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I recently completed a six month Diet Bet. In the couple of weeks that it’s been over I have been reflecting a lot over these past 6 months. I decided to share my experience incase any one reading this has been thinking about it, or even never heard of it before.

Here are the official facts from the Diet Bet web page. I am only sharing my own personal experience so before you sign up and pay the fee read over the facts and weigh the pros and cons. I am not affiliated Diet Bet.  I am also not a nutritionist or any type of medical expert qualified to give any advice. I am simply giving my own experience. If you plan to do on any diet or exercise plan please speak with your own doctor first. I

Back at the end of 2017 I was getting increasingly frustrated with my weight. I was starting to put on weight again and really struggling with getting the motivation to try something and stick with it. I had thought about different options like Weight Watchers, but being a stay at home mom on a budget, I just couldn’t justify the price tag. I always tried to cook healthy and well balanced meals, but it was my eating outside of normal meal times that was my problem. Food, specifically sugar was my coping method when I was stressed, unhappy, etc. I love coffee, and drank a lot of decaf coffee full of sweetened creamers. Every time I got on the scale I wanted to cry. I was having trouble looking at what I was becoming.

A friend from college posted about a Diet Bet. I had noticed before she had done one and recently shared another win. I had thought about it before but let the idea of money stop me. You have to pay to join the bet. However I decided this time just to go for it. Money wasn’t likely going to get easier any time soon ( at the time we were facing a possible and eventual lay off for my husband) . I also knew that that stress could just cause my weight issues to get worse. The last time my husband was laid off I gained about 10 to 15 lbs because I used sugar to deal with my stress… which then made me more stressed. I thought this could be a way to force myself not to do that, and then make a little money. So with my husbands blessing I signed up.

I was trying to decide between a one month or a six month bet. One month I could handle, and the fee was less, but would I keep it up? I decided to go with the six month. More to lose financially, but much more to gain health wise if I could pull it off.

The bet was $25 a month that I paid upfront which gave me one month free, I used the one free month to pay for the membership. This allowed me to weigh in weekly, maybe win prizes (I never did) , etc.  I was all in.

The bet started in January and ended on July 1st with the final weigh in.  Every week I would weigh in to see where I was. Every month I would weigh in on the 1st to see if I had made it through the round. Rounds were determined by your weight loss. The number you had to lose was based on a certain percentage of body weight lost that is calculated for each person.  The pros of the weekly and month weigh in was it kept me accountable. There was a progress bar showing what percentage you were to goal for the month. This was either really encouraging..or really discouraging. While seeing yourself getting closer and closer to 100% was wonderful… seeing yourself go backwards was very frustrating. I was really stressed about weigh ins. I seemed to either drop a lot over a week, or gain a pound. Not really sure why this was but my body isn’t always consistent. Some months as the end of the month was coming I would feel panic. To win the full prize you need to complete all six rounds of the bet, and I put a lot of pressure on myself.

I learned a lot about myself physically. I found that my body is very sensitive. I can lose weight really easily when I am extremely diligent. I can also gain weight very easily by going off track a little. This was a very important, and frustrating thing to learn about myself. I had peace knowing that if I was getting close to not making it through my round I just needed to push myself and I could make it. I also knew that “just a little” of anything like cake , pizza , etc. could really hurt my efforts.  This made things like family celebrations, parties etc a little less fun, especially close to a monthly weigh in.

This led me to explore some different methods of eating that I had been looking at before but never really committed to. As most women have done I have looked at a TON of different diets, meal plans, philosophies etc. I looked at things like the Trim Healthy Mamma Plan, Keto, etc. This was both exciting and frustrating, and all the perks of each plan could be a whole separate post, but I learned to cherry pick the things I liked from each plan and leave what didn’t work for me.

I learned a lot about myself mentally. This was probably the biggest surprise to me. My weight loss, while very physical , was much more of a mental battle for me. This is why if I were to ever do it again, or recommend a Diet Bet to anyone, I would say go for the six month. It’s called a transformer for a reason. It’s easy to stick with anything for a short period of time, but by committing to six months, I was committing to changing my habits for good … or at least for six months… and sticking with it. I looked at this as an opportunity to change my habits for good, because why go through with something for six months and then go backwards? I learned I don’t love counting or weighing food, it makes me obsessed. I needed fun and variety. I tried a few different cook books when I was first starting out.  I needed to find ways to have the foods I was used to in a healthier way. My two favorite cookbooks were The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook and Hungry Girl I needed to flip through cook books, make meal plans, try new things, stay motivated. After a few months I was able to relax a little and use a mix of my own recipes and cookbooks.

I also needed to learn how to find ways to cope that didn’t evolve food. I was … and still am… a stress eater. This was probably the biggest challenge of my Diet Bet. I needed to find different things to use to cope. Through this I learned I love to use a Spin Bike, and found that working on a a farm is a great stress reducer.

I won my Diet Bet, and this was because of my mental strategy. Mid way I felt frustrated about half way through. My weight loss was slowing down, and I was getting tired of it. Then I decided to use what works best with me. Goals and a plan. Not just simply I want to weigh _____ by _____. I remembered a trick I had used before when I wanted to start being more mindful of spending and save for goals. I put pictures of the things I wanted in my wallet. So I took a piece of paper and wrote out the things I wanted to do with the Diet Bet. I kept changing and updating my list, but it was fun to think of all the things I was going to do with my money once I won. I also wrote myself notes to stay focused, and would sometimes even write my goal number on my hand. I am very visual and needed those to stay on track.

The winnings. This was my favorite part of the Diet Bet. After every weekly weigh in you get your weight verified. The people who verified your weight were wonderful. Not only was it so great to see your progress, but they sent words of encouragement. I am a little embarrassed to admit how many times those words brought me to tears. Every month seeing the message in my in box You’ve Won! was amazing. It made me feel so accomplished. Not just hey I lost five pounds but you’ve won. Now the money. This is where I feel like I have to shed some light on the numbers. Don’t expect to make a ton, because this may leave you disappointed. My winnings where less than the average person doing a six month transformer, but I am going to look at the positive side and say it worked so well that more players than not were successful. Also when you look at what you’ve won, that includes what you’ve paid into it. However the way I looked at it was as long as I got what I paid back I won, because I lost weight, completed my challenge, and it didn’t cost me a monthly membership fee. I almost doubled what I put into it, and that made me feel really good. I hit my goal, and made some money, win win.

Would I do it again? Maybe, but not again for awhile. While I am so thrilled with the results, I need a little separation from my scale because it was becoming an obsession. Once the summer is over I may try one again, but for now I am going to be happy with my results and winnings, and hopefully not put myself back into a situation where I need to do this again.