There are probably few things in life that I hate more than being unoriginal. I love to brainstorm, innovate, figure out what’s not working and do it different (hopefully better).

Unfortunately, what I’m about to suggest is completely unoriginal. Yet in it’s own way, completely awesome. I wrote about Bobbi+Mike’s Healthy Train and I admit I kind of wanted to start my own. But per the first sentence, I felt stupid “copying” Bobbi. Then I started joining up with all sorts of people who were trying to lose weight along with me, and I realized I wanted to share the experience with those of you who read my blog and are trying to slim down this year like I am. I don’t know if you guys know this, but you really are my e-bffs. When people ask if I’m doing okay in Chicago I think to myself “How could I ever feel lonely, my friends are with me wherever I have an internet connection!”

And so, my weight loss challenge begins. The goal is sustained weight loss at a healthy rate. I love the Healthy Train challenge (and I’m obsessed with the idea of doing a session with Bobbi+Mike) but if I want to win I’m going to have to lose weight incredibly fast. Starting my own challenge, and extending the date well into the summer, means I can focus on trying to win the Healthy Train challenge and then keeping the weight off for several months. If I’m ever going to be at a healthy weight that makes me feel good about myself, I have to focus on both losing the weight, and sustaining the loss. I want that for all of you as well!

Beginning Date: February 1, 2011

Ending Date: August 31, 2011

Prize: Winner receives a 2 hour portrait session with Jenna Cole Photography, including a disc of high-resolution watermark-free images. If you don’t live near me, don’t worry, the session offer never expires! If you ever come near where I live, we’ll try to set something up, or if I come out to where you are, we’ll try to make something work.

Rules:

1. Participant with the highest percentage of weight loss is the winner

2. If I lose the highest percentage of weight… I’m the winner! If you want to win the session, you have to lose more than I do. :)

3. The session with me is only redeemable if the winner has maintained the weight loss, lost even more weight (woohoo!) or gained back no more than 10 lbs. The goal here is to change your lifestyle/habits so that you lose the weight and keep it off. If you win the challenge weighing 150 pounds, and I come to town 6 months later and you weigh 165… no deal.**

Steps to Enter:

1. Take a picture of your front, side, and back. Also take a picture of the number on the scale while standing on it*. The camera will add some weight, but as long as you hold the same camera at the end your percentage lost will be the same!

2. Email 4 different pictures (detailed in step 1) to thatwife {at} gmail {dot} com. In the subject line write That Weight Loss Challenge Before Picture - Insert Your Name Here. I will not even open the email you send until the end of the competition when you send me your after pictures. If you do not follow this step exactly, I will reply with a curt response that asks you to please read the instructions and do it over. You’ve been warned.

3. Visit the DailyBurn site here and sign up for my challenge.

4. Update your weight on the DailyBurn site before the 1st of each new month to remain part of the competition. Don’t worry, DailyBurn only shows the percentage lost, not the actual number.

5. At the beginning of September I’ll write a post asking for those who completed the challenge to send in front, side, and back shots.

YOU MUST COMPLETE ALL THE ABOVE STEPS EXACTLY AS I OUTLINED BEFORE FEBRUARY 1ST TO BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN!

I took some pictures for the Healthy Train challenge, but for my own I decided to take some new ones this morning. I wanted to be wearing my “sexy dress” that my mom gave me for Christmas. I love this dress and I think it’s going to look amazing on me when I lose the weight I’m working at. Looks pretty good from the front even now, doesn’t it?

From the side? Not so much. I want a flatter tummy and a nicer bum to really look smokin’ in this thing! When you have large breasts like I do, your chest and stomach shouldn’t stick out the same amount!

I’m not going to show you pictures of me in this dress again until the end of the challenge. Hopefully the results will make your eyes pop out a little bit. :)

Sometime during September those who complete the challenge and would like to have their results posted on the final results post will be able to do so. That way we can all ooooh and ahhh over each other’s slimmer physiques!***

*Your scale picture will never be shown or used anywhere, I’m just going to use it to verify that you really did lose the most weight. I’m sorry to be all crazy about this, but it’s a prize that’s going to cost me a lot of time and effort (and I suspect a prize that others would really like to win) and I’d like to reduce the likelihood of cheating.

**Barring pregnancy. If you are pregnant at the time when we can meet up for your session, you get a free pass from this rule.

***Only those who ask me to post their before and after pictures will have them shown. The before picture you send me will never, ever be used without your permission.

I’m also interested in starting a reply-to-all style email chain, where we can have an ongoing chat over the coming months regarding our high, lows, woes, triumphs. If you’d like to be part of that, indicate in your comment below and I’ll add you to the first email I send out on February 1st.

If you’d like to talk about this on Twitter, use the hashtag #TWLC. The tweets tagged with #healthytrain have been really motivating for me, and it’s an easy way to keep track of who is doing this with you.

Good luck! I’m ready to achieve by “Skinny by Europe” goal for this year!

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