1. My eating. As someone recently told me, good food = good mood, bad food = bad mood. I've been eating a lot of "bad" food lately. And wine. I had a ton of social things last week and ate/drank more than usual. Sunday = wine/desert with a friend, Tuesday = wine/munchies/desert at a mom's get together, Wednesday = desert at book club, Friday = wine/lots of food/desert/other junk out to dinner with friends, Saturday = wine/food/desert during wine tasting limo day followed by dinner at a neighbor's house. All those "off plan" (if you will) meals and all that alcohol combined for not only weight gain but also a crabby mood. After all, alcohol is a depressant. I'm considering doing a "clean" eating week in which I would plan out my eating for the week and then stick to that with no flexibility. No deprivation or anything, just plenty of healthy, whole foods and no alcohol. Anyway, I'm in the midst of digging myself out of said weight gain and crabby mood, but I'm not there yet.
2. Exercise. Maybe I'm exercising too much. Truth is, I hate even considering this possibility. I mean, come on, I exercise 5 days a week for barely more than an hour on most days. How can that be too much?! It irritates me to no end that anyone would suggest I'm exercising too much because I already feel like I sacrifice a lot in this area because of lack of time. But Miguel suggested as much last night and he's at least the third person to bring up this possibility. I'm considering cutting back to 4 days a week. But I don't know where to cut. I'm in 1/2 marathon training so I don't want to cut a run. I want to keep some biking endurance up so I don't want to drop a bike day. And I am not going down to less than weight training 3x a week. Can you hear my defiance? I'll keep pondering this one for a bit. I'm not yet ready to cut back on something that brings me so much satisfaction.
3. Sleep. I need more of it. Miguel thinks if I get a full 8 hours sleep for at least three days in a row I'm going to feel revitalized. In practice I tend to downplay the importance of sleep, all the while talking up (and knowing) how important it is. I went to bed at 9pm last night. I'm going to bed no later than 9:30pm tonight and tomorrow night. I say this kind of thing a lot and then never do it but this time I'm for real. I need to get my body and mind back into a good place and I know sleep is a big part of that.
4. The other parts of my life. I schedule too many activities. Again, an area where my defenses can get triggered - I like to be active, I like to be involved and social. I am happy with less downtime because downtime often equals the couch and I don't know about yours but my couch emits bad mood chemicals after about 30 minutes. But while I like to keep busy and active I also acknowledge that keeping too busy leaves me feeling frazzled and forgetting how to be in the moment, enjoying myself. I guess I'm spread too thin. I already know of at least one thing I'm going to drop.
5. Crap, I need a happy point in this list. Things that are going well and keeping me going are...Family: I am so grateful for my healthy, happy kids and my very supportive husband. We all have our moments but if I can slow down on the scheduled activities, get my eating back in line and thereby improve this crappy mood I think we'll have more happy moments than not. Happy mom = happy family, right? Vitamins: I'm taking a multi, a B complex and chondroitin and I think I'm noticing a difference. Asthma: This is a mixed bag, I'm peeved that I have to deal with this but hopeful I can figure out a treatment protocol that might help my fitness efforts. Muscles: I can see and feel the muscles in my body and I love that. And my clothes fit pretty well too.
That's a lot already for one post but I'll just do a quick run-down of my exercise and weight.
Friday: Up nearly two pounds at weigh-in. Ugh. Went to the gym, 25 minutes on the bike followed by back/biceps/core for strength training.
Saturday: Day off from exercise.
Sunday: Long run, 10 miles. Silly me ran in the heat of the day, probably didn't have enough water. The last mile of the run was downright grueling. Averaged 5.3mph. But I did it.
Monday: Gym, 25 minutes on the bike followed by chest/triceps/core for strength training. If I could live at the gym for a week or two I probably would. That place just makes me feel good.
I have to close with a picture that makes me smile. On Sunday we did a family photo exchange with another family. I'm so happy with how they all turned out. I'm saving the family shot for our Holiday cards but I'll share one of my little bear and I.
