You KNOW you were thinking that as soon as you saw the title, right?! Okay, shushing now… I couldn’t resist!

As most of you know… it’s our HALFWAY WEIGH IN BETTTTTIES!!!!

That also meant… optional progress pics. Which also explains why this post was so late… It takes a while to organize all of this. Sorry about that friends!

Be prepared to poopy in your pants because these progress pics are SHOCKING! And the best part? We’re ONLY HALFWAY THERE!!!!! So, now that you have your diaper on… here they are!

Michelle Hunley -10.3%

Angie Livesay -8.4%

Devan Whitson -14.41%

Jennifer Hughes -6.51%

Jessica Harrison -10%

Scott Neumyer -8.49%

Kim Robinson -6.13%

Krystie Hill -3.5%

Michelle McDonnell -8.74%

Heather Cole, my BFF -8% (this, in my opinion, is THE most incredible one… probably because I know her and seeee the difference in the way she’s standing, smiling, EVERYTHING. Heather, I could NOT be more proud of you!!!!!

Meredith Johns -4.61%

Last, but certainly not least… Jill Pollitt, our current leader -18.13% (WOW TO THIS TRANSFORMATION!!!!) I’m SO proud of you Jill!!!

And now… mine Bobbi Sheridan -5.5%

Bobbi Sheridan -20.6% (since October, 2008)

Lots of expletives came out of my mouth after I saw this… I find this so incredibly shocking.

Still seeing those ORIGINAL before pics makes me both really proud and really sad… so glad to not be in that shell anymore. I am absolutely a different person now… and not just on the outside.

And for the top five:

Jill Pollitt  18.13%
Devan Whitson   14.41%
Michelle Hunley      10.3%
Jessica Harrison   10%
Jessica Seamon     9.31% (where’s your progress pic?! )

To those on the train, be sure to weigh in via the Google doc!

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is August 6th.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• Finale date is October 29th.

I’m BEYOND proud and completely humbled by the success of this train. I have no words right now.

I cannot thank you guys enough for ALLLLL you’ve done for me.

Love to you blog readers

~bobbi

PS. Friends, if you have any nice thoughts… PLEASE share them here. I know from experience how hard it is to publicly post photos like these… and 12 people did that today… so, MAJOR kudos to them! Encouragement and excitement is worth its weight in gold

Hope your summer is wonderful so far Mine… mine is good but, like always… I have over-extended myself and am feeling a weeee bit overwhelmed. When am I ever going to learn?!

Needless to say… this is going to be a quickie entry today… have lots to do before tomorrows wedding.

So, I noticed that Scott  posted this  on the Facebook Healthy Train page a couple of weeks ago…

“Tell your story: What’s something you can do TODAY that you couldn’t do (or had trouble doing) when you started on the Healthy Train?”

There were so many great responses

That got me to thinking… what’s my answer to that? And after much thought, here’s what I came up with:

• Buy clothes off the rack
• I can shoot more comfortably
• I can carry 80lbs of gear up the stairs without getting winded
• I don’t hate mirrors
• Printed new photos of myself with Mike
• Sit down without being paranoid about my stomach

The BIGGEST one for me is absolutely the “buy clothes off the rack” thing…. For the last 7 years, I’ve had to special order nearly all of my clothes online. They sell chubby clothes in stores for average heighted women… but me… I’m anything but average height. Oh… not to mention the size of my uhm… coconuts. Because my clothing situation sucked… I HATED going out in public because 1) the clothes were ugly 2) they didn’t fit well 3) I wore the same outfit nearly every day.

I even bought a new suit… NOT ONLINE Here it is. Oh, and isn’t that Mike man so damn hot?!

So… yeah… while I’m not at my goal weight yet… It’s great to remind myself how far I’ve come.

You should do the same. SO, on THAT note… what’s your answer?

What’s something you can do TODAY that you couldn’t do (or had trouble doing) when you started on the Healthy Train?

SO, how’d you all do these last two weeks? Me = holding steady at 4.3%.

And for the top five:

Jill Pollitt     17.54%
Devan Whitson     12.51%
Jessica Harrison     9.44%
Scott Neumyer    7.98%
Angie Livesay      7.02%

Jill, can’t wait to see your progress pic in two weeks!

Oh, speaking of “after pics.” I don’t mean to get all hard ass on you guys… but someone brought up a very interesting point… that people could alter their “after pics” so that they could win. This just won’t fly with team Healthy Train sooo… your photos need to be sent to me straight out of camera… no resize, no editing… NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH IT!   By reading the file info I’ll be able to see “date created” and “date modified” If the file has been modified in ANY WAY you will be disqualified. Okay, hard ass over.

