I’m so excited that I’m participating in the DietBet Blogger Lose to Win Challenge, an online social dieting game sponsored by DietBet this month. Basically, the way that DietBet works is that a group of players place wagers (in the financial amount of the group’s choice) regarding how much weight each of them will lose in a month (4% of starting body weight or 8pounds maximum). The money goes into “the pot”. At the end of the month, the pot is split among those who meet their goal weight. DietBet is putting $5,005 ($715 per blogger) in the pot for my January competition. The other cool thing about this game is that each blogger is giving a percentage of their winnings to charity. (My charity is City Harvest.) The other participating bloggers include Amanda Lonsdale of Dilettante Club, Amy Schirmer of Dilettante Club, Kathleen Canedo of Brutalism, Angie Vinez of Blessed Beyond Words and my personal blogging friends Shari Simpson of Earth Mother Just Means I’m Dusty and Amy Oztan of Selfish Mom.
As for my dieting history: Regrets…I’ve had a few, but honestly eating has hardly ever been one of them. In November and (especially) December, I ate a lot of great food around the holiday season. The last two weeks of December were particularly calorie-filled. In the first week, I was baking and sampling holiday cookies practically every day with my sons. (I didn’t get the memo that food bloggers space out their holiday cooking and baking! Now, I know.) In the second week, I ate at four different restaurants in one week – Red Rooster Harlem with Reggie, Café Asean and Lani Kai with girlfriends and Amy Ruth’s restaurant with my visiting niece and nephew. I’ve had my dining fill with friends and family and now it’s time for me to lose those extra pounds that came along with the fun! I figure that I had extra fun for a couple of months so I’ll be extra disciplined for a couple of months. It’s all good.
If I had to say which “diet” I will follow it would be called the “Do You (Better)” one. Obviously, it’s not a diet…it’s more of a philosophy. I know myself pretty well. I know what makes me gain weight and I know what makes me lose weight. I know that I am not a calorie-counter. I know that I’m not a standard diet journal keeper. (I don’t write down everything that I eat. Rather, in the morning I note what I plan to eat that day. If I eat something outside of my initial plan, then I write THAT down. It helps me to quickly see where I’m going off track.) Rather, I just make note of the things that caused the weight gain…and do the opposite. While the way I eat is the largest (by far) component to my weight, exercise is also important. Oh yes, did I mention that in the midst of my holiday dining out food fest, that I also wasn’t doing my daily 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 40 minutes walking school commute with the boys? Yep…they were off from school that week! Anyway, they are back to school, so I’m back to my walking routine. I also usually add something more intense (kick-boxing and such) to my work-out routine for good measure. (Next week, I’ll give a more detailed example of how I come up with my food and exercise plan.)
I won’t tell you how much my starting weight was last Wednesday. (Reggie doesn’t even know how much I weigh!) Besides, I think weight numbers can be tricky. My actual weight might seem really big or really small to you…depending on where you fall on the scale/your body build/etc. I will tell you that I have already lost 4.4 pounds since I implemented my “do you diet” on Thursday of last week. If you packed on some pounds over the holidays, I’ll be sharing some tips so that we can work on losing them together! (I will also be sponsoring two Foodie City Mom readers in my own personal “DietBet” next month. It’s TOTALLY unrelated to this promotion/on my own dime, but I think that it will be fun so stay tuned…)
I’ll end this first post by sharing my top two motivations for being at my “best weight” in 2012. It’s not really a health thing, because I’m pretty healthy. Rather, it’s because of the post image – those are Reggie’s jeans that I’m wearing. My husband is slim, so (barring any unforeseen health causes) I should NEVER get too large. It would just not be a good look!
Also, this is a bridesmaid’s dress that I will be wearing at my dear friend Natasha’s wedding in July. Most of my best friends were married around the same time that I was (almost a decade ago), so I haven’t been a bridesmaid in a LONG time. I’m excited…and I want to rock that dress!
Anyway, what do you think about the DietBet concept…does it sound like fun or torture? Would you want to participate in something like this? Personally, I think that it’s fun. I’ve already gifted my friend/fellow competitor Shari with a donut maker to strengthen her will power :-). In any event, it (the number on my scale) is definitely about to go down!