Battling overweight: 30 pounds in 6 months

in health •  7 years ago  (edited)

I've been more or less overweight for the last 30 years. After Christmas this past year I hit a new high of over 290lb! I've tried before to lose weight and it has not been that hard to get rid of 10, 20 or even 30lb. The difficult part for me has been to keep them off, to not start gaining back as soon as I stop actively working to lose weight.
It is hard for me to find the motivation to lose because I don't feel like I'm suffering from carrying all this extra weight. I know that it is not good for me but I don't feel it. I've never struggled with physical activity and can run up stairs or hike for hours or do just about whatever I want to do. My weight has never stopped me (except once when exploring a cave in the Swedish high mountains - the alternative exit was just too narrow for me to get through! I had to go back the same way I got in).
At the end of last year, I decided it was time to lose it and not gain it back again. I'm not getting any younger and I am well aware of all the heightened health risk I'm in because of my weight.

WeightInJan2017.jpg
This is me 6 months ago weighing in at 290.7lb

I decided to place a bet on myself losing weight through the website dietbet.com. They have two main ways you can bet on losing weight the Kickstarter and the transformer.

  • Kickstarter is a 4-week bet in which you have to lose 4% of your weight.
  • Transformer is a 6 months bet in which you have to lose 10% of your body weight over 5 months and then keep it off the 6th.

The money you bet can be different amounts and is decided for the specific group, or bet, that you join. If you succeed you get your money back, plus a share of the money bet by people who did not make the required percentage. The 6 months Transformer has small payouts for every month for all who meets the intermediate goals but saves half of all money for the final weigh-in after 6 months.
For me, the thought of losing my money is a strong motivator! and the possibility of winning more then I bet only adds to that motivation. I started with both a Kickstarter and a Transformer and lost over 4% in the first month. Now I am at the eve of my final weigh-in. In the morning tomorrow, I will weigh-in a full 30lb lighter than at the start of the year. I will probably also make close to $100 in addition to getting my original bet back. This, for me, is a true win-win situation.
The real, and in my experience, much harder trial starts after the weigh-in. Now I have to keep from adding the pounds back!
My plan is to give myself two weeks off and then start a new Transformer with the goal of losing another 10% before the end of the year. That will bring me down close to my final goal of weighing less than 220lb (100kg).

What is your experience of losing weight?
Has anyone else here used Dietbet.com?

Leave me a comment and you like what I wrote consider an upvote. Check out my earlier posts and if you like more of them maybe you would like to follow me.

Thanks for reading
FanStaF

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This post received a 1.7% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @fanstaf! For more information, click here!

Good luck @fanstaf
That's a great idea betting money, gives an extra incentive to lose weight and not money.
I always put on weight when I come Back to Sweden and start driving trucks, I tend to sit there and eat sweets all day long, but as soon as I go traveling it falls off again.

Thanks! The insentive works very well for me. And the sweets are so hard to resist. I try to give myself one day every week when it's ok to eat things like that.

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