Changes in Progress

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
I told you some changes were coming and here they are. As I said before I’ve been talking to my husband lately about eating better and I finally got the courage to ask him the other day if he would mind if I made some serious changes to the way our family eats. I gave him examples of using whole wheat pastas and bread, trying to get rid of chips except on occasion, etc. He told me that was fine with him as long as I didn’t go extreme.
This is the first time my husband has ever been really open to eating healthier in the almost 15 years we’ve been married. Funny thing is I expected more of a conversation on the matter and then a discussion of how we’d talk to the kids about it.
All he replied was the above about not becoming extreme, and “They [the kids] can just eat it. If they don’t like it..oh well.” And that was that. 🙂
So, to start some of the changes when I went grocery shopping this week I purchased some out-of-our-old-normal foods:

Then yesterday and today I did a complete clean up of the pantry. I tossed white pastas and threw out old boxed stuff that no one ever finished. There is still popcorn in there for him and the kids, and maybe occasionally for me, and there are some cereals and baking items, but I cleaned it up and got things back in order. I am going to try and keep less boxed snacks and canned items in the house and instead keep on hand more fresh foods for everyone.
Everything I cleaned out of the pantry went into that bag hanging on the door, and then directly to the trash. This is one of those little changes that really is a BIG change in my eating life. I’m even having to learn how to recook some items. If you’re wondering why I didn’t do this sooner I’ll be posting about that later. 🙂
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Honest Ponderings

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Good morning, Folks.

I’m going to get it out in the open. I’m not motivated at all right now to lose the weight and some of the feelings of “I’ll never be at goal weight.” were creeping into my mind yesterday.
The weird thing is that I am in the process of making some rather big changes to my eating that includes changes for my family. My husband and I have been talking more lately on eating better and he is open to me trying some new healthier meals for our family and cutting out some junk.
This is a first for us and I know it’s going to help. So, I do have moments that I’m so happy and excited about what’s to come, but lately I am not in the mood so to speak.
One thing I do know is that there are some major changes cemented in my life. I have eaten out a lot this week with my family and I have maintained. I no longer pig out at restaurants and that is a BIG step for me. It’s only recently that I am seeing this becoming the norm for me. I don’t even desire to overeat at a restaurant anymore. This thrills me, but I know I can’t stop here.
So, I’m still going. Today I am finishing up a project that I’ll share with you later. I know these changes are coming from deep inside and I will see the weight come off….eventually. Right now I’m just not feeling it, so I’m having to make myself do things even if I don’t feel like it.
Thanks for listening.
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Out and About

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

It seems like forever since I posted, but really it’s only been two days. My husband is home this week and next and has been needing the computer for a project he’s working on. We’ve also been doing some fun stuff with the kids, so it’s meant little time for me on the computer.

The scale isn’t moving down, but it’s not going up too much either. I’m maintaining, and honestly I’m okay with that for now. I’ve been changing little things and after a trip to help my brother next week I know I’ll be able to get more on top of the eating.
In the meantime, I have been getting up and walking in the mornings and though the eating hasn’t been “stellar” I’m hanging in there. I’m really enjoying this time with my family and just doing my best not to let any of those 31 pounds creep back on this week before TOM. I was hoping to see 195 by July 31st, but these past 10 days have been busy and weird. *sigh* and oh well…
I’ll try to catch up on blogs and will check back with everyone tomorrow morning if I have time and hubby is too busy to use the computer. LOL
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Another Victory

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Last evening our family time included a trip to the mall where I stopped in Christopher and Banks to look at some t-shirts on clearance. I needed a tan one and so I tried on one in a XL and …..

