One Of My Very Own

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
Okay, I’m a sucker….seriously. I love water bottles with straws versus an open lid. Since Oklahoma has such wonderful water I have no problem drinking water from the tap here. However, I only have one 32-oz insulated water cup that uses a straw. It’s great for keeping around the house, but not for taking on the go as it doesn’t fit into a drink holder.
I’ve been eyeing people’s water bottles at the gym and in blogs and finally decided to get myself a new one. I chose to try the new Camelbak Better Bottle water bottle.
So far I love how it fits so easily in my hand as well as the drink holder in my car. I’m still getting a little used to having to bite the nozzle and then suck the water out, but I must’ve done okay because I drank two of them full yesterday. It holds 24 ounces.
My kids all think it’s cool and I might just invest in one for each of them as the sports seasons go on and the weather warms up (okay looking waaaay into the future here). At $11 a bottle I wasn’t about to go out and buy them each one right now. My son is a straw biter, so the girls think this would be great for him especially. We’ll see…
Oh, did I mention the parts are all dishwasher safe? That’s a selling point with me for sure! 🙂
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Fitness Mind

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

You know you’re becoming a gym rat, or fitness/health minded, when you see a weather report showing a major winter storm coming and the first thing you think is, “Am I going to be able to get to the gym? I should make sure I plan how I’ll work out if I can’t go out.”

That was me today as I watched the news and did the elliptical machine. I shocked myself by thinking that and then laughed. It’s a nice change of thought.
Afterwards I also thought about how I can plan with groceries, cleaning supplies, batteries, firewood, etc. in case it gets bad. These ice storms can close down schools here and make the roads just awful, so I’ll need to be prepared to not have to go out unless it’s absolutely necessary.
But, mark it down, I will also make sure I’m prepared to workout from home if it’s necessary. 🙂
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I Got Another One!

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
Syl from Live, Smile, Run was so kind to share a blog award with me. So, I shall accept it and try and share another seven random things about myself. 🙂
  1. I love the cottage style of decorating, and my dream house would be decorated like something out of Cottage Living…with lots of white.
  2. Flowers of any kind bring a smile to my face.
  3. I have lived in six states in my lifetime.
  4. I love musicals!
  5. We bought a mac computer almost two years ago and I love it!
  6. I enjoy scrapbooking and now digital scrapbooking as well.
  7. I’ve become addicted to blogging and reading blogs.
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The Ambition Shadow

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
As I was cleaning out my wallet the other day I came across a fortune I had saved from a fortune cookie once. It read:
“Do not let ambitions overshadow small success.”

I felt it was a perfect response to my emotional moment the other day.
I have an ambition to reach my healthy weight, but if I’m not careful I can let that ambition and final goal overshadow and cast darkness on the small successes along the way. It’s easy to look at the calendar and think how far I could’ve already been in my weight loss journey if I had gotten either my exercise or my eating in better order earlier on.
But wait.
What if I hadn’t done anything at all? What if seeing 232 pounds on the scale last April would’ve saddened me, but I never did anything about it. What if hiding myself on purpose behind my kids in a photo wouldn’t have embarrassed me enough to start doing something about my weight?
I wouldn’t be where I am today.
  • Noticing when I eat too much and learning why so I can change.
  • Eating smaller portions.
  • Choosing fruit to go along with meals.
  • Drinking water throughout the day instead of soda or iced tea.
  • Caring whether non-dairy powdered creamer has more or less calories than half-n-half.
  • On week four of the Couch to 5K program and thinking how easy it is becoming for me to jog at 4.0 mph.
  • Oh, and 24 pounds lighter. 🙂
No, at eight months into my weight loss journey I’m not even halfway to my goal of 140 pounds,heck I haven’t even broken 200 pounds yet, but I have persevered and made many small successes along the way. I will not let the ambition to reach my goal weight steal the joy that each small victory has afforded me.
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Tired, But Glad

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding


This morning I went to the gym…at 8:00 am. In my opinion, that is too early to be going to the gym on a Saturday morning (especially after working a full week and being busy all but one night), but I did it. As I lugged myself out of bed I reminded myself that I was going to be glad I did it later.

