HEALTHY TRAIN IS BACK!!!! WHO’S IN?!?!!??!

What does that mean?

Get your “before photos” ready betties! 🙂 IT’S CONTEST TIME!

Wait, what’s the healthy train?

It’s something I started back in January, 2008 for personal accountability with my health.

You see, at that point in my life, I’d gained 50 pounds since getting married and was just plain miserable.  I knew it was time for drastic measures. So, I started sharing my weight loss journey online.

I asked people to join me and it was glorious 🙂

Well… by the third installment of the healthy train, I asked that our readers to take it a step further… I asked them to send in their “before photos” and six months later I asked them to send in their “after photos”.  The person who’d lost the largest percentage of weight won.

With your encouragement, after three years of being on the healthy train… I’ve lost more than 20% of my total body weight.

What exactly do I need to do to compete?

Send in your photos!

1. photos of your front, side and back.
2. a photo of your starting weight on your scale (yes, I know this is a new addition to the contest, and it’s an incredibly sensitive thing to send… but I need a way to keep everyone honest. I PROMISE you I don’t care how much you weigh, I’ll love you regardless.  I also promise to never show ANYONE… not even when the healthy train concludes).
3. Your goal weight. I’m asking for that simply because sometimes telling someone else what your goals are is an incredible motivator and it will keep you accountable.

Send those to me before next Friday. (for 100% clarification… I’ll need them before 11:59 on January 13th) I PROMISE not to post it!  In the end, only those who send in your “after” photos will be shown. 😀 Send all photos to healthytrainbobbi@gmail.com

DO NOT WORRY… JUDGMENT FREE ZONE!!!!   PLEASE know that I’m not a judgmental person in THE LEAST.  I think you’re all beautiful and love you regardless! We all have to start somewhere, right?! I’ve showed you all my before photos, photos of me as a sweaty mess, hair lookin’ all crazy, etc… so, please know that I will NOT judge you! 😀  So, swallow your pride and send it over! 😀

BEFORE PHOTO TIPS

• wear something that is easily comparable to another outfit for your “after” photo. For example… I wear a black shirt and blue jeans… that way, as I lost weight… I could just wear smaller jeans and a smaller black shirt so that it was easy to compare.
• DO NOT  wear super loose fitting clothes. I know it sucks now to see yourself that way but trust me… you’ll thank me later!
• stand somewhere that has a clean background… a white wall works perfectly.  Standing in front of clutter makes it difficult for you to see your outline.
• if space allows, take the photo with your camera more zoomed in rather than zoomed out. also, try to place the camera level with your belly button.  (Mike takes mine from about 10 feet away with a 50mm lens on a 5D mkII)

If you don’t want to compete… but still want to be on the healthy train… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE JOIN US… The MORE THE MERRIER!!!!!!

When does this contest start?

IMMEDIATELY!!!  Start making healthy choices RIGHT NOW!  Lunch plans to go to Cheesecake Factory are going to have to be canceled.  It’s a NEW YEAR!

Weigh yourself first thing tomorrow morning… that’s your official “start weight”

Unfortunately only the weight you lose during the current healthy train time period (Jan 7 – July 1) will be counted towards your percentage lost. This also goes for people who’ve already lost weight 🙂

When does this contest end?

July 1st (25 weeks… about 6 months) 😀  Progress pic

What is the prize?

An “after” photo session taken by yours truly…. in Indianapolis… within 4 months of the finale date. 😀 If you don’t want a photo session or aren’t local… oh well… jump on anyway! 🙂 Doesn’t matter… JOIN JOIN JOIN!

Oh, and if you were in the last healthy train… you’re more than welcome to join up again! We’d love to have you 🙂 Unfortunately, to keep things fair, only the weight you lose during the current healthy train time period will be counted towards your percentage lost. This also goes for people who’ve already lost weight 🙂

Where and when do I weigh in?

We’ll weigh in the first Friday of every month. You’ll not report how many lbs you’ve lost but instead your percentage lost. Total loss just isn’t fair… As some people only have 15 pounds to lose… while others have 100.

Once I get all of the competitors info… I’ll be setting up a google doc where people can enter their percentages lost in an Excel style format.

FIRST WEIGH IN: February 4th.

The following weigh ins will be March 4, April 1, May 6, June 3, and finally July 1.

Uh-oh, I can’t compete right now… can I hop on the next one?

Bittersweetly… This may be the final installment. (is bittersweetly even a word?!)

So, why may this be last one? Well… for a few reasons.

