I am married with a 9-year-old daughter. I'm a technology geek, always have been, but have gotten increasingly into nutrition over the years. I've been overweight since I was a kid, and went on my first diet in College, when I joined Weight Watchers. While it worked to get the weight off that time, like many other times the weight came back.

When I heard about DietBet, I immediately wanted to try it. After New Years a few of us participated in a 4-week game. I didn't want to stop my momentum after that one contest, and signed up for a 6-month game. While I didn't personally know anyone in that contest, I got to know some of the posters, and posted a lot of comments that I hope were helpful to others in encouraging them during the inevitable plateaus that all dieters encounter.

DietBet's ongoing stream of commenting and logging that you can see from everyone makes it feel like you are doing it as a group and seeing everyone else's struggles and triumphs along the way. You don't feel isolated and that you are doing something completely on your own. The money is a good motivator too, but it becomes less and less as the actual results of your loss become a reward themselves. Having a weekly raffle that can win you a nice little prize helps keep your eyes on the eventual winnings at the end of the six months.

I would recommend DietBet for anyone who needs to lose weight. I've always been a solitary dieter, but being able to do it with hundreds of virtual "buddies" even for me was very useful, and being able to have an added benefit of money was helpful too. The extra pocket change, especially when you can reinvest it in yourself either for new clothes (when your old ones get too big as mine did), or additional exercise equipment or gym memberships, can really be helpful!