To those on the train, be sure to weigh in via the Google doc!

Speaking of the Google doc… PLEASE only fill in your own box. Also, no deleting… anything, ANYTHING! k, thanks

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is July 23rd.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” in two weeks to keep the motivation levels high, oh… and I fully expect the top 5 to join in on that, we’d love to see what these huge numbers are looking like… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• Finale date is October 29th.

I adore you guys… thanks for keeping us all motivated!

LOVE!!!!!

~bobbi

Here’s a quick refresher if you’ve forgotten or you’re new here…

In the beginning of his own personal healthy train (the first two are from high school/beginning of college… the last few were from more recently):

Here he is 2.5 years later…

I’m STILL blown away every time I see those.

I asked him to write about annnnnything he wanted So without further ado… heeeeere’s DANE!

Hey, Healthy Train! This is Dane, one of the guys from the last HT, stepping into the blogger spot for our fearless leader. How did you guys do this week?!

I think for almost everyone, no matter where you live, it’s starting to get hot. And when it gets hot, it’s hard to want to get outside and be active (we love our air conditioning!). But grab your water bottle and get outside because this is the BEST season of the year to get sweaty and burn some calories!

For those of you who don’t know me, let me bring you up to speed a bit. I’ve been working consistently to get healthy for the last two years. I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of Missouri where it didn’t seem like a big deal for me to be fat, it was an acceptable part of our community. But by the time I was 22 and weighed almost 500 pounds, I knew that being morbidly obese wasn’t the way I wanted to live, and I decided to do something about it.

I’ve lost over 230 pounds (over 50% of myself!) in the last two years, through diet and exercise. I’m living a completely different life, doing things that I never thought were possible. I ran the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in May—which was a dream come true—I’m hiking with friends, and I’m really happy with the person I’ve become. I can walk into a store in the mall and clothes that will fit me, I believe in myself more. I may have to deal with extra skin and embracing the fact that I don’t have an athlete’s body, but I’m okay with that. What I’ve gained by losing weight is overwhelming, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the journey.

In March I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, and I had one of the best experiences, it was one of those trips that I really needed, and that I learned so much on. The things that I saw and the realizations that I had made for a really great trip that I’m so grateful to have taken.

One thing I did learn is that traveling and living a healthy lifestyle are really hard to put together. We flew Air France, and the french love to serve up rich yogurts, cheeses, breads and butters at any opportunity they have. Everything was slathered in rich cream and while it was among the best airplane food I’ve had, I didn’t even want to think about the calories I was ingesting. Add to that the 90+ degree heat we experienced every day (which made working out impossible), and you’ll find me eating more calories than I’m burning. joy. I’m not quite sure how much weight I gained on the trip, but it was at least six pounds. It was annoying to say the least, but my mentality with weight gain is that I’ve seen that number before, and I know I can see it go down again.

As I set out to lose those pounds that I found, I went back to my daily routine, eating what I should, training for the Indy Mini — living my normal life. And then, on April 27, at 12:17 a.m., I got the call that I’d been waiting on for months. My nephew was on his way into this world—I was going to be an uncle.

As I rushed home to Missouri to experience the birth of my nephew, I kept thinking how excited I was to simply meet this little boy. I think kids are generally a lot of fun, but this was the first baby for our family, and is also the child of my little sister. Add to all of those things the excitement I had for the fact that this little boy was going to meet me as I am today, and needless to say I couldn’t get there quick enough.

Later that night, as I looked into his eyes I couldn’t help but think how he’d never know a ‘big’ Uncle Dane, an Uncle Dane who couldn’t chase him around the park, an Uncle Dane who was addicted to over eating. He was meeting a thin, active and happy Uncle Dane, an Uncle Dane who wants to be his example of those things for the rest of my life.

I tell you all of this to say that sometimes you have to find something in your life that will keep you going. I like to call these “Non-scale victories”. Need some ideas of what these may be? I’ve got ideas:

Some people will hang a piece of clothing up to remind them of what they used to look like (or what they want to look like).

Keep a photo of yourself on your fridge so you are reminded of your hard work when you really want to splurge.

Take your measurements. You wouldn’t believe how much your body changes ALL OVER as you’re losing weight.

