Still getting in better shape via lots of walking, StepBet and Pokemon Go still helping

I've been chronicling my experiences trying to get in shape via lots of walking, and how the two apps Pokemon Go and StepBet have been helping with that. I've now completed my third round of StepBet and I'm still very satisfied.

The premise of StepBet is that you and a bunch of other people each put $40 into a pot, and six days a week you have to meet particular stepcount goals on your fitness device (which the app assigns to you based on your track record from your device's history, so you're pushed to be slightly more aggressive with each round, I use the pedometer hardware that's built into my iPhone). If you miss your goals you're out, but at the end of the multiple-week game everyone who hit all their goals splits what's left in the pot (after the house takes a cut). My most recent round ran from just before Thanksgiving to just before Christmas:

I'm still making progress. I'm not losing weight as fast, but that's probably to be expected as I have less fat to burn and it gets harder as you go. Doing the walking and maintaining my activity level has been solid, although I probably need to be more careful when it comes to watching my diet (especially for the next round when I'll need to work off some Christmas treats).

I don't know if there's anything to extract from the overall trends of how rapidly people fall out of the bets. Subjectively it felt like the holiday season made it tougher for people so I felt better about myself for being able to stick with it, but I don't know if I've seen enough data to say that conclusively.

Pokemon Go is still helping me by giving me virtual destinations to focus on visiting, and giving me something to occupy my mind while I'm out walking. There was a recent large content update to the game which has freshened it up quite a bit: there's now a dynamic weather system which has made things more interesting, and they've started releasing a new generation of pokemon into the game. I caught this Wailmer and made him my buddy. I'll be able to evolve him into a Wailord once I gether 353 more candies, which I can do by walking 353 more kilometers with him. If only getting support from whales on Steemit was that easy!

Since things have been going so well I'm already working on another round of StepBet (although I've already used up my free day for the first week on Christmas day, so I'll need to be especially vigilant – I prefer to not use my free day at all so I always have a buffer). I'm also a little bit tempted to pay for the subscription to become a member so I can be participating in multiple games at once, but I'm not sure what the payouts on member-only bets are like so I don't know how many rounds it would take to recoup the initial outlay (the house doesn't take a cut from the member-only bets, but you have to pay an initial fee to have access to them).