On January 12, 2004 - me and 12 of my friends put $20 each into a pot knowing that 3 months down the road, whomever of the 13 lost the biggest percentage of their body fat percentage would take the pot. we then weighed in on my Tanita body fat scale.

I know it's not perfect when it comes to measuring a person's fat content, but we were all weighing in at the same time, and we would all weigh out at the same time. we all agreed it was accurate enough for our contest.

my weigh in: 255.8 pounds, 34% body fat

the next 3 months proved to be an exercise in moderation and self control.

for me, I cut out 99% of my fast food intake. no more McD's (which I didn't miss all that miss, strangely enough). I found a love for veggies. my wife and I purchased a treadmill, set it up in front of the TV with a TiVo, and started walking on it for an hour a day 6 days a week. we also invested in some adjustable dumbbells that work well for us.

I really really tried to eat clean the whole time, but there were times when temptation would be too much and I'd cave in and have something I probably shouldn't have. in the end, I can see that having the occasional cheat worked wonders on my mental state. being able to eat something when I wanted to made this more like the lifestyle change it was meant to be, and not a 3 month "diet". as the 3 months progressed, my cravings for things "bad" for me got less, and my cravings for things like chicken breast and asparagus grew.

being the officiator of the contest, I wrote an email to all participants two weeks ago asking who all was going to weigh out. of the 13 people, 2 others besides myself said they would weigh out. 10 people in the contest either didn't/couldn't start, or didn't give it their all.

the 3 people left who'd weigh out were myself, an old coworker of mine, and my brother in law. a good group of people if I do say so myself :)

we decided this past Saturday, the 10th, we would weigh out in the evening, and then afterwards have ourself some fun with Dick's burgers (a Seattle area staple) and pizza while playing some Texas Hold'em. can't beat that.

just so you know, here are the weigh in numbers for the other two that weighed out:

Blaine (co-worker): 272.0 pounds - 36% body fat
Dan (brother-in-law): 227.8 pounds - 23.5% body fat

the weighout went like this:
Blaine: 232.0 pounds - 28% body fat
Dan: 210 pounds - 18% body fat
Joel (that's me): 234 pounds - 23% body fat

the formula we used was this:

1 - (weigh out % / weigh in %) = % of body fat % lost

whether that was the best formula could be debated, but it was something we all agreed on. with that formula, we have:

Blaine: 22.2% lost
Dan: 23.4% lost
Joel: 32.4% lost

yay for me! although I lost the most, I didn't feel it was right if I got the whole pot. sure, I did really well and I feel great about it, but my friends also did well and they feel great about their accomplishments. in the end, I split the pot and we divided the money 3 ways. this was probably the best resolution since, as we all know, the body fat scale isn't always the most accurate.

let the feast of the ages begin!

I had a Dick's Deluxe, cheeseburger and a strawberry shake - which seemed to be on par with what my friends got. it tasted heavenly. after that, we ordered up a couple pizzas and played some hold'em. my wife was there to help eat some of the pizza, as well as my in laws and a couple other friends. they had given us all encouragement through the whole thing, so why not celebrate with them.

at the end of the night, a couple people told us that, even though we were "feasting", they saw that our eating habits had changed. for me, the pizza was wonderful, but I only had a couple slices. I wasn't stuffed by any means, but honestly, I felt fine so I didn't want anymore. same with Dan and Blaine and many of the other people there.

not only did we change our lifestyle for the better, the people around us changed for the better. everyone was eating less, but still feeling wonderful about it.

honestly, even if someone would have beat me and decided not to split the cash, it would have been fine. I've lost a ton of fat, put on a good amount of muscle, and improved my life. and what was the motivation? to look better? to lower my size? no, it was a $20 bet against friends. heh.

I hope you like my story. if it serves as inspiration to get you that much closer to your goal, then I've done a good job. take care everyone.

Awesome story, a friend an I were going to do the same thing, but I couldn't find my calipers and then he got fired, but I started anyway

Congrats!!!

That was a great story. I'm glad you were so generous as splitting the pot, because in a lot of peoples' eyes, all of you were winners. That seems like a very good idea to challenge your friends and get in shape at the same time. Good for you!

:tu: Good Job! Kathy (my boss) and I started a contest, but we did it where we had to stick to a diet and exercise program (on the honor system) - it always helps when you have competition, even a little bit!

Great job!! So out of all those people, you 3 were the only ones to get through it? That alone would prove some serious committment. That's enough to brag about, let alone the huge weight that you lost. Now what's your guys next goal?? ;)

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed reading that. I bet the people who pulled out feel really bad and hopefully it will give them the motivation to follow in your footsteps.