Personally, my nephew is my motivation to stay the course, he reminds me that I’m worth it and that others are depending on me to stay healthy. I’m closer to my goal weight than I’ve ever been, but I also know that when I get there, I have to maintain that weight. But my nephew is more than motivation for right now, he’s a motivation for my life, and even though he cries and poops his pants, I’m excited to see where life takes us. If there are a few things I know about the future, it’s this: It’s going to be happy, healthy and full of fun, because I’m finally living the life I’ve always wanted.

I wish you all the best as you work towards a better you.

Keep moving,
dane.

I have to show you all this… I’ve been watching him train for the Indianapolis Mini Marathon via Twitter for a while and when these photos popped up on Facebook, I couldn’t stop crying/smiling.

A man who was nearly 500 lbs 2.5 years ago just ran THIRTEEN and a half miles. AYFKM?! When I think about that… it brings me goosebumps. Seriously, at this moment… I’m covered in them.

He makes me think that I could run the mini next year! (and I HATE running! The most I’ve ran at one time was 8 miles ((in the Army)) and I think I nearly died… okay, not really… but it was pretty intense… I was puke central. G-R-O-S-S!)

A HUGE thanks to you Dane for that. I know how uncomfortable it is sharing such a vulnerable side of yourself so publicly so… thank you… beyond words. You are an incredible person and I’m lucky to know you and call you my friend.

PS. you need a real point and shoot… your iPhone pics aren’t doing your amazing life justice. You can thank me later

Here is a photo that I took of the new him a couple of months ago

SO, how’d you all do these last two weeks? Me = down 4.3% BAAAAABIES! (since the beginning of this round of healthy train)

TOTAL since the BEGINNING of the ORIGINAL healthy train? 19.9% uhm… let me pick my jaw up off of the ground! I’ve gotta tell you… the first 10 even 20 lbs… I didn’t see a HUGE difference but the more weight I lose… even the smaller numbers are showing a difference. I’ve not had this kind of confidence in myself in YEARS. I am like a completely different person than I was 2 years ago.

Yes yes yes, feeling GOOD about that

And for the top five six:

Wow Jill! Get it girl. Can’t wait to see your progress pic in a month

Jessica, you made it!!! (her mini goal was to make it into the top 5) BOOOOOOOYAH!

As for why there are six instead of the usual five… Scott has been SUCH an incredible motivator both on twitter and with the Facebook group… and he’s working SO ridiculously hard… annnnnd… he’s only .02% below #5. Whatever, it’s my train… so I can break the rules if I want

Mini goal for the next two weeks?

No eating after dinner.

What’s yours? (like always… put it in the comment section to keep yourself accountable!)

To those on the train, be sure to weigh in via the Google doc!

Speaking of the Google doc… PLEASE only fill in your own box. Also, no deleting… anything, ANYTHING! k, thanks

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is July 9.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 23 to keep the motivation levels high, oh… and I fully expect the top 5 to join in on that, we’d love to see what these huge numbers are looking like… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• Finale date is October 29th.

I adore you guys… thanks for keeping us all motivated!

LOVE!!!!!

~bobbi

I’m again blogging in the airplane (I’m officially OBSESSED with in-flight wifi) so, needless to say… I haven’t weighed myself yet.  However, given what my weight was last I checked, it’s pretty fair to guess that I didn’t make it.

So, why did I set this goal? Because again… I’m closer than ever before to my “wedding weight”.  I SOOO badly wanted to fit into my wedding dress for my 29th birthday (which is Monday).

ARGH! I should have squeezed in more work outs than I did. I’m a bit disappointed in myself

…. there’s always healthy train 5, right?! ARGH!

So, on that note, how did YOU do???? Were you able to stick to your mini goal? Me? I stuck to mine BEAUTIFULLY! A quick refresher: I wanted to go to bed before 1:30 on at least 8 of the nights… as I’m a bit of an insomniac.  Well… I TOTALLY exceeded that goal by going to bed before midnight  all but 4 nights. That’s huge for me

What’s YOUR mini goal for the next two weeks?

• Drink more water?
• No snacks after 8pm?
• Walk the dogs 5 days/week after work?
• In bed before midnight?
• No more soda?
• Try 2 new fitness classes?
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator/escelator?
• 50 pushups/lunges/situps/etc a day?

Be sure to include what your mini goal is down there in the comment section… it will help hold you accountable and give the rest of us ideas for our mini goals.

Mine? hmmmm…. OH! I’ve got it… minus my birthday celebration and the traveling to Valparaiso next weekend… no going out to eat So, no temptations with inviting me out to eat, k? If you want to hang with me… we’re walking instead of eating. Got it? GOT IT!

And for the top 5?

