Previously it was a little bit difficult to see who was using Lose It or Lose It. We will be adding some features that make it easier to find other users, starting with some profiles on the landing page!

I wanted to take this time to thank the handful of beta users that helped iron out some of the rough edges of Lose It or Lose It before it was released to the public. They had to deal with all sorts of weird things like

1. Having to enter multiple usernames/passwords just to use the site
2. Limiting their accountability friends to those of us already using the site
3. Being the first ones to say what their weight was publicly
4. Browser bugs (yuck!)

Thank you AWESOME BETA USERS! Here they are in the order in which they signed up and a little bit of info about them:

1. John Young - John is the owner of TIkaro Interactive, Founder of Guerilla Drive-In, Cofounder of Nerd Merit Badges (with me!) and an all-around creative-smart-friendly guy. You can find him on Twitter as @tikaro and on Lose It or Lose It as tikaro (he’s the high-roller at $1500!).
2. Brian Orme - Brian is a huggably nice guy who has helped make Lose It or Lose It better by submitting a lot of feedback. You can find him on Lose It or Lose It as FlabMaster (he is currently losing the most weight!)
3. Jim Haigney - Jim is a beetamer extraordinaire (he tames bees and convinces them to give up their honey… it’s delicious!). You can find him on Twitter as @westchesterdead and on Lose It or Lose It as westchesterdead (He is also our #2 invester! Thanks!).
4. Ellen Peters - Ellen is an opera singer, how cool is that?! We just saw her and the Philadelphia Singers perform “Christmas on Logan Square” and it was FANtastic! You can also hear her singing with Opera Company of Philadelphia or helping people set up vacations at Untours! You can find her on Twitter as @ApatheticAlto and on Lose It or Lose It as ApatheticAlto.
5. Rebecca Schmidt - Besides being a magnificent Support Counselor at Lakeside Education Network, she is also my lovely wife! You can find her on Twitter as @bexs and on Lose It or Lose It as bexs (she is the only one without an avatar :).
6. Mike Mangino - Mike is the owner of Elevated Code and a marathoner (that means he can run further than I typically like to drive)! You can find him on Twitter as @mikemangino and on Lose It or Lose It as mmangino.

Thanks again you guys for being so awesome and helping make Lose It or Lose It better!

Post-Thanksgiving Reality Check Promotion!!

Since we really really want to help you lose weight, but we also love chocolate (!), be one of the first 100 people to sign up at Lose It or Lose It by 11:55 PM EDT on Friday, November 27th, 2009 (the day after Thanksgiving) with $250 or more on the line and we will send you a box of 4 chocolates similar to above from Éclat Chocolate! Signing up and starting your plan ~nowish means you ALREADY lost 5, 10, or 15 pounds by New Years!

To qualify, you must be 1 of the first 100 people to do both of the following steps:

1. Sign up at Lose It or Lose It (There is a $50 cancellation fee so don’t sign up with the idea to immediately cancel your account! We love you too much to let you do that!) You can sign up whenever you want and weigh in for the first time after Thanksgiving!
2. Fill out the form over here to get your chocolates!

Thank you and we CAN’T WAIT to have you lovely people as our users :)

Today I am launching my latest labor of love, Lose It or Lose It! I created Lose It or Lose It because I wanted to be less fat and help others be less fat! It is a collection of tools that I realized I needed to lose weight and keep it off.

You have to understand, I have been fat all my life. I needed something where I could decide up-front I wanted to change and then be punished above and beyond the norm of being fat if I didn’t stick to my commitment. That is where the investment part comes in. I put up $450 to lose 20 lb over 10 weeks, if I don’t, not only do I stay the same fat Randy, I will lose money! I will essentially be paying rent on my fatness!

How does it work?

1. Purchase a plan by choosing dollars per pound and pounds per week. The key here is choosing a dollars per pound that will result in discomfort if you don’t make your weekly goal.
2. Set up some accountability friends that will help keep you accountable and will receive emails about your progress every week.
3. When you are ready to start your plan, go to your profile page and follow the instructions to weigh in for the first time. You will need to provide your weight and a clear photo of your feet on the scale. We trust you, we just like pictures of feet.
4. Weigh in every week for the next 10 weeks around the same time of your first weigh-in. Don’t worry, we’ll remind you via email when it’s time. Just make sure you are at or below your goal for that week and you won’t lose your money!

After you’ve set things up, be sure to head to your settings to add Twitter to your account so we can tell everybody who follows you about your progress!

Best of all, Lose It or Lose It is 100% FREE if you make all of your weekly weigh-in goals! Take THAT Weight Watchers (just kidding, we don’t actually compete with you ;)!