.....the days until our Michigan trip, that is. Today's February 6th, and we're leaving on the 13th....I have about a week to try to get down to my goal of -25 pounds by the time we leave. I'm closer this week: I lost one more pound, so I've got a total loss of 21 pounds, which is great, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of having to lose 4 pounds this week to make my goal. I'm not sure it's going to happen, but I'm going to try.
To be totally honest, I'm completely surprised that I lost that pound this week. I'm taking it as a sign that my previous way of eating was WAY wrong. I'm going to be totally forthcoming here: I haven't logged into Spark People to log my food intake in over a week. ***hiding behind the couch*** I've been trying to think about what I'm eating before I put it into my mouth, and if I'm hungry, I'm trying to force myself to reach for the veggies, not the carbs, but I haven't logged a thing, so I'm sure I'm still overeating somehow. I really thought that I was going to gain at least a pound this week.
I'm adding to the feeling of shame and guilt here, as I admit to not exercising more than once (during the Grammys on Sunday) this week. I'm just not sure how and when to fit it in. I'm exhausted, plain and simple. Mike's put in 6 thirteen hour days this week, as well as a half day last Sunday, and that means all of the rest of the "to-do stuff" has been left to me. Here's my week (just so you get an idea, and NO I'm not exaggerating. This is the life of a resident's spouse, with kiddos):
Sunday: Up at 7 am, at church by 10 am, youth group until 3, grocery shopping afterwards, home for dinner and working out. (I was supposed to babysit a friend's children at 5:30, but that fell through so my night actually opened up a bit).
Monday: Left the house at 7:30 am (so up at 6 am to make sure all three boys were up and fed and ready) to take Baby #1 to school by 8:10, went to Baby #2's school to clean, home by noon to try to get Baby #3 a nap. While home, did 3 loads of laundry, baked a loaf of bread, and started four batches of cinnamon rolls to rise in the fridge while I was gone. Left house at 2:30 to pick Baby #1 up at school, home to make dinner. Dinner, bedtime for the kids, and then prepwork for staff meeting the next day.
Tuesday: Same morning schedule, except this time we dropped Baby #1 off at school at 8:10, and then Baby #2 off at school at 9. I stopped for a quick coffee with a friend for about 30 minutes, and then it was off to church, where I had back-to-back meetings. Left church around 2, picked up Baby #2 from a friend's house (where he went after school), then picked up Baby #1 from school. Home to make dinner and try to do a little bit of cleaning. Made 4 batches of cinnamon rolls for the teacher appreciation breakfast at Baby #1's school the next morning.
Wednesday: Same morning as Tuesday, but earlier (we had to be at Baby #1's school by 7:30 am for the teacher breakfast), afternoon changed to coming home by 12:30 pm to leave again by 2:30 pm (during this time, I got Baby #3 down for a nap, and tried to do more laundry). Picked Baby #1 up from school, came home to make dinner, saw Mike for 5 minutes as I told him what dinner was and who did/did not nap during the day, and then it was off to a fundraising event for Baby #2's school.
Thursday: Same morning as Tuesday, with the exception being I babysat for a friend during Baby #2's school period. Home for a quick lunch, then off to visit another school program that we might send Baby #1 to next year. Home for 30 minutes, while I unloaded the car and did the dishes from breakfast, and then off to pick up Baby #1 from school. Back home to make dinner, and try to clean up the house a little. Dinner, bathtime, then bedtime. Mike wasn't home until close to 8 this night, so everything was on my own. Afterwards, I crashed into bed because I was just exhausted.
Friday: Out of the house by 7:30 to get Baby #1 to school. Friday was my "lazy" day: Came home to do 5 loads of laundry, mopping, baked 4 dozen cookies for Baby #1's Family Game Night, cleaned both bathrooms, did prepwork for this weekend's youth group, etc. Left at 2:30 pm to run to get Baby #1 from school. Came home for a quick dinner and clean up, before being back in the car at 5 pm to go to Family Game Night. Was at Baby #1's school until 8, then stopped at the hospital to see Mike for an hour (he was working overnight last night, and the boys hadn't seen him since Wednesday thanks to his work schedule), then home for bedtime. By the time I got the car unloaded and boys in bed it was 10 pm, so I just did a quick clean up and collapsed into bed.
Saturday: Up at 8 after being up twice during the night with the kids (They don't sleep well on nights that Mike's at work), got the kids dressed and ready, made a batch of cinnamon rolls since the dog ate ours when I left them out on the counter on Wednesday morning and I'd promised to make the kids new ones to make up for it, and I have to still run to the dump today, finish prepwork for youth group, and then we have a dinner tonight with some of Mike's attendings. I'm going to try to work in a treadmill workout during naptime, but it all depends on if the kids sleep, because I'm sure Mike will be crashed in bed because he was up working all night. Then it's back to the same schedule tomorrow.
So, I didn't write this out so you could all say, "Awww...poor Heidi" or anything like that. I wanted to try and get a good visual for my week to see where I can adjust it to work out. I prefer to work out in the morning, because I love to start my day like that, but if I get up any earlier than our normal wake up time (which is 6 for me, and 6:30 for the boys), the boys wake up and follow me downstairs. I've tried both 5 am and 5:30 am, hoping to get in a workout, and can probably count the times that it actually worked on one hand: most days they follow me downstairs and then are cranky and grumpy because they're up an hour earlier, and the morning does NOT start out right.
I'm usually "free" after about 8 pm each night, because the boys are usually in bed and asleep after this time. However, this is also usually my only time to try and get chores done. Usually, I have a ton of cleaning and laundry and prepwork for the next day (packing bags and lunches, etc) to do after this time. This is usually also my work time for the youth group, which I put in about 20 hours a week on youth group related activities. I usually have a good hour to two hours of work to do after the kids go to bed. Add into it that I'm usually just utterly exhausted by 8 pm from the constant demands of the boys, the house, and all the managerial stuff that comes along with it (yardwork, upkeep and maintenance, bill paying, doctor's appointments, etc - Mike can't do any of this because of his job), and it's really hard for me to work out. I'm exhausted, and then when I do force myself to work out during this time, I'm all revved up and wide awake, which makes it hard for me to get to bed before midnight, when then makes me even more tired the next day. Mike's on a rotation where we're lucky if he's home by 7:30 pm each night (and he has to get up at 3:30 am, so he pretty much comes home, eats, and then heads to bed), so I can't rely on him for child care when I'm working out. We used to have a YMCA membership, so I could drop the kids off in the child care while I worked out, but the hospital didn't renew that contract this year, and we can't afford to buy one on our own.
This week, I tried to work in little bursts of working out: running up and down the stairs extra times when I was putting away the laundry, little 10 minute bursts of crunches/leg lifts/etc before the kids noticed I was laying on the ground (and therefore, had become a human jungle gym), but it really bothers me to not be doing more than that. I love my treadmill workout - I feel great afterwards and I'd gotten back up to running short distances, which felt great (I'd really missed running!).
I just cannot figure out a way to get more energy. My days just zap me of all my energy, and if I take away sleep to work out, I feel great for a day or two, but then that lack of sleep really wears on me and I'm grumpy, and can't stay awake while driving, etc. I really need 7 or more hours of sleep a night - it's just what my body needs, I guess.
I guess I just need to keep trying to figure it out, but I'm asking you for some ideas. I think I'm going to need to find more ways to do short little workouts throughout the day, at least during the school year. Any ideas? I'd like some strength building and possibly toning ideas......as well as any short cardio bursts you can think of.
I think I've managed to change my eating habits and gotten my cravings/bad habits under control. My weight loss this week, even without working out, I think is proof of that. My next goal is to find new ways to work exercise into that daily schedule, without sacrificing playing time with the boys, or letting the house work or youth group work slide (and if you saw my house you'd know that I am not neurotic about this - things are not perfectly clean!!! I usually have piles of laundry that need to get done, and only vacuum once a week, etc).