Jill Pollitt    15.2%
Stephanie Wortley    9.71%
Jessica Seamon      7.59%
Devan Whitson    7.37%
Michelle McDonnell      7.28%

BOOOOOYAH!!!!!! those are some AWESOME numbers!!!!!

To those on the train, be sure to weigh in via the Google doc first thing today!

Speaking of the Google doc… there are 7 of you who have never logged in and reported loss…. and 12 of you who only weighed in the first time. I’m going to go ahead and assume that you’re no longer interested in being on the train, it’s a bit of a bummer. Howeer, each of us have to decide, on our own, when we’re ready to make this happen… so, we hope to see you guys here on the next round of the train

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is June 11.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 23 to keep the motivation levels high, oh… and I fully expect the top 5 to join in on that, we’d love to see what these huge numbers are looking like… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• Finale date is October 29th.

I adore you guys… thanks for keeping us all motivated!

LOVE!!!!!

~bobbi

PS. after looking at that wedding photo, I couldn’t be more pleased with the progress of my personal mission, “Operation: Grow Back Eyebrows.” Those things were thinnnnnnn! I’ve been in full swing since February… and these things are lookin’ a little Bert (&Ernie)… but in the end, this will be fully worth it.

I haven’t weighed myself yet… I’ll do it when I wake up and then update with my results then

As of yesterday… I hadn’t lost anything since two weeks ago. The good news? I didn’t gain, either. The last two weeks have been full of travel (St. Louis, Dayton & Cincinnati) and a lot of stress so… not gaining is a HUGE deal for me in these circumstances. (I SUCK at travel/healthy eating!)

Here’s the last two weeks via my iPhone…

Actually… there are a few photos missing…

• the chiggers that attacked me at Lindsey & Beto’s session. My stomach is STILLLLL itch central. Even the finger nail polish wasn’t working! I do have a photo of it… but… that’s a bit tooooo personal… even for ME!
• My poor bug got broken into… glass EVERYWHERE. All for a stinkin’ GPS. ugh.
• oh, and the bugs brakes went out… as in… the caliper froze up… or something like that. The whole car ordeal cost us $1700+ ARGH!
• I’ve found out that I need to go on a temporary strict diet due to some recent health discoveries. Nothing serious… so no need to worry… but the next couple of weeks aren’t going to be easy. (I don’t like to talk about my diet… people are so opinionated when it comes to what we should/shouldn’t eat… so… I’d rather just keep that info to myself… I hope you understand )

So… bottom line… it’s been a bit of a stressful couple of weeks…. and I maintained… so, yes yes yes… VICTORY!

How’d you do on your mini goals? Me? hmm… not so much. My mini goal was to work out 7x between then and today. That didn’t happen. I planned on taking a self photo after every gym today for accountability… Here’s what I’ve got:

4x.

I suppose that’s better than nothin’ right? bleh… not too proud of myself on that one…

So, this strict diet that I’ll be on in the immediate future… well… working out isn’t going to be a priority this time.

My mini goal to achieve before next weigh in? SLEEEEP Maybe you knew… maybe you didn’t… but I’m a bit of an insomniac (duh, right?!) My mini goal is to be in bed before 1:30 am for 8 nights between now and June 11th. I think if I slept more my overall health would greatly improve.

Here’s a photo of me with 3 of my favorite girls taken back in February. None of us had really slept the night before (afterall, it IS a slumber party… who slumbers at a SLUMBER party?!)… well, this was at the height of my insomnia… I hadn’t slept for 3 nights when this was taken. I mean… I’d get in an hour or two every night… but MAN OH MAN did it take its toll on me! The good news is that I’ve DEFINITELY improved… but I’m certainly not 100%. Jess (on the left) says that if I had a regular sleep schedule that it would greatly improve my sleep…. hence the 1:30 deadline.

LOOOOK at me there… it’s like my eyes are all “Interview with a Vampire” Brad Pitt style… and I don’t mean that as a good thing!

Okay, back on topic!

Your turn to make ONE goal to attain by next weigh in. Something small. Little changes that, hopefully after 2 weeks, will become a part of our lives.

Examples:

• drink 64oz of water each day
• walk the dogs every day after work
• do not eat after 8pm
• etc, etc, etc…

Mine? well… I already told you mine In bed before 1:30am at LEAST 8x.

What’s YOURS??? Don’t make anything toooo crazy and unattainable… set yourself up for success! And like last weigh in post, let us all know in the comment section so that it a)holds you accountable and b) may give others ideas.

To those on the train, be sure to weigh in via the Google doc first thing today!

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is June 11.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 23 to keep the motivation levels high… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• Finale date is October 29th.

