Dietbet

I'm always looking for new fun ways to keep my motivation going. I've heard that willpower and motivation are like wells that you need to refill now and again. It's not a never-ending supply.

Enter: Dietbet. Dietbet allows you to join a "game" where you bet (using your real hard earned money) on whether or not you'll lose a set percentage of weight in a set amount of time. You and potentially hundreds of other people put money into the pot, and at the end of it all the winners who have met their goal split the money between them.

Right now, I'm in a 6 month game to lose 10% of my body weight. You put up $25 bucks a month (at first I thought it was $25 for the whole thing, and was a bit concerned when I realized it would actually be a significant chunk of change. Go big or go home, amirite?). They say that typically, if you win, you make back 1.5 to 1.75 times your initial bet. Cool. The only problem is, if you don't win, you lose $150. Not cool. The pressure is on!

They have some neat checks and balances to make sure people don't cheat, too. I will say I was "lucky" when I weighed in initially. My weight was up for a few reasons - I weighed in at night (it started the next day and I wanted to make sure I got in at the beginning), I had just had a weekend of eating all the salty foods ever, and I was retaining a ton of water. Can you believe that I went from 148.2 to 159 in a matter of days? The salt monster is strong in this one. So my official starting weigh-in was 158.6, which means I need to be under 142.7 by September to win. This past week the salt monster has been held at bay, so I'm back down to 148.8. I'm thinking this will be doable!

The game started on March 4, but you can join late, so if anyone wants in, join me! Currently there are over 1,000 bettors, and $134,000 in the pot. They also have games that have you lose 4% of your weight in four weeks, which is a little less daunting, and less money upfront.

The hope is that I'll get to the end with a little less weight and a little more in my pockets. Also, if you join, and everyone else loses, that means the two of us can split a $134,000 between us. No brainer right? :D