It fit!
Yes, for the third time this year I was able to buy a shirt in a regular area of a ladies’ store in the XL. I’m finding more and more that a plus size 1x doesn’t fit me correctly and a regular size XL is better.
It’s these little victories that make me keep working towards my weight loss goals.
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I’ll Start Monday Tomorrow

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
On Saturday I was having a moment. I was slightly vexed with the gain, and dealing with some nagging feelings about things that need to change to help me. They weren’t anything new, just things I’ve avoided doing for whatever reason we avoid doing what’s best for us sometimes.
One of those changes is that I think it really is best for me to get up early to walk in the mornings. Yes, there will be times that it will be too cold, or it will rain, etc. etc. But for right now, in the middle of summer break, getting up to walk before starting my day is the best idea.
I actually had this idea back in May, but decided I wanted to be able to sleep in. Funny, how workouts just haven’t been the same, even though I’ve enjoyed mornings sleeping until 7:30/8:00. Not so funny is how bummed it has had me to not get regular exercise in.
So, I called my faithful weight loss friend, Stephanie, and told her I was going to start getting up early to walk. I told her I am going to be accountable to it here on my blog, but I also needed to be accountable to a person as well. As always she spoke some wonderful words of insight and encouragement to me, and after I got off the phone I thought to myself, “I’ll start tomorrow.”
The thought went through my head that I could just wait and start on Monday, since ‘tomorrow’ was Sunday and we have busy Sunday mornings getting ready for church, but nope. I needed to start right away and I knew I could fit in a 30-minute walk if I got going by 6:30. No putting off until Monday what could start the next day. 🙂
Just to prove that I did indeed get up I took a picture of myself after my morning walk (yep, no makeup for this early bird…scary…). I actually did walk/jog intervals for at least 15 minutes, so the heart and lungs got a good workout as well. 🙂 I had already wiped my face here…though it is cooler in the mornings it’s still HUMID. whew.
I got up again this morning to walk, even though I stayed up late last night. It felt good when I showered later in the morning to know that my exercise was done for the day. In fact, my husband is home and we just made some spur of the moment plans to do something with the kids this evening and it’s nice to know I don’t have to worry about getting home to workout, or squeezing one in between now and then.
Oh, and my commitment is to do this at least five days a week for the month of August. I’ve already decided that if it’s raining out I’ll do a workout DVD in the house, but I will still get up and exercise. My hope is by the end of August I will be closer to having this set as a good habit in my life. 🙂
Have a great week everyone!

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Weigh-In … Not Much To Say

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
Average over last seven days is: 200.0

I have lots I feel like saying. I know why I am up. I didn’t care many times this week about whether or not I needed a sweet treat, or a soda, or the hamburger. Could be TOM on it’s way, so I’m trying not to get too vexed and work past the disconnected-from-weight-loss-journey emotions.

I’ve had lots of fun with some friends visiting and such, not worked out much at all, and the munchies and not caring about food proved to bring a two-pound gain.
As always, I’m not giving up. I just know that after a year of reading about weight loss, losing 30 pounds, etc. etc. I have no excuses that are valid – just excuses. I want to be an example and not an excuse for others, so I know what I need to do to be that.
Have a nice weekend and I will be back with better news next week. 🙂

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Shoe Shopping

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

**warning, long, detailed post ahead –
I didn’t want to forget anything**

For a few months I’ve been looking forward to the day I would go to a running store and get fitted for “real” running shoes. Basically, I got really excited for….nothing really spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, the service at The Runner was wonderful, the man very knowledgeable and I will go back there when I need new shoes again, but I think I set myself up with much higher expectations.

I went thinking I would find out I overpronate and that’s why my hip hurt. Then I would try on Sauconys and they would be so amazing I would feel like I was running on air.
First off, I don’t overpronate more than normal, just barely. He said my shoes I came in with were just worn down and that was most likely the cause of my pain. I told him I just bought them in January and he said, “Yea, six months, that’s about right.” He asked how often I run and what kinds of distances. I explained, a little embarrassed, I have trained and run only one 5K and am a beginner. He stuck with his original comment that it’s just about time for new ones with that kind of mileage put on my shoes.
He measured my foot and brought out four brands of tennis…in a half size bigger than what I was wearing. He explained the half step up was because I need room for swelling when I run. If I ran more than 5K at a time he would’ve gone up a whole step. (That’s just plain interesting to me…these are details the mall people rarely know I’m sure.)