Much love friends!

~bobbi

PS. goodnight..

PPS. so much for “short and sweet blog entry” I think I’m incapable!

UPDATE!!!!!!!

Here are our top 5:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT?!!?! Jill has been in the lead EVERY weigh in!

Mad props friends… MAD PROPS! I’m seriously beyond pumped for our “progress” photos. You guys are kicking some serious ass.

Between the lack of weigh ins and reading many of your Twitter updates/Facebook status’… it seems that many of you have hit a mini road block. BIGGG FLIPPIN’ DEAL! Who cares?! Just keeeep on it!

In high school, I worked closely with the mentally handicapped class. They were my buddies There was one girl named Clare who loved idioms. She’d shout them… loudly.  Towards the end of my senior year she was particularly fond of, “KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PICTURE PRIIIIIIIZE!!!!!” Every time I’m down in the dumps both personally and in biz… I can hear Clare shouting that in the back of my head.  Yeah yeah yeah, it’s probably a dorky thing but… for me, I know I’ll lose all of this weight some day!  You ALLLLL know it’s taken me a LONG time to lose the bit that I have… and I didn’t do it easily…. lose a little… gain a little… lose a little… gain a LOT… lose a little… etc, etc. etc. If it were easy… everyone would be healthy, y’know?

So…. KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PICTURE PRIIIIIIIIIZE!!!!!!!!!!

On THAT note, of the 54 (out of 146) who HAVE weighed in…  here are our biggest losers

Jill Pollitt     11.11%
Michelle McDonnell    6.31%
Kathleen Stivers      6%
Stephanie Wortley    5.87%
Christopher Vandercook    5.03%

JILL?! Two weeks in a row of being on top… and 11%?! I’m BEYOND blown away!

OH! for those of you on the train, make sure that you report your TOTAL cumulative loss since the beginning in your column… not JUST the two weeks.

Also, PLEEEEEEASE weigh in FIRST thing Friday mornings, please?! It REALLY makes things easier on me

Me… I didn’t have a GREAT two weeks.  This traveling is KICKING MY ASS!  Now many of you may recall that the last time I was doing this much traveling was July of last year… and THAT was when my train derailed… and derailed BIG TIME! So, the fact that I’ve been losing at all is HUGE for me. Even if it is just a littttttle bit

Total % loss since April 2nd, 2010: 2.57%

Now for a tip…. something that ABSOLUTELY helped in the weight loss department.

A couple of months ago I put something up on Twitter/Facebook… something like “I don’t think I’m drinking enough water… need to fix that”  Someone (I can’t remember who) suggested that I buy a Camelbak water bottle. She said that she took it with her everywhere and the way that the straw was felt like a toy. She told me that she couldn’t stop drinking out of it. Hmmm… a toy? Not sure I believe that, but whatever… I’ll give it a try.

On to Amazon I went… and found an insulated one that had awesome reviews and bought it.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THE AMAZINGNESS THAT IS THIS WATER BOTTLE?! She was right… It REALLY does feel like a toy when you’re drinking out of it… and I REALLY do take it EVERYWHERE! I can’t stop drinking water! As a matter of fact… my body is becoming so used to all of this hydration that if I haven’t had water in only 30 minutes I’m feeling some serious cotton mouth. Oh, and one of the BESSSST things about this water bottle?! I will put ice in it and the ice will STILL be frozen 24 hours later. OH YES… YOU HEARD ME RIGHT!!!!! Mike has taken it to tennis and left it in the sun and it’s still cold two hours later. One more thing… it doesn’t sweat. So, no rings of water left behind. BOOOYAH!!!!

When I :::think::: I’m hungry (but really just bored), I just have a bit of water and it seems that the hunger goes away. It’s taken the place of bored snacking at the desk. Know what I mean by bored snacking? Eating food JUST to eat… not because you should be or need to eat? Well, I don’t do that anymore now Thank YOUUUUU Camelbak!

DO NOT PASS GO… DO NOT COLLECT $200… BUY ONE NOW!!!!!!!!

Just a heads up, drinking out of the nozzle thing does take a bit to get used to… as you have to bite down on it to get it to open… but once you get the hang of it… you can’t stop!

There are less expensive Camelbak water bottles (un-insulated)… so if you can’t afford that one, do yourself a favor and just GET one

A few quick reminders:

• Next official weigh in is May 28.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “bobbi’s healthy train” group on Facebook… ANYONE can join… not just the people with the before pics. My trainer is an admin … so if you have fitness questions, ask ‘em there!  Dane is also an admin, so if you have questions about diet/need motivation… he’s the guy to talk to. We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 23 to keep the motivation levels high… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• Finale date is October 29th.

