Walter Fisher, an American poker player from New York State decided to go with an unorthodox method to boost up his depleted bankroll: he took up a $1 dollar prop bet that he could get his body fat under 10% within six months – at the time he weighed 245 lbs at 6’1” with over 33% body fat.
In the summer of 2016 Walter Fisher had an amazing run in poker and black jack – but his bankroll wasn’t the only thing expanding.
“I ordered double veal parms to the poker table; I ate full pizzas” – Fisher told the New York Post. “I’d lose a bundle at blackjack and eat three or four superrich single-serving chocolate cakes. They had to have had more than 1,000 calories each. It was disastrous.”
The heater ended, his bankroll was depleting but the pounds on his waist stayed – not an ideal situation for Fisher. That was when one of his gambling acquaintances offered him a $100,000 bet that he couldn’t get under 10% body fat in six months. Luckily for him avid gambler millionaires Dan Bilzerian and Bill Perkins decided to back him and in the meantime the stakes went up to $1 million. The deal made said that if Fisher does hit his target within the given time and win the one mil $500K would go to the backers, Perkins and Bilzerian and the other $500K to Fisher.
Perkins also made a side bet that the subject could get down to his target body fat in only 4 months rather than the original six, but that bet was lost which made Fisher doubt whether or not he could win the initial bet either. As he claims, he was motivated by the money, at that point his weight loss was already significant.
The cardplayer sought the help of personal trainer Chris Vecchio and nutritionist Phil Goglia. Partway through the weight loss process when the progress came to a halt Goglia made the counter-intuitive realization that Fisher was actually eating too little so his body was burning muscle mass for energy, not fat. After increasing his calorie intake Fisher’s body fat continued to decrease.
The six month passed and the moment of truth came: Fisher’s weight got down to 175 lbs, a 70-pound loss, but more importantly his body fat was measured at 8.8% – low enough for him to win the bet and get out of his financial troubles on top of getting substantially better looking and healthier.