If I remember correctly he brought out Nike, Saucony, Asics and Brooks. I tried one on each food and each time the Nike felt better.
Yes, almost to my despair, the Sauconys were nothing more than another new running shoe and when compared to the Nike I kind of liked the Nike better. I told the salesman that I had expected to feel this amazing shoe on my foot when I tried the Saucony on and his take on it was, “These four shoes are basically all the same shoe, but by different makers. It’s just a personal preference as to what will feel better on your foot, but they are the same in quality.”
This is good, but I really had to fight through the thoughts of “Get Sauconys – everyone says they are awesome and they’ll help you run better!!” In reality, the Nikes felt fine and I’ve worn and always preferred Nikes for years. The peer pressure was speaking in full force in my mind, but I had to stick with the reality that the Nike felt fine and the Saucony was no great step up – not for me anyway.
I even shared some of this thinking with him and he said I was smart to go with what feels better for me. Honestly, I felt better knowing he looked like he runs and he was wearing Nike. 🙂
So, I didn’t have any great revelation or began walking on clouds with a new pair of shoes I’d never heard about until this past year, but my husband did.
He ended up having his feet checked because he suffers from shin splits EVERY time he runs and come to find out…he has BAD overpronation. Just standing the salesman kind of chuckled and said, “Oh yea. He’s bad.”
My husband who has had foot pain just with daily standing (but puts off getting orthotics) and shin splits even when barely jogging left the store with a pair of Brooks running shoes that look like orthotics. Though he HATED how they look he said they were the shoe that felt more stable of the two he tried on, and the salesman said that’s what he needs.
The salesman was trying not to chuckle while watching my husband grimace at the look of the shoe. He said they call it “frankenboot”, but they really do the job for people that overpronate as badly as my husband. I was laughing out loud, but kept encouraging my husband that he’ll finally be pain free and can run again.
So, my husband said it’s hard for his pride to think of wearing them, but knowing he will be able to run again makes it a little better. (I am going to tell him I read yesterday that Tricia got custom orthotics and can now wear nicer running shoes, so maybe he’ll do that next time he needs new shoes.)
To sum it up, it was a good learning experience and I’m pleased with my purchase, though the exciting part was more for my husband than me. I simply learned that’s I’m pretty normal and once again that peer pressure isn’t always right. That being said, I will definitely go back to a running store when it’s time for a new pair.
Oh, and I’ll keep you posted on Mr. Frankenboot. 🙂
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Back In The Saddle, er, Nikes

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
Short Story: I am going to begin running again, and I have new shoes to prove it.
Long Story: After jogging my first 5K in April I began having pretty bad hip trouble when I would jog, so I quit. I’ve done other workouts, but nothing that involved running. It came to the point that I had decided about a month ago I would give up jogging for the summer for sure and maybe until I reached a lower weight, maybe 170. Then I would reward myself with new running shoes and try running again.
Then I went to the park one evening for a brisk walk for exercise.
There is something about watching people jog, walk briskly and finding myself walking very quickly easier than ever before that just pushes me to , well…. run, well jog in my case. 🙂 I couldn’t help it. Both nights last week that I went to walk in the park I told my kids I wasn’t going to run, but I found myself doing some walk/jog intervals around the walking path because I couldn’t stand it.
My hip didn’t hurt, but I also was very careful to not overdo it. I told my husband after the second evening of doing this that I was thinking I’d like to run again. I hinted and suggested that it would probably be best if I got new shoes. He told me to wait until we could afford it and I was patient to do so.
Well, last Friday finances came in that made it possible for me to get new tennis and he promised to take me Monday to get them. (yes, I didn’t have to wait long..whee!!) I’ll be posting about that experience later. I left the running store on Monday with a brand new pair of Nike Zoom Structure Triax+ 13 shoes. Mine are gray and white with light blue, for those that are curious. 🙂
Today I used my new tennis to do run/walk intervals on the treadmill at the gym. They felt good and so far my body does as well. Stay tuned for more about how excited I am to get back into running!!
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Sweet Birthday