Much love friends!

~bobbi

EDITED TO ADD!!!!!

I’ve been thinking… let’s each make one goal to attain by next weigh in. Something small. Little changes that, hopefully after 2 weeks, will become a part of our lives.

Examples:

• drink 64oz of water each day
• walk the dogs every day after work
• do not eat after 8pm
• etc, etc, etc…

Mine? Work out 7 times before the next weigh in. I haven’t been so great at the working out because I’ve been SO ridiculously busy… so, with the upcoming travel schedule… 7 times won’t be easy… but I’m DEFINITELY going to try Wish me luck friends

What’s YOURS??? Don’t make anything toooo crazy and unattainable… set yourself up for success!

As you may or may not know… I’ve had a personal trainer for about the last year and a half.  Her name is Kristen. Through the training process, she’s become one of my greatest friends.

Kristen is genuinely who I owe about 90% of my success on the healthy train to. She’s been an incredible motivator and has NO shame in uhm…. telling me how it’s gonna be. AKA… when it’s training time… she goes 0 to betty in about 10 seconds

Well… early this year… I had to quit the personal training (the gym’s program changed…) and when I realized that our time together was ending… I was REALLY upset. I cried. Yeah, OVER THE TOP! The interesting thing was that I was not really upset about losing the motivator, though I was going to miss it… I was more upset about not seeing Kristen twice a week… you know… my friend!

She’s been one of the very few constants in my life in recent years.  When I’d be doing push ups… we’d talk… a lot.  My dramas, her dramas, weddings, aspirations, boys, sex, life stories, hilarious memories, etc. There really is not a topic too taboo for us. I mean… nada. She’s my Indianapolis Corrie (AKA my Grigh) Yeah, that’s a big deal. HUGE DEAL!  Now, instead of training me… I go and spin with her once or twice a week. So, LUCKILY… I still get my Kristen time in. WHEW! RELIEF!!!!

At the beginning of the year she started training for a half Ironman. You’re probably wondering… WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! Lucky for you, I’m a plethora of knowledge who’s about to tell you It’s a triathlon. BUT NOT JUST ANY TRIATHLON… a RIDICULOUS triathlon. RIDIC! Swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles then it ENDS with 13.1 mile RUN! ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME?! RIDIC!!!!!!

Kristen and I are very alike in that our expectations of ourselves is very high. We both put too much pressure on ourselves. While our goals are very different, we relate to each other very well.  Watching her train for this triathlon has been intense. She’s trained hard. VERY hard. Sacrificed more than she ever realized to accomplish this goal… learned so much about her strengths, limits, priorities, relationships and needs.

Here’s an excerpt from her blog: “The journey has pushed me beyond where I thought I could go, and taught me more about myself, than any other experience.”

About a month ago Kristen decided last minute to run the local Carmel Triathlon. It’s literally 1/5th the distance of the one that’s happening tomorrow. Small fries I tell ya.  As we were sitting on the spin bikes, she casually mentioned it. WELLLLLL… I had the weekend off… and damnit… I was going to BE there! My turn to show support.  I surprised her First I watched the swim… but couldn’t find her. So, I headed out to the bike trail. I stood there with my 70-200 waited, watched and cheered for random people. Well, she turned the corner and I got SOOOO excited that I almost forgot to shoot until the VERY last minute. Here  was my only photo OOOPS! This was her expression when she saw me. My red hair is kinda hard to miss.  The photo on the right is her at the finish line. That guy was randomly in front of her… and for no reason she ran her little booty off to beat him… just for fun. When she saw this photo she said, “I WON! I BEAT HIM”  I sat there and watched over 100 people complete this triathlon. NOT ONE of them was smiling like she was.

HEEEEERE WE ARE!!!!!

Well, tomorrow is said triathlon.  She’s in North Carolina RIGHT now with her family preparing.  So, before she did this thing…  I wanted to put this little entry up to tell her how much she means to me… how much I appreciate her friendship and love the person she is.

Kristen, you’ve been so much more than just a trainer to me. I know I couldn’t have accomplished so much growth… both physically and mentally… without you. Thank you for sharing yourself with me and giving me a place to freely share myself with you. I’m BEYOND proud of you. You inspire me to be a better person. Really. Thank you.

So… ROCK THE SHIZ OUT OF THIS IRONMAN!!!! I’d SO be there if I weren’t shooting a wedding… withOUT a doubt!!!!