Marcus :cool:

Actually alot of people wanted to start improving their health but some how doing it alone is so damn boring. The bet is may be just an excuse, the real thing is perhaps to 'officially' start the thing and have friends to discuss about the progress together rather than doing it alone.

Actually alot of people wanted to start improving their health but some how doing it alone is so damn boring. The bet is may be just an excuse, the real thing is perhaps to 'officially' start the thing and have friends to discuss about the progress together rather than doing it alone.
yeah, just reading this website everyday is enough.
To see people working out the problems, discussing diets and exercise regimes and just generallly supporting each other is fantastic.

On January 12, 2004 - me and 12 of my friends put $20 each into a pot knowing that 3 months down the road, whomever of the 13 lost the biggest percentage of their body fat percentage would take the pot. we then weighed in on my Tanita body fat scale.

I know it's not perfect when it comes to measuring a person's fat content, but we were all weighing in at the same time, and we would all weigh out at the same time. we all agreed it was accurate enough for our contest.

my weigh in: 255.8 pounds, 34% body fat

the next 3 months proved to be an exercise in moderation and self control.

for me, I cut out 99% of my fast food intake. no more McD's (which I didn't miss all that miss, strangely enough). I found a love for veggies. my wife and I purchased a treadmill, set it up in front of the TV with a TiVo, and started walking on it for an hour a day 6 days a week. we also invested in some adjustable dumbbells that work well for us.

I really really tried to eat clean the whole time, but there were times when temptation would be too much and I'd cave in and have something I probably shouldn't have. in the end, I can see that having the occasional cheat worked wonders on my mental state. being able to eat something when I wanted to made this more like the lifestyle change it was meant to be, and not a 3 month "diet". as the 3 months progressed, my cravings for things "bad" for me got less, and my cravings for things like chicken breast and asparagus grew.

being the officiator of the contest, I wrote an email to all participants two weeks ago asking who all was going to weigh out. of the 13 people, 2 others besides myself said they would weigh out. 10 people in the contest either didn't/couldn't start, or didn't give it their all.

the 3 people left who'd weigh out were myself, an old coworker of mine, and my brother in law. a good group of people if I do say so myself :)

we decided this past Saturday, the 10th, we would weigh out in the evening, and then afterwards have ourself some fun with Dick's burgers (a Seattle area staple) and pizza while playing some Texas Hold'em. can't beat that.

just so you know, here are the weigh in numbers for the other two that weighed out:

Blaine (co-worker): 272.0 pounds - 36% body fat
Dan (brother-in-law): 227.8 pounds - 23.5% body fat

the weighout went like this:
Blaine: 232.0 pounds - 28% body fat
Dan: 210 pounds - 18% body fat
Joel (that's me): 234 pounds - 23% body fat

the formula we used was this:

1 - (weigh out % / weigh in %) = % of body fat % lost

whether that was the best formula could be debated, but it was something we all agreed on. with that formula, we have:

Blaine: 22.2% lost
Dan: 23.4% lost
Joel: 32.4% lost

yay for me! although I lost the most, I didn't feel it was right if I got the whole pot. sure, I did really well and I feel great about it, but my friends also did well and they feel great about their accomplishments. in the end, I split the pot and we divided the money 3 ways. this was probably the best resolution since, as we all know, the body fat scale isn't always the most accurate.

let the feast of the ages begin!

I had a Dick's Deluxe, cheeseburger and a strawberry shake - which seemed to be on par with what my friends got. it tasted heavenly. after that, we ordered up a couple pizzas and played some hold'em. my wife was there to help eat some of the pizza, as well as my in laws and a couple other friends. they had given us all encouragement through the whole thing, so why not celebrate with them.

at the end of the night, a couple people told us that, even though we were "feasting", they saw that our eating habits had changed. for me, the pizza was wonderful, but I only had a couple slices. I wasn't stuffed by any means, but honestly, I felt fine so I didn't want anymore. same with Dan and Blaine and many of the other people there.

not only did we change our lifestyle for the better, the people around us changed for the better. everyone was eating less, but still feeling wonderful about it.

honestly, even if someone would have beat me and decided not to split the cash, it would have been fine. I've lost a ton of fat, put on a good amount of muscle, and improved my life. and what was the motivation? to look better? to lower my size? no, it was a $20 bet against friends. heh.

I hope you like my story. if it serves as inspiration to get you that much closer to your goal, then I've done a good job. take care everyone.

Congrats Joel, for not only winning the pot and losing the weight but also for coming to the realization that things needed to change. I also salute you for being such a positive influence on your family and friends. Also, your contest idea is pretty ingenious. I might have to start a contest for my family, and get them to shed some of those extra pounds! :tu: