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!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I LOST 100 POUNDS!

101 pounds.  101 pounds of ugly, selfish fat is gone from my body.  Let’s just call it 100, though, okay?  It’s a nice, round number that contrasts well with my not-round self.  :-)  I hit that number Thursday morning, June 27, 2013.  I had been weighing daily (and even a couple times a day) for a week or so because I didn’t want 100 to pass me by.  There’s a reason health experts recommend not weighing daily.  It can drive you crazy!  Body weight can fluctuate a few pounds a day just with normal living and according to the time of day.  I experienced that craziness and have been happy to put the scale back in the closet and bring it out just once a week again. 

Here are some pics of me before, during, and after my weight loss:
 

1997

 

 

1999 

2000

 

 

 

 

2006 to 2011 

 

 

 

2007

 

 2010 

 

 

2011

2012

 

2013

 

Do you notice that for the most part the more recent pictures show that some type of action is taking place, is about to take place, or just finished taking place?  In the earlier pictures I was just standing there. 

In the pictures above you can see what 100 pounds less looks like, but here are some pictures of people who weigh100 pounds. 

 



It's like I used to carry one of these women around with me all the time.  I can't get my mind wrapped around that fact.  There was so much extra weight on my body that I was carrying around a whole other person.  I just...I just...that's crazy. 

This is my friend's son.  I had lost about 65 pounds at this point and he weighed 65 pounds, so I had him jump on my back and I couldn't stand up straight.  I know the extra weight wasn't all on my back, but still...

Why has it taken me more than two weeks to get this blog post up?  Well, for one thing, I’ve been gathering these pictures from my Facebook, my daughter’s Facebook, and my physical scrapbooks.  It takes time to find the right pictures, take pictures of the pictures, upload them to my computer, sort them, etc.  I still have to work, too.  Another reason is that I was quite surprised by my lack of enthusiasm when I hit 100 pounds.  When I saw the scale register 101 pounds lost I cried, but it was more just a half sob and then it was over.  My voice choked when I told my daughter and all I could manage to say was, “100.”  I called a couple people and simply said, “100 pounds.”  I texted lots of people and was more expressive in my texts, probably because my strength has always been more in written words than spoken.  I changed my Facebook profile to confetti and balloons with 100 on them.  I let some of the private Facebook groups I’m in know, the ones that deal with weight loss/healthiness.  Mostly, though, life has gone on just the same as it did before.  I still work.  My daughter is still doing schoolwork.  I still take care of my chickens and collect their eggs.  There are still church activities and extended-family activities.  I was happy to see that number on the scale, but the world didn’t stop.  I think this is where people get disillusioned with life.  Big events that we think will make us so happy forever and never sad again come and go and not a lot changes.  I wonder why we think life should always be exciting.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it just isn’t. 

I still follow the eating plan I have for the past 4-1/2 years that focuses on controlling my flesh, not controlling the food.  Over time, though, I've lost my taste for the junk and my body just naturally wants more healthful food.  I have lost weight while following that plan and sometimes gained weight while following that plan.  I have lost while straying from that plan and I have gained while straying from that plan.  That tells me that I can’t boast that *I* accomplished this weight loss.  It also tells me I can’t be too harsh on myself for any gains.  God is the One who has accomplished it and continues to accomplish it.  
 

I have no intention of stopping losing weight.  I’ll keep honoring God with why I put food into my body, how much I put in, what I put in, and moving it.  When I’m consistently doing that and my weight stays the same, I’ll know I’m at my ideal weight. 

 

Do You Want This or 100 Pounds?

I went to a local mall for a stretching-for-runners clinic last week.  The clinic lasted only 30 minutes and my daughter and I were at the mall for a total of about one hour so we weren’t planning to eat there.  I especially wasn’t planning to eat at the food court.  Yuck!  Yet, as I walked past those restaurants I thought about how good (some) of the food would taste.  At the same time the thought occurred to me, “Do you want this or 100 pounds?” [to reach 100 pounds lost]

Do you want this

or 100 pounds?


Do you want this

or 100 pounds?


Do you want this

or 100 pounds?  (Actually, I would've chosen Auntie Anne's pretzels, but that's beside the point.)


Do you want this

or 100 pounds? 


Haagen-Dazs even had labels on the entrance doors

 

Yes, I snapped a pic but I didn't use it to get $1 off.  I used it right here in this blog.  :-)

 

 

We left the mall without buying any food at all.  It IS possible!  When we got home I was faced with

 

Do you want this

 

or 100 pounds?


I didn't have ANY of this food!  And I'm that much closer to 100 pounds lost!  In fact, as of this morning I've lost 97.2 pounds!  Praise God! 

 

Color Me Rad!

Almost 2 weeks ago I did my first color run, Color Me Rad.  It’s a 5K run (3.1 miles) and every kilometer they throw a different colored powder on you. 

http://www.colormerad.com/

So many people sign up that they have to assign you to a wave with waves departing every 20 minutes.  My cousin and I

 

were in the first wave, which started at 9:00.  My daughter and a friend didn’t go until 10:40.  Even though I was in the first wave, 9:00 is very late for me to be running.  I usually run at 6:00.  Oh well.  Can’t have everything go my way, can I?  :-)  They encourage you to wear white clothes so the color shows up better.  

 

We started with 500 other people and were off!  At kilometer 1 we got color thrown on us.  It’s colored cornstarch, which doesn’t taste very good if it gets in your mouth but won’t hurt you.  I don’t remember the order of the colors, but they had different delivery methods.  Sometimes it was thrown on us by hand from bulk boxes.  At one station it was mixed with water and sprayed on us from sprayers like pest control people use.  At another station they were using fire extinguishers to deliver the color!  

This run is just for fun and is not even timed.  I didn’t take my watch so I don’t know what my time was.  I’m sure it was a little slower than usual since I didn’t know the course and it was later in the morning and getting hot.  

This was my daughter’s first race.  Go Brianne!  (She's on the far right in the picture above and in the group one below.)  She didn’t time herself, either, but she did have fun.  The cornstarch messed with her breathing a little bit, but nothing serious.  

So at the beginning we had “ridiculously white shirts,” as the DJ called them, and by the end we had colorful shirts.  And pants, socks, shoes, skin, hair, etc. 

 

We met up with some friends afterward for a group picture. 

This run was fun, which is how they designed it to be, but I don’t think I’ll do another one.  It was more expensive than other 5Ks, it started late in the day, it was on Memorial Day weekend and that’s late to be running in Florida, and…um…I’ve moved beyond 5Ks. 

:-O 

Did I really just say that?  I run a 5K three times a week just in my normal training, I’ve already done one 10K and am training for another in less than a month, and I’m training for Ragnar, the 200-mile relay race.  This would be a good first race but I’m not a beginner anymore.

Here’s a bonus picture of someone’s shirt I saw and liked.