Ideas? Thanks!
LOL, Heidi. I honestly can't say when you could do MORE. In reading your post, it's like asking, how else can I exercise while I am running the marathon? I think that you hinted at it in your post: when your life is busy, you are burning calories (if you must, you can get butt squeezes and Kegels in while you're in the car, as Cosmo might suggest). Taking the stairs, and reaching for healthy snacks is key---you're doing it already, and you lost weight!
ReplyDeleteSure, there are little exercises you can do AS you do your housework (I'm thinking of all of the laughable exercises while holding your baby that the mother's magazines put out)... My impression, Heidi, is that (if your goal is to use the treadmill, and for your own sanity as well) you need to do LESS. I know this is maddening, and you might say 'there's no way I can do that---look at my life!', but it's the impression that I get from reading that litany of activities that you wrote. I'm sure, in your heart, you know it, too. Somewhere, in your day, there needs to be room for you, not just time that feels stolen because you're up early, and haven't gotten enough sleep.
I am no Martha Stewart these days, so I'm almost not qualified to comment, but I would suggest thinking about what to let go, even a few days a week, with the house. One thing about the laundry: you can get stuff done between loads, and, I might add, I don't rush to fold stuff and put it away. It might make you a little crazy to let it go, but there has to be a time that your family understands is SACRED to you (the baby may not get this, of course), and they recognize and respect it. Sounds like early in the morning is your time, and maybe after you have the kids stuff packed for the next day you may have to put a moratorium on doing other things, even if it means leaving dishes in the sink 'til the next day, so you can rest.
Is it possible to have some help with the youth group planning?
Have you tried running some kind of white noise machines in the boys rooms? We have the cheapest air filters from Walmart in there (cheap because we knew they'd be the noisiest) and that keeps them from hearing us when we're out in the kitchen (small house) and also keeps the boys from waking each other when they get up as they share a room.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, holy laundry, batman! I don't know if this would help but after my morning workout, the very next thing I do is throw a load in the washer and fold a load from the dryer. I also have three hanging organizers in the laundry room (1 per kid) and ONLY put laundry away once a week and that has been a huge time saver. I'm always caught up on the laundry and I don't dread doing it anymore because putting it away is the worst part.
Hope this helps, keep it up, even a horrible week does not undo your diet success so don't get discouraged:-)
Thanks guys!
ReplyDeleteWe do have noise machines in the boys' bedrooms. I have NO CLUE how they hear me, but they do!!
I'm trying to relax about the housework and laundry, and I really don't keep up on it that well. The laundry usually stays folded in the laundry baskets and we dress ourselves out of those for most of the week, and then I spend one evening/day putting it away. And I only get to things like the bathrooms/floors/etc once a week - it's really the daily stuff that kills me (putting everything back where it goes, doing dishes, packing lunches/bags, etc). It's just that kind of stuff that just eats all of my time. It's really hard being the only one who does that kind of stuff. I try to get the big boys to help (putting laundry away, putting toys away, etc), but they do such a horrible job (shoving their laundry into their drawers and getting it all wrinkled) that I end up doing it again at some point and it drives me crazy. I think I'm going to try and do the "basket" method, though - each kiddo has a bsket that sits on the stairs throughout the day. As I find things, I put it in that person's basket who it belongs to, and then at the end of the day, that person has to put it away. I'm hoping that will help.
Believe it or not, I do delegate a lot of the youth group stuff out - I have adult team members who do a lot for me. I have a hard time asking them to do more, though - I'm the only paid person (they're all volunteers) and I don't want to take up TOO much of their time, so I tend to reserve their help for events, shopping, etc.
I'm trying to get better and letting things go, but there's only so much I can do, you know? The baby's crawling everywhere, and I don't want him getting into dirt or gunk on the floor because everything goes into his mouth. This year has been SO time-intensive for Mike that I'm pretty much a single mom most of the time. That's hard, because I still have 5 people (and a dog) that I'm trying to care for. It's just incredibly draining!!!