Real Life

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

This week we are babysitting two toddlers while their parents are out of town at a Bible Conference.  They are good little boys and a joy to have around, but there is one way that they are different from my kids – they don’t sleep in.  

Ideally I would get up at 6:00 am, do my devotions and then workout and be ready to make breakfast for everyone.  Um, but that’s with getting to bed on time, which hasn’t happened every night.  Instead, I’ve gotten up at 7:00am or so, finish devotions and realize that they are all awake.   Then one morning my husband watched them while I went to a local free gym and worked out for a bit and yesterday I exercised during naptime.  
However, this morning I was wondering what I should do.  I had done devotions, but I hadn’t worked out and they were all awake.  My DVDs are usually 50-60 minutes, but I no longer had time for that.   I was getting sad, because I knew we have a full day ahead and I wanted to have it over with.   I was even thinking that I should’ve worked out first and then did devotions, but I just knew I have to get my time with God in first or it will NEVER get done.  
As I hugged the waking children I came to a decision to put them all to eating breakfast in the dining room and I would do a 35-minute DVD in the living room.  Then I told them they could all go upstairs and play when they were done and while I finished exercising. 
As I was working out I realized that this is real life.  Schedules might change and I am going to have to learn to work around them and still stay on my weight loss journey, even if it means cutting my exercise short once or twice a week.  
And it’s okay.  
P.S.   I felt so much better after I worked out (with interruptions to clean up the 1-year-old in the high chair and send him upstairs to play, etc. etc.) and now I’m going to go shower so we can go to the zoo.  
Posted in life, workout | 2 Comments

PMS or a slump…God can help.

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

I think “it” is coming…because I’ve had the munchies all day.  I haven’t over eaten too badly, but had junk that I’m trying to stay away from.  I don’t want to sabotage my weight loss this week, but I’ve had a day where I feel like “who cares???”.    

I don’t like these days, but I know they are a part of life.  There was a part of our adult Sunday School class in church yesterday that talked about living by faith, not in what we see, and then acting on that faith to get the tangible results.  While I know this applies to my spiritual life and working on what God wants me to become I couldn’t help but think how much this was also true in my view of my weight loss journey.  When days like today hit I have to “walk by faith and not by sight” (or emotions).  I may not feel like it’s worth it when I have the munchies, but I have to stay committed and go on in faith knowing that in the end it will all pay off.  If I can remember more of the details, or the guys name, I’ll post it later. 
Having said that I have to mention that this morning I did Leslie Sansone’s two-mile faith walk and she mentions walking by faith and not by sight and the scripture “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) went across the screen at one point.  I don’t know what her beliefs are, but being a born-again Christian myself I was encouraged that I truly can do all things through Christ and I know He cares about me being healthier and so He will help me when I think it’s impossible.  
I’m off to bed now.  Onward and upward.  Thanks for “listening”!  :o)
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

If you are celebrating Independence Day and working on losing weight, then I suggest you read Diane’s article on gaining independence from food at www.fittothefinish.com.  It has some very true insights.  

The last time I lost a significant amount of weight it was simply by eating when I was truly hungry and stopping when I was satisfied..and then not eating again until I was truly hungry.  At times I would get that my body only needed a smaller portion to be satisfied and lose weight, while other thin people could eat as much as they wanted without giving thought to the scales.  I had to learn to be content with my body and it’s needs and not give in to its wants.  It was the only other time I felt in control of my eating; and I  did fine until I just got lazy and well lost track of things. 
Now I’m relearning that I can enjoy company, parties, etc. etc. without having to indulge in great amounts of food.  It’s not always easy, in fact it can be pretty hard right now, but the small steps are paying off and there is a great feeling inside when I know I’m not dependent on food to make get togethers fun and enjoyable.  
Have a wonderful weekend!  
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Weigh-In … It’s Finally Working!

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Todays weight:  224

Loss this week:  – 2.5
Total loss so far:  7 lbs.
I was so scared to weigh in this morning.  I even text’d my best friend last night (who is also working on losing weight) and told her that I was not looking forward to weighing in this morning.  
When I thought more about it I realized that I was scared to weigh in because stepping on that scale knowing that I’m going to post about it makes me accountable for what the scale says.  If I weigh myself and don’t tell anyone what it said, then it doesn’t matter if I am making progress or not.  I know this is a stem of my fear of failure that I regularly battle in my mind. 
The weak side of me regretted telling anyone I was working on losing weight, but deep inside I knew it’s the accountability that I probably need to get/keep me on track.  It was the “oh-well-you’re-doing-your-best-and-I-love-you-anyway” attitude with no results that got me up to 231 pounds.  
Having said that I have to admit that I was thrilled!! I was hoping to be down even one pound and I was down over two.  It’s working..it’s finally working!!  
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Non-Scale Victory

