100-pound Celebration!

I had my 100-pound celebration recently, hosted by my friend Melisa.  (She's the one on the right.  The one on the left is my friend Brenda.) 

We had a display area just inside her house with collage frames that show the progression of what God is doing in my life. 

 

 

From this

 

 

to this.

 



 

 

Collage of me from birth to age 18, Made To Crave (one of the tools that helped me lose 100 pounds), and a steak, egg, and cheese on a biscuit from Yuckdonald's (more on that later). 

 

 

 

Collage of me from 19-38, bowl of white rice (what I used to eat when working late at night so I would have energy.  It didn't usually work.), some race pictures, my Gasparilla 8K medal, and the cross that I nailed the word "overeating" to.  (Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.  Galatians 5:24)

 

 

 

 

Collage of me from 39-41 and the questions about my journey that Melisa and I made up.

 

 

More race pics (midnight 5K in 2012), A Hunger for God by John Piper, and the printouts of the questions and my responses when I did The Lord's Table online Bible Study.

 

Some of my race bibs.

My old fat clothes!  The top is a size 3X and the shorts are a size 26/28.  The way they're hanging they don't look all that big, but they are. 

More of Jesus, Less of Michele!  That's what it's all about!

Look at these encouraging friends I have who came to help me celebrate this milestone!

Clockwise, Lynette, Wendy, Rob (my brother), and Cassie

 

Lisa and Pat (Terry's husband - How is there not a picture of Terry in here?)

 

Crystal, Brandice, Melinda, Tatiana, and Fancy

And encouraging family!  I love them!   

My dad and mom! 

 

Randy eating salad.  Yes, salad.  With lettuce and tomatoes and everything.  And no bacon bits (not that there's anything wrong with real bacon).

Jeff, Cheryl, and Sofia

 

How is there not a picture of my precious Brianne in here?  She helped by making a PowerPoint of my past, present, and future (my Ragnar 200-mile relay race coming up in February). 

I had been gathering ideas for food and décor from Pinterest for quite a while.  I wanted the food to taste yummy and be representative of what I actually eat.  I eat mostly real food now, what grows in the ground or on the ground, and very little packaged, processed, fake, food-like stuff.  I don't eat salads all the time, but I do like them so we had a couple different kinds and wraps so people could make a salad sandwich. 

 

 

Lots of fresh fruit (strawberries!) and veggies, but also brownies - dark chocolate brownies with strawberries that I picked mixed in.  Yum!  My chickens (Helen, Jane, and Penny) supplied the deviled eggs.  

 

 

 

My friend, personal trainer, and nutrition coach, Brandice Lardner of http://fitnessinfusiononline.com/brought this plate of veggies with 100# artfully placed!  Love it! 

 

 You better believe there was a chocolate fountain!  It wasn't the focal point of the party, but we did enjoy it!  Moderation is the key. 

Look at that beautiful cake Melisa had made!  I love the colorfulness and the message!

 

I had the idea of making a paper chain with 100 links to give people a visual idea of how many 100 is.  It starts behind the chair, goes up to the top of the window, across, down, drapes, goes up again, and hangs down.   

 

 

Then I decided to make one of the miles I've run in official races.  57!

 

And one of miles I've run in training.  This includes boot camp and fitness club workouts.  1156!!!  I've run one thousand one hundred fifty-six miles/workouts in training!  So that 57 miles I've run in official races is like the tip of the iceberg and the 1156 is like the huge part of the iceberg you don't see because it's underwater.  Wow!

It starts at the bottom of the door, goes up to the top, drapes,

 

 

drapes, drapes, draaaaaapes,

 

draaaaaaapes,

 

draaaaapes, drapes,

 

drapes, drapes,

 

drapes, drapes,

 

drapes, drapes,

 

 and when Brianne and Fancy ran out of room they did this!

 

 

 

 

Look at me serving cake and not stuffing my face with it or licking my fingers!

 

This is one of the things that started my weight loss.  I used to go through the Yuckdonald's drive through and order a steak, egg, and cheese on a biscuit instead of on a bagel because I was saving carbs that way.  I was so deceived.  Yes, I was saving a few carbs but I didn't need that sandwich at all.  There are almost 700 calories just in the sandwich, roughly half of the calories I should have in a day!  Not that I count calories, but still…!

On two different trips to the beach I collected sand, brought it home, and weighed it to get 100 pounds.  It halfway filled this storage bin.  I had to take about half of it out and put it in smaller buckets to transport it to Melisa's house and even then I had to have my daughter help me lift it into and out of the car.  How did I used to carry this around on my body 24/7??? 

 

 

I love color, and Melisa sure provided it!  I'm so grateful to her for helping me plan and for hosting this party!