The first time I heard about DietBet, I think, was in a magazine article. It was years ago, I believe, and DietBet was featured, in a blurb, as a way to motivate yourself, if putting "your buck where your booty is," might be motivating. I was excited to see that such a concept existed virtually, though it wasn't the first time I'd been introduced to the general idea of it.
At my local Curves Club, years ago, we got the idea to do a 10# challenge and let everyone bet $10 that they could lose 10#s in 10 weeks. As the idea started gathering momentum, I recognized that it was, essentially, a form of gambling and that, since we were doing it in a business environment, I'd better check in with the state and federal gambling commissions. For such a petty amount, I learned, I need not take out any bonds or insurance, etceteras. In the end, I think we had about $280 in the pot and it ended up being split between 3 or 4 winners: pretty good odds!!
What I discovered was that the "DietBet Concept" served to magnify one's commitment with an exponential return on either the positive or negative spectrum. Women who "fell off the wagon" early on just gave up and stopped showing up at the club altogether. Others peetered out at the very end, perhaps afraid of their own success, or debilitated by a weekend "off the plan." Whatever the circumstances of the winners and losers, I saw that the betting would either work for or against the strength of one's commitment over the long-haul.
Recently, in our final week, the DietBet host for my first 4% DietBet, Cassey Ho, founder of Blogilates, sent out a message asking participants to respond to the following question: "What have I learned through this (4 week) Blogilates DietBet?" After I responded, I was somehow automatically placed on a list where every response was forwarded to my inbox. At first I was surprised, and I even found myself tempted to feel a bit annoyed, as did one sarcastic commentator ("I've learned that if I respond to this question, the result is that I get every comment clogging up my inbox!"), until I began to actually read the comments and virtually connect deeply with the community itself. Every couple of hours, I would check my email and read another 20 or 30 or even 100 comments.
Some were longer, diving into the exact details of what had been learned, others were short and sweet and to the point, like mine, which said something about how motivating it was to be a part of the DietBet virtual community and how, for perhaps the first time, the betting concept had been so very motivating for me ($143,000 + DOLLARS > $280 bucks), teaching me that I like to "put my buck where my booty is." Every comment was insightful, personal, and written in the spirit of comraderie, assuring each reader and commentator that we are not alone in our feelings, successes, failures and, ultimately, lessons. The beauty of our host's question is that it invites us to "get it;" regardless of what we might get out of the pot tomorrow in winnings, or out of our wallet in losings, we are invited to show up and share the lesson with another - "to learn, is to get it."
The most heartbreaking comments, for me, were the ones who shared that DietBet doesn't work for them, that they used it as a saboteur. This broke my heart because I've worked with enough women, including myself, to know that it's not DietBet that's not working... it's the dieter missing the lesson: dieting IS hard, or can be -- especially if you have been eating like crap and are now trying to follow a healthy meal plan, for example. The same is true of exercise and weight-loss in general because, by it's very nature, it demands change. With few exceptions, we didn't gain this weight overnight, and we didn't develop our habits that way either! Missing this lesson misses the whole point of even trying and "getting it" the next time. It's like "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
I can bet this much: "That if you don't continue trying, you will never get it." Whatever happened this time, win, lose or draw, don't forget to try to grasp the lesson for what it is where-ever you are, to really get it for yourself, to accept that you are EXACTLY where you are supposed to be right now, and take that lesson with you when you try, try again. If you do this, in the end, YOU WILL WIN!!!!