This isn’t going to be a very exciting entry.  I’m mainly posting today for some accountability, and out of bafflement.

As of right now, I am entered in six concurrent Diet Bets.  It’s a bit wild.

Here’s the breakdown:

Transformer, round 5 ending 1/15
Money pot (this round):  $2,475.00
Players:  188
74% to goal (10% of starting weight)

Weekly Kickstarter ending 1/17
Money pot:  $10,220
Players:  284
0% to goal, having just returned to my pre-holiday low weight that I joined this bad boy at 2 weeks ago (4% of starting weight)

Winter Onederland (my bet) ending 1/24
Money pot:  $150
Players:  6
31% to goal (4% of starting weight)

Make 2016 Your Year with Jessie Pavelka ending 1/25
Money pot:  $25,320
Players:  844
31% to goal (4% of starting weight)

Get Lean in 2016 with Heidi & Chris Powell ending 1/31
Money pot:  $336,480 (and counting)
Players:  11,216 (and counting)
14% to goal (4% of starting weight)

Transformer, round 1 (January 1st overall start date) ending 1/31
Money pot (this round):  $55,875 (and counting)
Money pot (total):  $588,775 (!!!!)
Players:  4,466 (and counting)
87% to goal (3% of starting weight)

 
I think I redirected my post-holiday sugar crash into Diet Bet cravings.  I joined the January 1st Transformer game before Christmas, knowing it would attract a huge pool of resolutioners, and made a promise to myself that I would have an uninterrupted downward trend on my 6-month progress chart rather than the chaos I see on the Transformer I’m in round 5 on.  I wasn’t wrong; the pot is ENORMOUS and sign-ups show no sign of slowing down, all the way through to the day Diet Bet closes it to new participants.  I stand to win a fairly epic amount of money from that bet, as sadly, I believe the vast majority of people who joined the bet were in a New Year’s haze and did it to kick themselves in the butt, but weren’t actually ready for this.  They’re hoping this will MAKE them ready, but it’s unlikely to.  I’d love to be wrong about that so that more people can get healthy and feel wonderful, but I don’t think I will prove to be.

The Heidi and Chris Powell bet was a total impulse buy.  They ran a bet over the summer, before I really knew who they were, but I remembered they had a massive following and a correspondingly massive pot.  When I saw they were hosting again, I figured that I might as well participate; I’m already in bets that require me to lose weight that’s basically equal to the amount I would need to lose in their bet.  If I’m already doing the work, why not increase my winnings?  Plus, I’m not gonna lie, that growing pot was a huge attraction.  Happily, Heidi and Chris are proving to be involved hosts.  They aren’t doing much direct interacting with participants, but I’m not at all disappointed, given the size of the group.  It’s just nice to hear from them via posts and announcements every few days.

Likewise for Jessie Pavelka’s bet.  I joined his before Christmas, at the same time as I was launching my tiny bet, figuring it would be a pretty big draw for players.  I was honestly a little leery of getting into another Biggest Loser trainer’s bet after having done Dolvett Quince’s VERY disappointing bet over the summer, but Jessie has been outstanding.  Like the Powells, he doesn’t do a lot of direct conversing with us, but he actively blogs, shares tips, and incites discussion through posts.  He seems much more invested than Dolvett ever was.  (Interestingly, Dolvett has a bet starting up in a couple of days.  I briefly considered joining it, but I remembered what a let-down his first bet was.  Besides, I’m pretty sure I’m in quite enough bets as it is.)

The DB-hosted Kickstarter and my round 5 for Transformer 1 seem rather like long shots, but I feel on fire right now and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that I can actually meet those goals.  It will be insanely difficult, but what a redemption if I can pull it off!

To revisit my January 1st Transformer, round 1 is virtually in the bag already.  My true goal for that one is to get near or to the round 2 goal (6%) before the end of this round.  If I achieve my goals for the bets in the previous paragraph, I’ll have done that.

My own game is small, and I have to admit that I’ve been a fairly negligent host this time around.  I am trying to up my presence now that my real life has returned to normalcy, so there’s hopefully time for me to be a good enough leader that my merry band of participants will remember me as a NON-negligent host.  My hope for that game is that everyone reaches their 4% and I don’t win any of their money.  As of now, everyone seems on track, so it could happen!  (I’m still a better host than Dolvett.  Just sayin’.)

OK, just had to blab about all of that because the number of bets and the amounts of money are making my head spin.  I didn’t post this on Diet Bet because the blog posts there are automatically advertised in each bet, and that means that thousands of people would be informed of the entry.  I’m not at all ashamed of it, it’s just that I wouldn’t want those people, who aren’t my DB “friends” and don’t “know” me to think I’m some kind of maniac who is mocking them for joining bets that I smugly believe will end up lining my pockets.  (Not that it matters, but that sincerely is not my attitude.  I want everyone to succeed, but that sounds like a total lie coming from a competitor.)

There you have it!  Those are the stakes.  I’ll be sure to report on progress as these weigh-outs come up.  Wish me luck!