I havent been on Elite that much anymore and really havent paid close attention to all the posts that were related, but I do want to let you both know that you look incredible.
Heres my thoughts on the whole deal. You both, from what I recall, made this competition a friendly bet between the two of you, mainly for motivational purposes, give you both something to work towards and see how well it went and what kind of condition you could get yourself into. From the pics that you guys posted for the contest, you both look better than I have ever seen you look, and congrads to that, but since you both achieved that goal than the friendly competition served its purpose. Correct me if I am wrong, but, no one, and I mean no one, ever comes into a professional competition getting everything right, with no mistakes on their first try.
When I prepared for my first photoshoot I messed a lot of shit up, its 100% trial and error when it comes to this, so now both of you can learn from how you prepared, how your results ended up, and what changes you can try next time. It took me about 4 years, one shoot per year, to really get an understanding of what worked well for me with the final month of preperation, I even tried some drastic new things this past shoot to see how they would affect me. There are so many factors involved with water, sodium, carbs, etc, that one of you could have accidentally nailed it and the other not, neither of you are pros in this part of the game,so be proud that you went through with it and learned a lot from it.
Eating a lot of cals and putting size on is the easy part of this sport, getting into competition shape like the both of you did is the extremely difficult part, especially when you dont have a professional following your every step telling what to do and exactly how to do it. This is why, even though I dont compete nor have the desire to, I have a great respect for anyone that steps foot on stage or does what you both did. So, do both of yourselves a favor and respect each other for going through with the whole thing and getting yourselves into the best shape you have ever been in.
Congrats again to both of you.