, the weight was still off and I re-weighed and submitted my photos.

The whole process was incredibly stressful for me. I had been contemplating doing another DietBet this month, but I don’t think I could handle it mentally.

I felt like I really under-ate for days to make sure I hit my goal. It was not healthy for me. The only good thing I was really doing was drinking water versus soda. (I’m working really hard on drinking so much more water now.)

In the end, I won $53.89. I had put $40 in, so I really “won” $13.89. This was after the fee that DietBet charges. Not bad for losing weight, but a week later I’m up those two pounds. So what did I really learn? I learned that I can almost starve myself for a few days to make a certain goal weight. I also know that I did reign it in somewhat during our trip, but I allowed myself to splurge on popcorn and pizza at the end of the week. I normally gain way more than two pounds after a fun trip.

My goal now is to choose my food wisely, really track (using Weight Watchers) what I’m eating and snack better. I’m bad about snacking and soda. I’m doing other exercises in addition to running, so I feel like I’m in a good place. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to my pre-wedding weight, but I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight and that’s a good place to be. (Now I just need to tone everything again.)

Will I ever do another DietBet? It depends on how motivated I am and if I have a vacation planned for the end of the challenge. Would I recommend it? For some people, but if you feel a lot of guilt or can’t stand to part with the money you bet, I wouldn’t do it.

I did receive daily emails from them but I didn’t feel like there was much the site could offer me. Not many people commented or checked in during our challenge. I get more out of the Shrinking Jeans website or even the WW message boards. The tips I received in my emails were all things I had read/heard before.

Have you ever done a weight loss challenge that involved money? How did it go?