1. I have about 20 more lbs to lose to reach my final goal. Hopefully I’ll be able to knock that out this round. 😀
2. Maintaining the healthy train is incredibly time consuming. There are changes I need to make that give me more time to spend with my husband… this is, unfortunately, one of them.
3. I’m turning 30 in June… seems like the perfect finale date!
4. It’s a lot of responsibility and pressure… and I take that very seriously.  Sometimes when I’d be too busy to blog about it this last time, I felt some serious guilt. I knew I was letting a lot of people down. Over the last couple of years irrational guilt has become something that I struggle with.  (I’ll talk more about that in a future healthy train blog entry)
5. Last healthy train, we received 144 “before photos.” I was BLOWN AWAY!  How many “after photos” did we get? ELEVEN! If you’re doing the math… that’s less than 8%. While I was SO proud of those 11, I was also incredibly disappointed in the success rate. Bottom line, it’s a lot of time and work to keep track of people who aren’t following through. Not tr
   ying to be a jerk… just letting you know how I feel.

Now, all of this may change by the end of the summer… We’ll see. But for now just know that this could be the last one.

Anything else I need to know?

1. I canNOT stress this enough… MEASURE YOURSELF!!!!! When the pounds aren’t coming off… sometimes seeing the inches fly away are FABULOUS for the motivation.  I measure my waist, arms, thighs, bust and hips. Mike measures his waist, chest, arms, thighs and neck.
2. If you’re a twitterer… And you’re on the healthy train… and you happen to twitter ABOUT the healthy train.. be sure to tag it with #healthytrain  K? k. If you’re interested, here’s my twitter feed.
3. I started a “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is also a member… so if you have fitness questions, ask ’em there!  It’s already been a great place… as it’s SO much easier to do this in a group than by yourself. We’d love to have you there… 😀 Though, to be perfectly fair… I’m not a super active contributor. However,  many of our members are fantastic at giving good advice, feedback and encouragement.

Your support and encouragement means more to me than I could ever express… and I can’t thank you all enough.

I’m pumped up… hope you are too!

LET’S DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Love!

~bobbi ❗

Last, but certainly not least… Final Texas session#8 of 8! 😀

If Mike and I ever decide to have a family… if we turn out half as amazing as the families that we photographed in Texas, I’d consider myself a lucky girl.

Remember this duo?!

Like a mechanic’s car that is always broken… or a window washer with dirty windows… Photographers rarely get their photo taken 🙂 ((guilty)).  You see, like many other photographers that we photo’d in Texas… this was their first ever family session.  Rebecca-Linh and her husband Mike knew it was time to make it happen 🙂 They asked us. We said yes. The rest… is… history 🙂

JEEEEEEZE LOUISE… I need some rest! I’m talking crazy talk!!!! Shushing now and getting to the photos 😀 My view (and my favorite! :!:).

Mike’s view. Yes yes yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That’s a kitchen table… in a field! Rebecca-Linh had but one request… to incorporate that table!  You see, Michael is a fancy chef… AKA, the executive chef at Maggiano’s in Houston. AKA… YUMTOWN, USA! So, needless to say… they spend a lot of time around their kitchen table. It made perfecto sense to me 🙂 I adore these girls’ little outfits 🙂 Nice work Rebecca-Linh!

Aja, the little lady with the dark hair on the left… is sweet as can be… and also a bit shy. Getting her to come out of her shell and show us that amazing smile might just be my favorite accomplishment of that week 🙂 How sweet is this family?!

If that photo on the left isn’t making you smile… please… never visit this blog again! 😉 Okay, that’s kind of harsh… but really… how much are they they going to love that photo in twenty years?! A WHOLE DANG LOT! That’s how much! 😀

Mike’s favorite ❓

I need to work on my “taking action photos of Mike” skills. Seriously… what is this a photo of?! 

Houston photographer Chip Gillespie was there to help with the table… He took this photo 🙂 Thanks Chip! 

Texas session #7 of 8 🙂

Introducing to you… THE most adorable family of three living in Houston! The Crayola kid in me LOVES these primary colors they wore. 😀

Brody looks just like his handsome daddy. 

Poor little guy fell down right in the middle of the session. Mommy and daddy to the rescue.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOO TEXAS! My favorite ❗

An outfit and location change later… and badaboom badabing… AWESOME FREAKING LIGHT!  By the time we got to our new spot Brody had fallen asleep.  We took advantage of the time and photographed the two of them alone 🙂 Tyan, you’re 100% absolutely gorgeous 😀
Look who’s awake?! The one and only thing Jared insisted on… a photo in the tree with Brody. 🙂 

Tyan, again… gorgeous. 🙂 That photo on the right? That’s a quilt that she made herself.  So stinking cool 🙂 

THENNNNNN…. doughnut time! I blinked and next thing we knew they were in a full on chocolate doughnut food fight! Mike’s favorite ❓

Texas really does have some of the most amazing families. 🙂 Who knew chocolate could be so dang hot?!

❗