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

I have to share this…

Yesterday we went on an all-day outreach handing out fliers to invite people to a free christian concert we were supporting in the evening.  Not including the time spent hanging around waiting to get going, etc. we spent about 2 1/2  hours walking around neighborhoods handing out fliers door to door.  It was HOT and HUMID and there were some hills to walk up and over.  However…[drum roll please] …. my legs didn’t hurt at all from all the walking.  Not one bit!!!  I was only miserable because of the heat and humidity, but not because I was too tired of the walking.  The soles of my feet were a little sore, but I think it’s because I need new tennis shoes and that’s it.  (well, and because I’m still carrying around too much extra weight)
I told Freddy that I think I wasn’t sore at all because I’ve been working out and walking daily.  I have a feeling that a year ago I would’ve been really sore in my legs from all that walking and standing.  He agreed.  
So, that was encouraging.  I’m still carrying a lot of extra weight around, but my body it becoming more fit and some things that would have been hard for me are getting a little easier.  Yay!!  
Posted in exercise, victory | 1 Comment

Soda & Bread

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

I’ve really cut back my soda intake and have limited myself to having one glass with my meals.  However, sometimes we’ll eat out and share a large Coke and I find myself drinking more than my small glass.  So, to try and help the scale go down I decided that I really need to cut that regular soda out completely right now.  I don’t really care for too much diet, but if I seriously feel that I need soda with my meal, then I’ll drink diet.

This isn’t going to be easy, because some meals are just better with a regular Pepsi.  However, it’s one small change that I just feel I need to make now.  I’ll probably end up drinking water with meals.  I’ll let you know. 
I’m also going to cut back on my breads and starches.  I tried that today by deciding not to have mashed potatoes with my chicken.  I’ll also make sure that if I need to have  sandwich I make myself use the 100% whole wheat bread I’ve been buying.  
These are my new small food goals that I’ve added and I’m hoping they will make a difference in my weight loss attempts.  
Posted in food | 1 Comment

Little Changes

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Today we had KFC for lunch and decided to go for the bucket of grilled chicken instead of the fried chicken.  It was sooooo good!  Just as juicy inside, but without the fried coating outside.  

I also decided to opt out of eating mashed potatoes and instead had a good serving of cole slaw with one chicken breast and a biscuit.  The biscuit was my splurge.  🙂  I also ordered a diet pepsi instead of regular soda.  
They aren’t big changes, but little changes that will add up to big results in the future.  I was satisfied and knew that I ate a lot less calories than the last time we had KFC! 
Posted in food | 1 Comment

Weigh-In

Posted on June 27, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Todays’ Weight:  226.5

This week’s loss:  -1.5
Total loss so far: -4.5 lbs.
I was scared to weigh myself this morning and very relieved to see that it was down and not up.  
I’ve been sticking to my weekly goals and have decided this week that I’m going to begin watching my food intake a little more closely.  Mainly not eating late at night,  or at least keeping it very simple if I’m really hungry (because that does happen some times if I don’t eat much at dinner and we do our toning exercises).  
We are headed out this morning for an all-day outreach with our church and I packed almonds, cheese sticks, fruit and some hard boiled eggs to take along as snacks and sandwiches and little bags of chips for our lunch.  I don’t want to be caught hungry and snacking on tons of crackers and/or junk all day.  🙂  Yes, we also have plenty of water.  Can you believe I’m more worried about not having enough water all day?  That’s a switch.
Well, here’s to another week in my journey.  I’m encouraged that it’s not all in vain and the hard work will pay off.  Day by day and with baby steps I will find my way down this weight loss journey. 
Have a good weekend!
Posted in weigh-in | 1 Comment

I kicked his butt!

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Last night my husband wanted to do one of The Firm DVDs with me.  He couldn’t get the hang of the movements and was getting so frustrated.  He wanted to just stop it because he was so confused when it came to the little cardio parts that he felt it wasn’t doing him any good.  He finally told me, “You’re good at this!! I can’t follow her at all. ”  I made him finish it, because he’s always telling me I can’t just quit when it gets hard.  :o)

I may have lots more weight to lose than him and he may already be showing results from his working out, but I kicked his butt in a step aerobics workout!!  Woo Hoo!!  
Posted in workout | 1 Comment

The Firm Workout

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Leah@MyNewEnding


About 4 years ago I bought this set of DVDs and step box along with some light hand weights.  Even though I quit using the set I never got rid of them.  Since they include both weights and cardio I decided to pull it out the other day and try them again in conjunction with my Walk At Home DVDs.

I’ll tell you what they killed me today!!  My son was up a little early and was watching me workout and I had to ask him to go upstairs, because honestly I just wanted to cry and I didn’t want him to see me.  When I tried these before I was about 40 pounds lighter.   Even then I remember some of the moves being difficult.
I’m going to do The Firm two mornings a week and my walking DVDs the other days.  
Posted in workout | 3 Comments