Put your money where your mouth is

You might think that avoiding diabetic complications would be enough to keep me from eating poorly. You might also think that the humiliation of not being able to keep my (now-too small) underwear from falling down when I bend over would do the trick. Surely, you think, the practical consideration of having to purchase all new winter/cold weather clothing will get Denise focused and ready to make the (purely eating) sacrifices necessary to take off - and keep off - the now 33 pounds she's regained. If I didn't know myself so well, I would think that way, too.

I am a binge eater. I eat to soothe my emotions, to fill emptiness, to pass the time when I'm bored or tired (or both). There is nothing logical about binge eating because it's totally tied to my emotions.

Given how important it really is to me, for all of the reasons outlined above, to lose this stupid weight I've regained and then keep it off, I joined a Dietbet this week. The basic premise is that you pledge a certain amount of money - $25 per month for six months, in this case - based on your ability to lose a prescribed percentage of your body weight by predetermined milestones.

For me, this translates into:

• losing 5 pounds by November 14
• 5 more pounds (total of 10) by December 14
• 4 more pounds (total of 14) by January 14
• 2 more pounds (total of 16) by February 14
• 2 more pounds (total of 18) by March 14
• Maintain the 18 pound loss (or more) for final weigh in on April 14

The beautiful thing about this schedule is that 18 pounds is almost exactly half of the total that I need to lose to be back at my happy, healthy weight and six months is a reasonable pace for me to lose that amount, so it's an all-around good and fortuitous thing to find this game right now.

To lose any weight, I'll need to completely abstain from binge eating or eating pretty much any processed crap. I'll need to continue doing that for six months in order to lose 18 pounds before the April tax filing deadline. (When you work in tax software, April 15th is a very important, very stressful day!) Since joining Dietbet, my binge eating sobriety has been challenged several times and I have stopped myself from acting on my impulses by remembering that I can win a lot of money - or at least not lose any of what I've put up already - if I don't eat that sugary yumminess right now. I don't know that it will work the same way for six months but it's working right now and that is a very good thing.

Additionally, I added some pictures to a new Pinterest board I've started to keep a visual record of my progress (in case the scale doesn't cooperate). The pictures are on the right side of the blog in case you'd like to follow along.