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I feel what you're going through. In fact, you hit the nail on the head about the rollercoaster. I'm also training for a half marathon. My gym offers yoga-lates on Friday at lunch time...which has been my "me time" fun. With all the training that goes into a half marathon, I like doing yoga to help clear my head and really stretch out your muscles. Something needed in our over scheduled social lives :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support. I just looked up my gym's Yoga schedule, it's only in the mornings unfortunately. yoga-lates sounds fun! I need to find another way to de-stress though, like daily meditation. Accidentally typed daily medication at first, probably need that too!
DeleteMichelle, you don't know me but I've been following your blog for 4-years. Can I just say that you and I are very much alike. We are in the same profession and I have a 3- year old and 1-year old. I too have UPS AND DOWNS and mine aren't even weekly--things can change from day to day. Last week Tuesday was horrible, Wed and Thurs were great, Friday was horrible, Saturday was okay, Sunday was good, etc. etc. I have never experienced craziness to this extent until I had kids. I love my kids but being a mom is by far the most challenging job I have ever had. Could it just be the craziness of life w/ two small children and trying to fit everything else in? I could be wrong but I feel that's what it could be with me. I squeeze in four workouts a week and watch my eating too. Like I said, a lot of things in common. If I lived closer to you, I think we'd be friends. :) Anyway, I'm all over the place but I hope this helps a little. Maybe trying to find acceptance that life is a roller coaster right now will help you a bit. That's what I'm trying to do. Keep on blogging---it's good for you and for the rest of us reading. :)
ReplyDeleteAh Melissa, thank you. It sometimes can be so helpful just to hear that I'm not alone in feeling overwhelmed with my life. I appreciate the reminder that the kids have added so much craziness to the whole thing. Too bad you don't live closer. I will work on acceptance. I just signed up for one of those meal planning sites. Unfortunately the meals are for someone who has an hour to cook, which I don't. But maybe I can tweak things to work for us. Again, thanks for the support :)
DeleteI analyzed recently why I was feeling down, and I had to admit the only thing I really felt down about was my uncontrolled eating. I just don't feel good about myself when I am doing that. I still had trouble stopping, but starting to do better now. Maybe limit your social things to so many a week? It might help your eating and your lack of sleep. I have the opposite problem. I remember when you first started blogging, your first goal was just to get out and do something once a week, or something like that. My how things change! I need to make that goal.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right on about this. My life has changed *so much* from when I started, I think I've had this idea that "social" = yes! But I need to pare down, make smarter choices about how to spend my, and our family, free time. I started over 5 years ago - you have a good memory :)
DeleteFantastic post! I've noticed the same thing in my life! Our food effects us so much beyond simple nutrition! The important part is being able to recognize that. Then we can take action to control it. Thanks for sharing! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThanks for cheering me on!
DeleteAh, have waded down to this post - and I love it because it's quite insightful, some people just keep going and going til they burn out...! The over-exercise thing is a conundrum i totally get where you are coming from. 3 years ago I was doing 12-16hrs a week for an ironman and never thought I could be satisfied with 8hrs or less...and yet found myself doing just that 2 years later. the key for me was getting that endorphin flow - which for me meant shorter, more intense interval-like workouts under 45mins - and to be honest it fits in so much better with my lifestyle! Oh and moods vs eating...yah, gotta love that correlation :) Boo. 80% clean eating, 20% enjoyment WITHOUT guilt...can be very satisfying, it's the guilt that can eat people. You are so close to your goal weight that soon you will have to stop watching those scales for satisfaction and set other goals (like that Half Iron ro 10 pull ups) for satisfaction...and at the end of the day....EVERYONE has the down weeks, sometimes they are what drive us to climb a little higher - and yes, you have such a beautiful family, always love your pics as you are all so photogenic!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cherelli! I'm sure I saw this comment before but just re-reading it now. And now I'm at goal and finding other goals to keep me busy. Thanks for your never ending support :)
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