A couple of the diet sites have pinged me about trying to get the Fatblogging(tm) movement to join their services. Some of these services record your process and others are competitive.

FatBlogging is not associated with any services–it’s a blogging movement where you post about your diet/exercise on your blog and tag it fatblogging. That’s it. We ask that you do it daily, but that is a goal not required.

Fablogging is *not* a competition, it’s a lifestyle.

While weight loss competitions might draw some folks for the short term, it will hurt in the long term because a) many folks don’t like competitions and b) when the competition ends so does the motivation for those who signed up for it. You then need to replace that competitive motivation with something–and that’s a big risk.

In terms of psychology, competition is also a very low level–immature in fact–motivation. I don’t recommend it for deep change like is needed for weight loss. In other words, the motivation needs to come from within you and that motivation is best supported by a community of like-minded people. NOT COMPETITION… we’re all in this together.

You’re better off joining fatblogging than a competition because with fatblogging you get support, empathy, insights, tips, and conversation–and you might even make some friends.