Doug Polk Loses $200,000 in Fat Loss Prop Bet

The Upswing Poker founder and three time WSOP bracelet winner, completed a Dexa scan and found that he would have to drop his body fat from around 28% to 13.85%, or he'd lose.

Towards the end of the challenge, he was down to 15.1% body fat - 1.3% away from landing $200k. But on February 10 2023, Polk revealed his final body fat percentage, and it was Perkins who was able to win the prop bet.

While Polk may have failed to bag the cash, his focus on physical fitness certainly improved his health, as you can see from the before and after photos.

The first five-ish months, I was mainly planning on trying to build up some muscle but not super focused on losing weight.

Polk said that in the first few months he wasn't just failing to make progress, but actually taking steps backwards. The owner of The Lodge Poker Card Club in Austin, Texas hired "a lot of people (paid to help me trim body fat) that either didn't know what they were doing or were just trying to keep their job." Polk decided to make some changes, including firing his personal trainer and nutritionist.

"I reached the point where I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands. So I fired everybody and did it myself. Since August, my progress has been really good. I’ve just been dropping pounds steadily every month.” Polk said.

Once Polk got in touch with a trainer who really knew his stuff, things started getting serious.

The new trainer altered everything in Polk's diet and exercise and by the time it was all worked out, Polk's routine consisted of hitting the gym 5-6 times per week and eating six small meals per day that amounted to roughly 1,800 calories. The calorie deficit was abandoned once every four days, where Polk would consume around 2,300 calories to aid with recovery.

“The number one problem I’ve had is I can’t sleep when I’m on a big caloric deficit," Polk stated.

That may have been his number one problem then, but there were certainly tougher times to come...

Later in the challenge, Polk became a father for the first time which understandably took a lot of time away from dedicating himself to winning $200,000. Polk's wife, Kaitlin, gave birth to Otis Douglas Polk on January 27th, just two weeks from the prop-bet deadline. What's more - Polk struggled to get to the gym or even gain access to running water during the ice storm that hit Austin last week.

If he could do it all over again, Polk said he would "change my initial strategy." But he doesn’t think it’s likely he’ll go back to his old diet and unhealthy habits “because I have the fundamentals in place now.”

All-in-all, Polk may have lost $200,000, but one thing's for sure, his body is definitely thanking him for the 6 months of hard work.

"I'm in the best shape of my life," Polk claims.

Plus, a $200,000 loss is nothing compared to the winnings that a player like Polk can get their hands on in the poker world.