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Last Friday was my birthday and it was a very nice one. My family and I went out of town for a church function and stayed overnight in a hotel. We combined some family fun with the church function and it was great. They surprised me with some of my favorites from Bath & Body Works and Clinique’s Happy perfume. 🙂 We went out to a nice dinner at Red Lobster and I enjoyed my favorites without overindulging. I was full, but not stuffed.
I came home on Saturday to a mailbox with some more birthday cards and two packages with gifts. As the kids say, “SWEEET!!!”
Another sweet part of my birthday was a surprise that I received from the ladies at church Sunday morning.

In case you can’t tell I was handed a huge basket filled with baked good and a recipe book with a dessert recipe from each of the ladies. The basket carried a sample of their recipe for me to try. The ring leader told me they were supposed to give her one serving of their dessert, but some had to bring me a full batch. She said she didn’t think it was a problem since I have a family of five.

I was cracking up laughing as I looked through all the food:
  • Hurricane Delight – a mixture of chocolate cake, cool whip, nuts all drizzled with caramel – a cool whip container full.
  • Banana Nut Bread – a medium sized loaf.
  • Chocolate Cream Pie – an entire pie.
  • “Died And Gone To Heaven Peach Pie” – a slice for two people.
  • Strawberry Shortcake Pie – a slice for two people.
  • Brownies – four good sized sqaures.
  • Jell-o “Poke” Cake – a slice for two people.
  • Chocolate Dipped Cookies – two Ritz crackers with peanut butter spread between them and dipped twice in chocolate and hardened. – About two dozen of these.
  • No-Bake Cookies – half a dozen medium/large cookies.
There were also 3-4 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (my absolute favorite candy) tossed in a tin with some other non-food goodies as a gift from a friend of mine that morning.
I was so touched by the thoughtful act of putting together the recipe album with pictures and such because it will be a great memento to have when I move again. Plus, they did all this in secret and the surprise from all of them was totally unexpected. It brought me to tears to think of their thoughtfulness…
…and almost to more tears to think about all that food!!! LOL
Years ago I would have been in heaven at the site of all these goodies that were just for me. This time I could only laugh because it was like a thanksgiving dinner’s worth of sweets all at one time.
How in the world did they expect me to eat it all????? Even with my kids and husband I knew it was going to take a while to work through it all and not overindulge every single day.
I’ve tested each food so to allow me to write a proper thank you and let them know how wonderful the food was. I took bites of each with the exception of the items with chocolate and peanut butter… I’ve had more than I probably needed of them on Sunday and some more yesterday. Then last night I packaged up about two thirds of it and put it in the deep freezer. If you look closely at the chocolate cream pie you’ll see my one bite taken out. LOL
This was definitely a birthday to remember, both because of the wonderful gifts I received and because of this basket of sweets given while I was trying to be careful what I ate. 🙂
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200’s Anonymous

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
My name is Leah and it has been six days since I’ve seen 200 on the scale.
Yep, I can prove it by showing you on Wii Fit I weighed just under 200 lbs – AT NIGHT!!! I did a body check for the first time in 108 days (to be exact – LOL ) after I got home from my evening walk the other day. I was so tickled it was under 200 I had my son bring me my camera to take a picture. 🙂
Oh, and yes, now you all know my BMI, but you’ll also notice that it’s dropped a full point since the last time I got on here. Woo Hoo!
Since I seem to be staying under 200 for more than a day I guess I can go ahead and change my weight loss ticker down at the bottom of my blog to show my second weight loss goal of 170 pounds. My first goal was 199 and I feel confident that I’ve met that and can keep going now. Glory!!!
I hope you all have a great weekend! We have some fun family time plans scheduled. It’s going to start by dropping off the girls for some volunteering and then my son and I going for a walk this morning.
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