I Won by Losing!

I lost 4% of my body weight in 28 days through DietBet and won $43.

I started another one on April 3.

Now that I have played I can share what I have learned:

1. A blogger named Beth started the March DietBet game. She set the bet at $25 - meaning if you wanted to join, you had to pay $25 into the pot. Everyone put in the same amount. It was open access, meaning anyone could join.

2. Everyone had the opportunity to win. If you lost 4% of your body weight in the 28 days, you received an equal share of the pot, minus DietBet's fee (5-15% depending on size of bet). For this DietBet, 199 people met their goal, that is almost 50% success rate. Over 2500 pounds were shed between 405 people over 28 days.

3. Dietbet has a simple way to keep participants honest. Send in 2 photos in the beginning of the contest and 2 photos at the end. Both photos are on the scale, one a closeup of the actual reading on the scale, the other a full body of you on the scale. You wear clothes, but no coat, shoes, jewelry, etc.

4. Everything is private - photos are never seen. Your weight can remain private unless you want it seen. Most people's weights are listed as XXX.

5. For March, our pot grew to over $10,000 with just over 400 players.

6. People shared recipes and asked for advice on the DietBet page. For this group, the talk back and forth was encouraging and helpful. It seemed like everyone wanted others to succeed. There was only one guy who tried to "call some people out" but no one responded to his jabs.

7. You can be anywhere to join - it is international!

8. I think it works for me because I am competitive with myself and others. It kept me motivated and I didn't want to lose my $25. It was fun - not a drag. There is no prescribed method to lose the weight - it is up to the individual.

9. Anyone can start their own DietBet and limit access to only friends and family or co-workers, or you can make it an open access game. The bet can be $25 - $500.

One night I researched the social dieting industry and read about the founder of DietBet just because that is the kind of geek I am. If you want to read more about DietBet from a business standpoint, here are some links:

Diet Bet Media Kit
Jamie Rosen
SeedInvest

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