Michele reaches 50 pounds gone forever!

Today I am at my half way point! I am so excited! I have lost 50 pounds!!! Did you hear what I said? YES, 50 POUNDS!! Boy it has been a journey for sure. I am so excited for the changes I have made and the things I have learned! Tasted some great, new, healthy recipes. I have gotten more energy, my spark and a longer life. Not to mention making some wonderful friends. I love my two main teams, Tigers and S2L. You guys are my inspiration and motivation. You keep me going when I want to give up or get discouraged. You are rocking your own journey and give me the motivation to try and do as well as you! Thank you for helping me along my journey!

I also want to thank Kevin for being supportive of this. He tries to do it as best as he can, but he struggles at times for himself. He is always supportive of me doing it. He only tries to get me to be bad once in a great while! lol

I told Tye this morning that I have lost one and two thirds of him!! lol And I only had 10 more pounds to lose 2 of him! He weighs 30 pounds which is nice because it works into my journey a lot to compare it that way. He didn't understand and didn't want me to lose him! lol

I feel like in meeting the half way point that it is "all downhill from here". Although I know I can't coast, I do know what I have to do to reach my goal. What a great accomplishment I have made and I am so proud of myself. A few years ago I could only dream of doing this. But with spark and all my fellow sparkers I have finally done this. Now to carry on and reach the other half of my journey. And then keep it up for the rest of my life. I know I have to. I can't quit when I get there and think that scale won't go right back where it came from. This is definitely a lifestyle change. It has been since the start of this journey for me. I am proud and happy.

What a great day! Now I get to buy my cricut! That was my reward for reaching 50 pounds! YIPPEE!!

Thanks to all those that have helped me on this journey and thanks to Sparkpeople.com for providing such an excellent place for us to learn and progress. And to do it for free is even better! I am grateful for each of you encouraging me and being proud of me. Thank you for your support in whatever way it has been. I love you all. And I am going to be around a lot longer and be able to do a lot more. And like Marvin said, "be leading the pack instead of trailing" when we go on family site seeing vacations!

I cannot wait to see what I look like and how I will feel when I reach the other end of this weight loss journey and enter the maintaining stage. I am growing in confidence and shrinking in size. I now know I CAN DO THIS and be SUCCESSFUL!

This is me Christmas Eve 2007. Pretty much at the start of this journey.

Here is me today 8/14/08 wearing the same pants.

This is me today 8/14/08. About 9 months into my journey and 50 pounds lighter!

This is me holding those pants that I wore on Christmas Eve. I can still wear them, but they are baggy. Good thing they have elastic or they would fall off now!