Around this time of year, people will really be starting to think about getting motivated to finally get their body in shape for the hot weather.
New Year's resolutions that were made many months ago have presumably been put on hold, but with a holiday coming up people might begin to feel guilty about their laziness. Sadly, though, it doesn't always work out.
That isn't the case for Walter Fisher, a professional poker player who has transformed himself after a catastrophic period in his life.
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The 36-year-old went on a tremendous winning run from February 2016 through to June 2016, turning two grand into $97,000 on the blackjack table. Unfortunately he experienced what most of us do in a casino, losing it all due to 'playing over his head'.
$100,000 debt, 50 pounds heavier, reaching 245 pounds, and having nowhere to turn he felt like he was down and out.
"I was broke, big and isolated. People dream of what I had accomplished, and I lost control," he told The New York Post.
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In December of last year though, he was given a chance. A fellow gambler bet him $500,000 that he couldn't lose the weight he'd piled on, cutting his body fat to ten percent in six months.
The money was put away for the bet, but no one really believed Walter could do it.
Personal trainer Chris DiVecchio was brought in to help Walter, though even he knew reducing 33 percent body fat to ten was a big ask, especially with a client who doesn't have the money to pay him.
He signed up, agreeing to take a cut should the bet win, determined to change his client's fortunes.
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"We started with 30 minutes of high-intensity interval training and an hour of weights, seven days per week," says Fisher. "Then we went to 45-minutes of cardio and two hours of high-intensity interval training, plus weights.
"I ate oatmeal and egg whites for breakfast. I soon put in ten hours a day, with five hours of cardio. I drank amino acids and glutamine to keep my muscles from breaking down."
DiVecchio added: "I had him swinging with a weighted hammer; that pushed his heart rate up while working his core. There was boxing, workouts with a medicine ball, cycling, rowing, weights."
By three months in Fisher had dropped 20 percent in body fat, and so two people backing him, Dan Bilzerian and Bill Perkins, a wealthy hedge fund manager, upped the anti, putting an extra $50,000 on him achieving his goal within four months.
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Unfortunately it didn't happen, but the original wager was still on.
Sports medicine guru Phil Goglia was brought in to help Walter after he began to doubt himself, helping him up his calorie intake to burn more fat rather than muscle, The New York Post reports.
Eventually after revamping his diet and heightening the intensity of his workouts, on June 22, the day the bet finished, the results were announced.
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Walter Fisher's body fat: 8.8 percent.
Fucking A. 70 pounds later and he was a ripped 175 pounds, and, quite rightly, he celebrated with four slices of pizza.
"To have gone from an absolute low to where I am now is an achievement and a transformation," he said. "A lot of people talk big games - and 99 percent of them would not be able to do what I did, even with the money as an incentive - but I backed it up. I backed it up and it makes me feel like there is absolutely nothing I can't do."
Topics: Weight