I had to go early because my husband needed to go to the school for a while today and we had plans all afternoon and early evening. So, it was either go early for some good cardio or not go at all today.
As I was on the elliptical, being amazed that other people go out at that hour just to exercise, I remembered that Diane at Fit to the Finish gets up to walk even earlier on Saturdays as well. Whew. I don’t normally sleep in really late, but I enjoy sleeping in until around 8:30 or so on Saturdays and having my coffee at a leisurely pace.
Of course, when I was done I was glad I went. :o) I’m still glad I went. And if I had to do it again, I would.
Because I know I’d be glad I did it when it was all over with. 🙂
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Emotional Moment

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding
Thinking late at night can be detrimental to my mental health because I tend to vex on things that really aren’t important, or not as important as I make them out to be.

I’ve lost 24 pounds in the last eight months. I am very proud of this and even more proud that I’m losing inches along with it due to my recent increase in exercise.

However, after catching up on my weight loss blog reading this evening I began to think…
This is only 3 pounds a month, which is approximately 0.75 pounds a week.

I’m a little upset by this slow progress, but I think I’m more upset when I see that so many people just stuck to their diets and got it done. They decided to do it, did it and reached their goals in a year or just over.
In May of last year I decided that I wasn’t going to start a diet to lose weight. I was going to make small changes to better my health with the final goal in mind of buying a nice dress for my husband’s dental school graduation in May 2011 coming from a regular sizes department versus a plus sizes department.
Along the way I’ve made small, good changes in my eating and really upped my exercise level, but I’m still seeing so many of the bad habits with my eating. I do good for a couple of days and then I do fine. Or I eat fine at meals and then catch myself munching. *sigh* This bothers me, but I know it’s no one’s fault but my own.
It is something I need to work on, because, honestly…I’m tired of posting my weigh-ins and seeing them go up and down every week. Well, actually I’m only kind of tired of it. I don’t mind what I see on the scale as long as it’s not a huge gain. I think it’s when I compare myself to others and their weight loss journeys that I begin to get upset.
I guess if it bothers me that much I just need to get tired of it enough to be consistent (like I posted here months ago) and stick to making better choices all of the time.
Meanwhile, I’ll try not to let it get me down and instead I’ll just keep staying active and work on the eating less part. I know this is the comparison demon that is not a good thing at times, so I will publish this post and then let it go.
Good night and thanks for allowing me this emotional moment.
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Happy 101 Blog Award

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding


I was kindly given the Happy 101 blog award by Gina at Fit by 41, Maybe 42. She is too kind! 🙂

My understanding is I’m supposed to list ten things that make me happy and then try to do at least one of them today. Then I am to pass this award on to 10 other people and their blogs.
Ten things that make me happy are:
  1. Serving Jesus with all of my heart. The road of life is not always smooth, but my Savior is always faithful, merciful and gracious to guide me every step of the way. I’ll never regret giving my life to Him.
  2. Being a wife and mother. It was a my dream as a little girl to get married and have children. I’ve been living my dream for the past fourteen and twelve years respectively.
  3. A good cup of coffee. I start my day out with a good cup of coffee to sip while I read my Bible. The best part of waking up is Starbucks or Seattle’s Best in my cup! 🙂
  4. Smiles. I love to smile and I love it even more when someone smiles back.
  5. Girlfriends. There is nothing like a good long talk with a dear friend to brighten any day or situation. And girlfriend getaways have been some of the most fun I’ve ever had.
  6. Giving. I get great joy out of putting together little packages for people for special occasions or no occasion at all.
  7. Mary Engelbreit’s art. I’ve loved her art since high school and can always find a reason to buy some new notecards or notepads with her work on it.
  8. A clean house. I can rest and enjoy a day or a nice evening after I’ve just done my weekly cleaning. It’s like everything has a fresh start for the coming week.
  9. Happy endings. I know sad endings are a reality in life, but I must admit I love a good chick flick or book with clean romance and a happy ending. Enter Karen Kingsbury or Jeanette Oke or Beverly Lewis.
  10. Finishing a tough workout. Being that this is a weight loss blog I shall end with the fact that I have recently begun finding great joy in finishing a good workout, or a day of the Couch to 5K program. It means I’m making progress and doing something good for my body instead of ignoring it. 🙂
Now, I’m supposed to pass this on to other bloggers. I’m going to pass it on to just a few people that are new followers and commentors on my blog.
Gina at Fit at 41, Maybe 42 – Back at you! I think being from Arizona links us, even though neither of us lives there now.
Lori at Finding Radiance – I’ve found great encouragement and great food ideas on her blog.
Syl at Live, Smile, Run – I started following her blog as I got interested in running. She’s a 5′ 4″ blonde (like me) who looks great after losing 80 pounds and I hope to look that great some day also. 🙂
Tricia at Endurance Isn’t Only Physical – I also came across her blog when I got interested in running. Seeing that she couldn’t run at all a year ago and is now preparing for a half marathon is impressive. This is also because of the weight she has lost this past year. Very inspiring.
Staci at Weight Loss Mama – She always stops by with a kind, supportive word and is doing well in her weight loss journey as well.
Diane at Fit to the Finish – I could and probably will forward any award I give to her. She has been very patient with me in my weight loss journey and encouraged me every step of the way. Diane, no pressure to do this, I just had to say it one more time.
That’s it for today folks. Now for me to go and catch up on all of your blogs! 🙂
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Perfect 10 Update #3

