Has anyone used Dietbet as motivation?

2stepscloser

I follow several fitness minded people on IG and my newsfeed has been recently blown up by people starting and/or joining a Diet bet. I must admit that I have been toying with the idea. The concept is great in that you are held accountable, especially when money is involved. I'd love to hear experiences with Diet bet, the good, bad and ugly.

beamer0821

i did diet bet a 6 month challenge. i find longer challenges are better for me with my mindset on the long haul. i found it did keep me accountable. i wasn't in it to win buckets of money but more not lose the money i contributed already. i would do it again. it was challenging!

JenniferIsLosingIt

I was considering doing January's with a Facebook group called Down with Dani. I am not scared of failure but having the cash to pony up is often very difficult for me...

Terrytriesharder

I did a Dietbet and I found I got so incredibly obsessed with it I started to weigh multiple times a day and was incredibly down if it wasn't a consistent losing trend. For some people they are wonderful but if you have a penchant towards being obsessive might want to skip it.

CA_Underdog

I did a one-month challenge. We put up $35, and winners received $45 back. The one-month challenge seemed "gamey" since you could affect your weight-ins via time of day, hydration, clothing choices, and repeated weigh-ins. The six month challenges would be more meaningful since you can't fake that much loss. Still, it gave my friend and I a kick-start.. no regrets!

elektrolization

I don't have any experiences because the dietbet challenge I joined starts on the 5th. I'm very excited to do this though. I also found out about Healthywage which is another betting site. For myself I plan to use Healthywage for an 8 month bet while doing mini one month dietbet challenges. This is the first time in a while i've actually been motivated lol. Like you, I'm interested in hearing stories about other people so I have an idea of what's in store

sofaking6

Are they all strictly weight-loss challenges? What about eating under your calorie goal, or meeting your exercise plans, etc?

@Terrytriesharder that's a good caution, thank you for mentioning it.

CA_Underdog

sofaking6 wrote: »

Are they all strictly weight-loss challenges? What about eating under your calorie goal, or meeting your exercise plans, etc?

There's another site/app, PACT, that focuses on alternate goals like daily logging.

2stepscloser

Thanks for your responses. Good point, Terry. Sadly, I can be a bit obsessive, especially when it comes down to the end.

CA_Underdog, that's my hesitancy. People know how to "work" the system. As much as winning would be nice, I'd really like the accountability and knowing that someone else is seeing my recorded weight.

Kalikel

If I were going to do that, I'd just donate the money to a worthy cause instead of giving it to someone else.

And OF COURSE people will lie and cheat to get money. That's a given.

Psychgrrl

I did a 6 month bet and lost more than my 10%, which put me about where I want to be. I really had to up my game a couple times to make the monthly goal. Made about $350 at the end (less the $125 I paid in monthly). It was 6 months of being really aware of my diet and exercise.

I'm sure people can game the system somehow, but they run a solid contest. And most people seemed honest. There were a lot of people gaining weight at weigh-ins and only a third of us left at the end for the final round (they cut anyone who had too much to lose to do it safely to make it at the end).

It was great for me. Though I don't need to lose enough to do another.

I use PACT, too. LOVE it! MFP syncs with it and you can earn for your food diary completion as well.

WalkingAlong

I'd love to try Diet Bet but when I looked into it, progress was based on percent of your weight lost and when you're down to your last ten, it just seems so much harder, so I didn't feel like I was a good bet.

I'll look into Pact! Thanks for the heads up! I'm totally into rewarding myself for doing my part right (the eating and exercising) and let the scale do what it may, not be my report card.

2stepscloser

CA_Underdog wrote: »

sofaking6 wrote: »

Are they all strictly weight-loss challenges? What about eating under your calorie goal, or meeting your exercise plans, etc?

There's another site/app, PACT, that focuses on alternate goals like daily logging.

Definitely going to look into PACT, especially if it syncs with MFP!

leggup

I did the 4% weight loss in 4 weeks dietbet. I do NOT recommend it. If you are going to do a dietbet, do the 10% in 6 months. It's a much healthier and sustainable way to lose weight.

Based on my stats (at the time, overweight by a few lbs), 4% weight loss was 7.8 lbs in 1 month. I had less than 25 lbs total to lose, which meant that I had to drop down to 1,200-1,300 calories a day, which was excessive. These days I weigh less and I eat 1,650 calories a day, still losing weight.

The whole thing is a waste if you're in it for the money. Mine cost $35. I ended up with $40.50. Yeahhh. Subtract out my bet- I made $5.50. I did a dietbet that had over 7,000 people join. Dietbet takes a cut of every winning. You would have to have half of the people fail in order to double your money if they didn't take a cut (and they do). Otherwise you're just making a few bucks.

Airportchick

I did the 4% one but will not do it again. Way too easy for someone to cheat. It is very easy to conceal a 5 lb weight in your start photo.

bug1114

britishbroccoli wrote: »

I did the 4% weight loss in 4 weeks dietbet. I do NOT recommend it. If you are going to do a dietbet, do the 10% in 6 months. It's a much healthier and sustainable way to lose weight.

Based on my stats (at the time, overweight by a few lbs), 4% weight loss was 7.8 lbs in 1 month. I had less than 25 lbs total to lose, which meant that I had to drop down to 1,200-1,300 calories a day, which was excessive. These days I weigh less and I eat 1,650 calories a day, still losing weight.

The whole thing is a waste if you're in it for the money. Mine cost $35. I ended up with $40.50. Yeahhh. Subtract out my bet- I made $5.50. I did a dietbet that had over 7,000 people join. Dietbet takes a cut of every winning. You would have to have half of the people fail in order to double your money if they didn't take a cut (and they do). Otherwise you're just making a few bucks.

^^^This. I also did the 4% bet, and the pot was over $40k. I wound up winning about ten dollars. From what I have seen, it's the smaller groups that you win more money in. I thought the actual weigh in and weigh out process was sound though. If you aren't in it for the money, it's a good motivational tool because you don't want to lose the money you invested so it makes you stick with it.

Buff2022

I love dietbet. I did 3 since October and won. Doing 2 in January. They keep me motivated. Going to do a 6 month one that goes through summer. I still have a lot to lose so it helps me stay focused. I may not win a lot but I am winning an losing weight.

sofaking6

I like the idea of PACT, I'm going to check it out. Even though I'm weighing and all that, I don't want to tie any reward or punishment to the number on the scale. It's much better for me to only judge my efforts.