To recap: Randy and I have started giving our forfeits to site users, so that the brutal power of LIOLI will be just as effective for us as it is for you.
Yesterday, I (John) missed my weigh-in and forfeited fifty bucks. So, we pulled user Tim_F out of the bowl, and sent him the money!
You can follow us on Twitter at @loseitorloseit to see when we’ve made (or missed) our own weigh-ins, and if we miss, who we’re sending the forfeit to.
PS. We don’t plan on losing any more money. >:[
Randy forfeits $150, gives it to YOU
Randy and I often get asked “What happens when YOU miss a weigh-in?”
The answer, as of today? YOU get it. Well, SOMEBODY gets it, maybe you if you’re on an active plan. When we miss a weigh in, we:
Put the names of everyone who’s currently on an active plan into a hat,
Pick a name from the hat, and then
Send that person the money.
This past Monday, Randy missed his weigh-in and forfeited (ouch!) $150. So, we pulled user Mamomo out of the hat, and sent her the money!
This way, LIOLI is just as effective for us as it is for you: after all, Randy started this thing to solve his own weight-loss problems, and he’s powering through a plateau.
You can follow us on Twitter at @loseitorloseit to see when we’ve made (or missed) our own weigh-ins, and if we miss, who we’re sending the forfeit to!
How To Re-enable Your Facebook Connection
Randy just finished the arduous process of migrating Lose It or Lose It from Rails 2 to Rails 3. It took a lot longer than he thought, because the hard part turned out to be re-writing all his automated tests (moral of this story: don’t write tests?)
One of the things that Randy updated was the way that Facebook connects to LIOLI. This means that even if you were connected to Facebook, as of right now you’re not any more.
Here’s how to re-connect your LIOLI account to Facebook:
We just got some AWEsome custom stickers made by the AWEsome Sticker Mule! If you would like one, just fill out this form and we’ll send you one!
BTW, Sticker Mule has been truly awesome. I’m sure I was the most high-maintenance customer they have ever had and they were kind the entire time. They even gave me a coupon code to replace the way out-of-date one I was trying to use. You should really check them out. Really.
Lock It or Lose It — Browse Our Site Securely If You Want!
Ever since Lose It or Lose It was launched, you would sign up, log in, and edit your account using a secure connection to our servers. This prevented people from eavesdropping when you would submit your sensitive information.
However, until just now, we would not allow people to use a secure connection on the rest of the site. Now you can! You can browse all of Lose It or Lose It with an encrypted connection and know prying eyes won’t be able to see what you are doing!
To use it, simply change http:// to https:// in the address bar in your browser. If you use Google Chrome, you can install the KB SSL Enforcer extension or if you use Firefox, the https Everywhere extension, and your browser will automatically use a secure connection when it is available.
Happy (secure) browsing!
PS: If you want to know why we’re doing this, check out Firesheep.
View Charts for Old Plans
Hi there! We have had some requests to be able to see the detailed charts for past plans, so we added it! We hope it will be an encouraging thing to see how well you have done so far.
You can get to them by clicking on the “Detailed Chart” link in your profile:
You will then see the past plans (if you have them) listed below your current plan. Clicking on the date will show you the detailed chart for that plan. Check out mine!
Starting Today, We’re Using “Delta-Based” Goals
Pretty soon after we launched Lose It or Lose It, we realized that if you miss a goal, it’s easy to start getting deeper in trouble. Let’s say you’re trying to lose two pounds a week, and your starting weight is 200 pounds. Your first weigh-ins go great: you start the plan at 200 pounds, then weigh in at 198, 196, and 194 pounds. But the next week, instead of making your goal by weighing in at your goal of 192 pounds, you weigh in at 194 pounds again, two pounds over your goal. You miss the goal, and pay your penalty.
Now, the way things were, next weeks’ goal is the same no matter what — you’d have to weigh in at 190, two pounds less than you were supposed to weigh this week. You’re left with four pounds to lose. Miss that goal, and you’re left chasing a moving target, with the goal getting steadily farther away. Like Rerun chasing the pickup truck at 0:53 in the What’s Happening intro:
We think that this is a bad situation for everybody. If you start to get seriously behind, the program isn’t motivational any more, it’s just a drag. What’s the incentive to make good choices if you’re gonna lose no matter what you do? Since we want a site that works, not just a site that extracts money from unhappy people, we’re changing the way the system handles goals after a missed weigh-in.
Starting today, here’s what’s changed:
If you make your goal, nothing has changed at all. Hurrah! Make all your goals, keep all your money, brag to your friends :)
If you miss a goal, next week’s goal will be one, two, or three pounds less than this week’s weight (instead of the “written in stone” goal that it was before.)
Here are some examples to make things clearer:
Using the example above, you’re on a two-pound-a-week plan, and you started at 200. If this week’s weigh-in goal is 192 pounds, but you weigh in at 194, then next week’s goal will now be 192 pounds, instead of the 190 pounds it would have been before.
Or, to use another example, if you’re on a one-pound-a-week plan, and this week’s goal is 180 pounds, but you weigh in at 181 (missing your goal), then next week’s goal will be 180. Not 179, like it would have been before.
To summarize, your goal for each week will never move faster than the one, two, or three pounds per week that you committed to. Miss a weigh-in, and your new goal is to weigh one, two, or three pounds less than you do right now.
We think this is the right way of handling it, and we hope you agree. Please let us know if this seems unclear, or if you really hate the way it works. Of course, if you LIKE this way of doing things, then please let us know that too! :)
Congratulations Tinta on your FLAWLESS VICTORY
User Tinta just completed his Lose It or Lose It plan and made his goal on all ten of his weigh-ins. We’ve started calling a FLAWLESS VICTORY. Not only that, but he made it look easy, with nothing but a laconic smiley-face on each post.
Great work, Tinta! Your official, can’t-be-purchased Lose It or Lose It FLAWLESS VICTORY Nerd Merit Badge is on the way!
We love it when folks make their goals and keep their money, because then we don’t just have a weight-loss-motivation site with a funny premise. We have a weight-loss-motivation site with a funny premise that actually works, which is a much, much more important thing to be involved with. We love it when people lose lots of weight with LIOLI. It’s working for us, and it’s working for these folks! Hurrah!
Get Your LIOLI Feet on Facebook!
If you’re like us, you have one group of friends that you talk to on Twitter, and a whole other group of friends, family members and old school chums that you talk to on Facebook. Those Facebook folks are just itching for an opportunity to cheer you on. And now it’s easy to do that!
We’ve added the ability to add your weigh-ins to your Facebook news feed. Get your friends and co-workers to “like” your effort, and to give you all sorts of encouragement! Here’s John’s last weigh-in from this week, as it appeared in his FB feed:
To turn on Facebook integration, sign in to your account and click “Settings” at the top of the screen. You’ll find a “Facebook” link on the left. Click that, then grant Facebook access, and you’re ready to get lots of help and encouragement from your extended Facebook network!
