I don't know about other moms but for me, I don't take care of myself as well as I do everyone else. I don't eat regularly, I don't get dressed regularly, I don't make sure I get enough sleep and don't exercise. I just don't make it a priority to take care of myself and as a result my family gets a mediocre version of me. I don't function to the best of my ability without a proper diet, rest, and exercise. And after awhile of neglecting your health you need an intervention which came in the form of my mom!
When I was in the States, I started as simply as making sure I was eating three meals a day. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous but I was skipping breakfast or lunch and then getting cranky because I wasn't eating. My mom also helped me get started running again and being active and also just being away from all my daily responsibilities of housework, I actually was going to bed on time.
So, coming back to Saudi I wanted to make sure I continued and built upon what I started. I started by exercising. When we moved here I had a thousand excuses on why I couldn't work out, mainly because I had no time or no one to watch the kids...and well, I didn't want to and felt overwhelmed with losing all of the weight from my pregnancy and so I found excuses. Instead of allowing myself to see all the reasons why I can't go to the gym, I sat down and looked at what I do have and that is four days a week that Peyton is at school in the mornings and Graham naps. Take out one day for breakfast group and I have three mornings free. What was I doing with those mornings...a whole lot of nothing! Time to change that....now, I put on my workout clothes first thing when I wake up, take Peyton to school, come home, put Graham to sleep for his morning nap and start P90X and workout! Perfect! I make sure all of my stuff is set up in the morning so I have no excuses. And by doing it in the mornings, I have more energy and it is the first thing I do instead of leaving it to the end of the day after everything and when I would rather just go to sleep.
I also implemented a 10:00 PM bedtime for me. I need sleep and I have learned that I need 9 hours of sleep at a minimum to be a happy, functioning and patient mommy. So, I need to go to bed. No excuses. If it can't get done by 10 PM, it probably wasn't that important or I needed to reprioritize and be purposeful with my time.
Also, we needed to sleep train Graham. With moving, traveling, more traveling and more traveling...his life has never been consistent and so we just continued to let him eat when he woke up to help us even make it through. That leaves us with a baby who wakes up constantly to eat and two tired parents. John is about to start a turnaround which leaves me alone with the kids 95% of the time and if I am a person who needs sleep then I need to make sure that Graham is sleeping through the night. We have been reducing the amount of formula we give him ate night for the past couple of weeks and then we started sleep training/no more food at night on Sunday night and the first time he cried a bunch and it was a long night but since then he has slept through the night consistently. We have been switching nights in case he does wake up but we are hoping this is the end of middle of the night waking!
Finally, although it seems the simplest, it is the hardest for me...eating three well balanced and healthy meals. Since I have been back I have been trying to eat better but it is so hard. I don't ever have an appetite for what I make the kids, I don't feel like making something different for everyone and I just don't eat as well as I would like. And if I am wanting to lose the last little bit of pregnancy weight and am doing all this work with P90X, I can't eat trash. So, I looked into a new program here on camp with the Carlton Nutrition Center. It is essentially like Jenny Craig but for us. I met with a nutritionist and was surprised how little weight I have left to go to my goal and we went over my calorie needs and sample menus. I picked out my menu for 15 days (I am not doing weekends) and they start delivering my food today! It gets delivered to my house every morning from 5:30-6:00 AM and it contains my breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks for the day. I am hoping this will help me eat regularly, retrain me the right portions and types of food to be eating and help me reach my weight loss goals so I can focus on maintaining and not the daunting task of losing weight. After 15 days, I go back and evaluate what I liked, didn't like, adjust my meal and decide if I want to continue.
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