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding


Here’s another update for the Perfect 10 Challenge.

My Perfect 10 Goals Are:
  1. Complete the Couch to 5K program. YES – I finished week 3 last night. I’m having a bit of an issue with shin splits, but nothing serious.
  2. Drink 6-8, 8 oz. glasses of water daily. No – I had three days for sure that I didn’t get at least six 8-oz glasses of water in, maybe even four. Back to normal yesterday and today though.
  3. Adjust my eating to see weight loss. No – I saw a 1.0 gain and I know why. After a large unexpected loss I was for sure I’d see a gain, but then I had a few days where the eating wasn’t that great – always eating beyond full, so I know that’s the issue. I just have to stop eating beyond full and when I’m not hungry.
I’m not giving up and continue to look for progress in the future.


As for the little tidbit on me….

Since I mentioned it this week, I’ll expound. I’m a substitute teacher. I do not have a teaching degree, but here in our district you don’t have to have anything beyond a high school graduation and a clean record to sub. Yes, it’s strange, but you are also only allowed to sub for a teacher 70 days out of the school year when you don’t have a degree (as many days as you want for a class aide). So, it works perfect for me, because I only sub at my children’s school part time.I sub in all elementary grades, music, art, P.E. and special ed.
I was a teacher’s aide in a special education classroom with very low functioning children for a year before moving out here, and I did daycare for a few years when my children were much younger. I’ve also taught Sunday school for about eight years. So, I do have some experience working with kids and I really enjoy it.

If I had gone to college I would’ve gone to either be a teacher or an accountant. Since I have to work right now I love that I have found such a perfect job for me. I love it!

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Weigh-In … Not Too Upset

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

Today’s Weight: 207.0

Loss/Gain: +1.0 lb.
Total Loss So Far: -24.0 lbs.
Well, yes, I’m up a pound. I should be really bummed, but I’m really not. After that large unexpected loss last week I was expecting a maintain or possibly a gain unless I was really “good” with my eating.
And I wasn’t really good.
So, I have to say that I’m still a bit excited because I’m below 209, which was my stuck point for so many weeks. I would go up and then down to that weight for a while.
I do plan on doing better with my eating this week so as to see a loss next week.
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Improvement

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Leah@MyNewEnding

My week has been very busy, but that’s good. 🙂 The eating has been okay, but the water is horrible. Hmm…. I haven’t been getting it in at school like I thought I would. Teaching PE I’m not at a desk where my water is sitting in front of me most of the day. I’m going to have to make myself remember to drink it. I have been getting my exercise in and that is good.

I want to share a great quote I came across last week on Run the Planet under their beginners section. Since my weight loss journey is a much slower one than some I took great encouragement in this thought.
“Improvement is defined as being closer to where you want to be than you are right now.”
I am closer to where I want to be than I was a year ago and even a few months ago, so I guess I’ve shown some improvement. I will continue to strive to see more improvement in my health and fitness as the days and weeks go on.
Have a great day everyone!
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