Love you friend.

~betty

“Turns out not where but who you’re with that really matters.” -Dave Matthews

Only about a third of you have reported your loss, but here are the top 5 biggest losers:

Jill Pollitt    7.47%
Michelle McDonnell    5.33%
Kylene Gay    5.25%
Kathleen Stivers    4.9%
Stephanie Wortley    4.8%

ARE YOU KIDDING ME JILL?! 7.47%?!? WOWWWWW TO THAT!!!!!!!

Oh, and my weight loss: 2.03%

On a side note… pleeeeease sign into the google spreadsheet first thing Friday and add your loss (on weigh in days). Makes things SO much easier on me Oh, and one more thing… please don’t edit anything but your number. Someone accidentally deleted an entire row with someones name and reported loss… and it took me a long time to figure out whose name was missing there… So, Aaron Nelson… if you could please sign back in and update your %, that’d be great… I feel like it was top 5 material… Okay… enough about that!

As I was talking with my friend Dane at our healthy train dinner a couple of weeks ago… he was saying that if you dig through Facebook, there are still photos of him at 400+ lbs floating around. He said it was hard for him to see. I thought… hmm… I would think it’d feel good to see them because you know that’s in the past… and to see how far you’ve come!

That got me to thinking… why don’t I find some of the photos of me from 40 lbs ago and post them here on a weigh in day… just to show you all how far I’ve REALLY come. BOY OH BOY WERE YOU RIGHT DANE!!!!! Seeing these was REALLY tough… like, REEEEALLY tough. Just because I’m no longer that weight… I still feel like I’m very much that person still… the feelings of rejection/poor self image/lack of self worth/etc. haven’t really 100% gone away… it’s just faded.  Seeing these brought ALLLL of those feelings back. But, I committed myself to showing you… so, I’m going to.

:::::: ENTERING THE JUDGMENT FREE ZONE!!!!!! ::::::

This one as at my max weight.  This was about 15 lbs difference from my original “before” photo.

This was taken the day I met my friend Nate. We’ve both since lost nearly 40 lbs.  I told him last night that we needed to take a new “friend after photo” It’s amazing how different we both look now.  So, between us… 75+ lbs are gone.  WOWZAS!

Could I look any less confident in myself. You can tell by my smile, my posture… my EVERYTHING that I did NOT want to be in this picture. I really wasn’t a fan of me… Taken in July 2007. My mom had just lost like 60ish pounds while I’d gained 60.  While I was happy for her… I couldn’t have felt worse about myself.

You know those photos that you see on the back of your camera…. and you delete immediately before anyone can see them? The ones you see and think… “I know I don’t really look like that… it’s an unflattering photo.” Well… Mike was VERY good at shielding me from what I really looked like… as I’d get majorly MAJORLY depressed. Well, Vegas, 2008… Heather needed to back up her memory card and I had my computer there… so I helped her out. WELLLLL… there were a few photos on that card that didn’t go through the Bobbi screening process. As in… I’ve never seen these… and about died when I pulled them up last night. MAN OH MAN it’s hard for me to share these here. It’s hard for me to see… hard for me to go through the feelings of remembering what this felt like. I was NOT a fan of me. AT ALL! 

Here, I was showing my model how to pose. I was being silly to make her laugh. If you’ll notice in the bottom left hand corner… a photographer was taking photos of me. So, I did what I knew how to do in these kinds of situations… I made fun of myself.  Whoever that photog was… thank you for never posting them.  You’re my friend.  Oh, and about the outfit. I was at a weird weight (I still am really…) where clothes from cutesy places like J.Crew were all WAY too small for me… while clothes at plus sized stores were WAY too big. So, I REALLY didn’t have much to wear… and well… still don’t.  Wow to this photo. WOW!

SOOOO… I can’t leave it like that… I HAVE to end this on a happy note… FOR ME! BLEHHHHH!!!!

Here’s my all-time favorite photo of me. Lauren Chapman took it a few months ago.

February 2010… 

Mom’s birthday unboxed photobooth… March, 2010. Though, admittedly… there’s a bit of camera trickery to this one. It’s unusually flattering But, I’m not mad about it… I’m CLEARLY embracing it

SO… just know that it’s a journey…. and we ALLLL have to start some where. If I can do it… damnit… YOU can do it!!!!!

• Next official weigh in is May 14.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “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!  We’d love to have you…
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 23 to keep the motivation levels high… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!
• New finale date is October 29th. It seems that I’m not good at math… and THAT will be 6.5 months.

