From 6-Packs (of Beer) to a Six Pack and Back

Hey!  Long time no write…

I’ve moved from Blogspot to my own website (nickabourisk.com also works).  Hope you like it!

For those of you who are unaware, as a result of a New Year’s resolution last year (2009) and an extremely competitive personality, I ended up doing a 3-month weight-loss bet followed by a 4-month six pack abs bet.

If you’re interested in more in-depth info, check out the other posts filed under the fitness category.   Although I finished the abs bet over 6 months ago, my strong procrastination skills have impeded me posting results and progress pics until now… so here they are:

Overall:

• 7 months
• Lost 39 lbs
• Dropped 4 pant sizes

Weight loss bet:

• 3 months
• Lost 27 lbs

Abs bet:

• 4 months
• Lost 12 lbs (while putting on muscle)
• Lost 2.5 inches off waist (ended at 30.3)
• Lost 5% body fat (final estimates: 6.6%, 7.8%, 8.0%, 13.7%)
• Got a six pack 🙂
• Only got second place 🙁

Here are the anonymized before/after progress photos from the abs bet.  Feel free to leave your [unbiased] rankings (e.g. X > Y > Z …) in the comments below 😉

Here’s a progress collage taken at approximately 2-week intervals.  It’s pretty neat to see the emergence of definition (and increasing looseness same pair of jeans).

And here are some before/after progress pics:

Now for the bad news…

Like I said, it’s been over 6 or 7 months since the completion of the abs bet and I’ve gained back about 20 lbs due to the following factors

• Finishing and defending my Master’s thesis
• Moving from Edmonton (where my apt. building had a gym) to PEI for a few months (with no gym)
• Moving to Dublin, Ireland where I’m currently working for Full Tilt Poker and quickly getting bigger and bigger… (I’ll make a post about Dublin/life soon enough).

Anyway, as goals, bets, and competitions seem to be the only way to motivate myself, I started another 3-month weight loss bet with my Mom and sister (we’re each aiming for 20 lbs).

While I was on PEI, I did get the chance to set my brother up with a very easy-to-follow nutrition plan and a 3-day-a-week weight-lifting plan.  His results (-61 lbs and counting…) speak for themself:

I’m soooooo proud of him.  He deserves all the credit for his motivation and perseverance.  It does feel pretty nice to get the ball rolling for someone though.  At a New Year’s party, a high school friend approached me on the dance floor and informed me that my mid-bet progress pics inspired him to start his own transformation and that he had already lost over 40 lbs!

If you want to follow my progress, I’ll be recording just about everything in this spreadsheet: my fitness plan.  If you’d like a bare-bones template to copy or modify for yourself, grab it here: fitness plan template.  I’ll be recording my food/caloric intake with this really sweet, intuitive (and free) software, CRON-o-Meter, actually written by a coworker of mine, Aaron Davidson.

Here’s a screenshot (notice the videogame-like progress bars at the bottom!) showing some foodstuffs I consumed earlier today with the corresponding nutritional information:

Here are some things I’ll be using to get back in shape:

• JML Iron Gym (pull-up/chin-up/push-up/dip bar)
• Power Block dumbbells (adjustable weights)
• Salter MiBody scale (USB for data transfer to computer)
• Polar F6 heart rate monitor
• Weight bench
• Exercise mat
• Blender/shaker and whey protein powder
• Exercise machines (e.g. treadmill) at work

Anyway, thanks for reading, wish me luck, and join me if you’re feeling up to the challenge!

Let me know if you want to get started as well and I’d be more than happy to help out!