Friday, August 14, 2015

Me and My Diet Bets

Have you seen DietBet? I hadn't until a recipe blog I follow hosted their own "game." When I told Chuck about it, we both decided to do it. How does it work? You pay money (ours was $25). You try to lose weight (ours was 4% of our body weight over four weeks). If you make the goal, then you and all the winners split the pot (minus DietBet's cut). Oh, and if everyone loses the 4%, then DietBet forgoes their winnings and everyone just gets their money back, so no chance that you'd lose money. Guess what? We both made our goals. Hooray! But that doesn't mean I'd recommend this for everyone.

Why it worked for me:
1. I needed motivation.
2. I didn't want to lose my $25.
3. I'm working full-time and therefore am not home to mindlessly snack.
4. It's summer so I'm getting in an extra couple of swim workouts each week.
5. It started right after our vacation and ended on my birthday (with a Fast Sunday the day before--score!).

Why it might not work for you:
1. You don't care about losing $25.
2. The winnings (all $9.14 of it) is not enough of a motivation.

Why I'm doing another:
1. I'm on a roll.
2. I would love to lose about five more pounds.
3. I'm still working full-time and still swimming, so it's easier now than it will be next month.

The thing about losing weight when you're short is that your caloric intake is seriously limited. So while I'm not anorexic, I had to eat far fewer calories than Chuck did, even if we were just doing nothing. Which is kind of a bummer. And because I can't keep a tally in my head (more of a memory problem than a math problem), I had to count those calories. Which is just lame, right? I mean, no one wants to have to do this. But if I don't, I forget about the string cheese I had after breakfast or the six Oreos I had after dinner. (Kidding! Although Golden Oreos are fantastic. If we are talking Golden Oreos, it'd be more like eight. Or twelve. Or some other embarrassingly high number.) So if you hear me talking about all the food I can't eat, or how many calories are in that, or whatever, please forgive me. This, too, shall pass.

3 comments:

  1. Well good for you guys! I would love to lose weight, but just don't think calorie-counting is for me. So I guess I won't lose weight. Bummer! I mean, when you're done with your diet things, don't you think you'll still be counting calories and very aware of them, even though you're not on an official diet?

    P.S. I guess if you win the little contest on my blog (Make a guess!), I'll mail you some celery or something. . . :)

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  2. So good for you! And whew! Glad to know that the counting calories is not a math problem for you... I mean, your work depends on this skill. Also, so good for you for winning and keep on keepin' on!

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  3. So good for you! And whew! Glad to know that the counting calories is not a math problem for you... I mean, your work depends on this skill. Also, so good for you for winning and keep on keepin' on!

    ReplyDelete