Thanks for being SO ridiculously supportive friends. Much love!

~bobbi

Last week, a few of the local healthy train peeps (the ones who sent in “after” photos on the last round <– click for some SERIOUS weight loss inspiration!) got together for dinner… on me! Well, not literally ON me… sheeeesh!  It was my way of saying thank you

After dinner… I did a quickie impromptu photo session for each of them to show off their new hotness, just for fun.

Here’s Dane…. you know, the guy who’s lost over half of his body weight over the last 2 years. YEAH, him! Here’s a reminder of his before/after. Oh, and because it’s kind of a big deal… here’s his STARTING before/after. <– you MUST click!

Oh, and speaking of Dane… I just made him an admin of the healthy train group on Facebook… as it’s a bit difficult for me to keep up with it all. He’s an incredible motivator and is quite the smarty pants when it comes to weight loss… so if you have questions/need a dose of inspiration… get in touch

Here’s April, a local event planner This was the first time I’d seen her in person since she’s lost all of this weight… and let me tell you… WOW TO HER GORGEOUSNESS!!! A reminder of her before/after.

Meet Melissa! I’m a fan… I know you will be too She’s FULL of energy and laughs at all of my hilarious jokes A reminder of her before/after.

Here we all are… self timer style I love this photo!

Wacky Bobbi strikes again If you knew the TERRAIN and how FAR I had to SPRINT through to make it to that spot in 10 seconds (self timer, remember)… You’d be mad impressed! From left to right, Dane, me, Melissa and April. PS. did I really just say “mad impressed” ?!??!!? What’s happening to me???

Thanks again for… well… everything. You have no idea how much you inspire me. Thanks for standing beside me. I genuinely couldn’t ask for better cheer leaders. Next photo shoot… I’m bring pompoms.

Love to you friends…

~bobbi

mad props to all who sent these photos… takes kahunas… but, you did it. proud of you.

I can’t wait to see where these next 6.5 months take us. After the success of the last healthy train… my hopes are high VERY high!

As I’m writing this entry, we’re up to 96 “before” photos. OHHH HELLL YESSSS!!!!! NINETY SIX BETTIES!!!!!! YESYESYESSSSS!!!!! How inspired and motivated does THAT make you?! Does wonders for me (there are still a few more trickling in… if I don’t receive your photo before midnight… it’ll be too late ) I’ve noticed that the key to success on the healthy train is having the support to back it up.  With SO many of us doing this as a team I just KNOW that we’re going to be seeing some SERIOUS numbers here! (BTW, if for some reason you don’t see your blurry photo here, will you please let me know? I’ve emailed everyone back to confirm that I’ve received their info… but I just want you all to double check for me   It’s a lot to keep track of!)

Speaking of serious numbers… Chris, you know… CHRIS… the guy who won by losing 25% of his body weight on the last train? He’s jumping back on Since the end of the last train he’s lost another 21 lbs. Check him out!

So, because I’m making you all start fresh regardless of how much weight you’ve lost in the past… it’s only fair that I have to, too. So, here you go… my new “before” photo.

BUT, just because I’m starting fresh doesn’t mean that I can’t celebrate the weight I’ve already lost. I’m really proud of this.

I’m a bit mad at myself for wearing such destructed jeans for my new photo… but they were the ones that fit me the tightest. (All of my new jeans that I bought for Vegas are already too big… it’s a bit frustrating… but even more exciting  )

As I said the last time, I’m a weeee bit nervous about blogging about weight loss during our busy season with all of the traveling and I can’t put TOO much pressure on myself… so I promise to do the best I can, k?

OH, an FYI to all who are on the train. I’ve spent the morning creating an excel sheet in Google Docs… every one of you who sent in photos is on that list. I’ll soon be giving access to all of the competitors. There, you’ll be able to “weigh in” with your % lost every two weeks. All of the people on the train will be able to see if you’ve weighed in… and how well you’ve done Accountability is a VERY powerful thing… TRUST me!

A few things:

• First official weigh in is April 30.
• If you’re a twitterer, be sure to add the hashtag #healthytrain to your HT tweet.
• Join  “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!  We’d love to have you… Though, to be perfectly fair… I’m entering into my busy season and won’t be able to be an active contributor… many of our members are fantastic at giving good advice, feedback and encouragement.
• You don’t have to be officially competing to participate.
• If you haven’t measured yourself yet, DO IT!
• We’ll be taking optional “progress pics” July 9 to keep the motivation levels high… OHHHH YESSSSSS!!!!

Can’t WAIT to see you all in 6.5 months!

love, bobbi