I have a confession to make. I used to think tracking/keeping a food journal was easy. I couldn’t understand why people struggled with it. Tracking works. Know the points before you eat it. Write it down. Stay within your budget, and you will lose weight. Easy Peasy. Yeah, I used to be one of THOSE people.
And then I had a baby. Boy do I get it now!! It’s not just being busy or being focused on the baby more than myself. It’s also just difficulty concentrating and having about 8,000 things on my mind at once.
My Aunt once told me that men are like waffles because their thoughts are all separated in neat little compartments, while women are like spaghetti because their thoughts all spill over and mix together. This is SO true with me and my husband! Since my son was born, I think my mental spaghetti has doubled in size! I have so many things on my mind, and I’m distracted so easily. My memory is horrible. I feel like I need to do things as soon as I think of them, but that might mean abandoning the thing I was originally doing. It’s so frustrating because I used to be so organized!
I even started writing this while in the middle of something else because I couldn’t concentrate on the task at hand while this was on my mind! I started writing this in August of 2016. It’s now May of 2017, so it took me NINE months to get back to finishing this post – ugh!
I felt like I was starting to get back on track in June of 2016 and my weight was finally under 200 pounds. Then I just couldn’t stick with it because life got in the way. Working moms know that time with your children is limited on the weekdays. I only have 2 – 3 hours with my son after work before his bedtime. I just couldn’t see taking time away from him to figure out my points and track my food, but ultimately it came down to priorities.
I never really found a balance or figured out how to maintain without my weight being a top priority in my life. I was still working hard to get to my goal when I found out I was pregnant. After my son was born, he became my top priority. I wanted to lose weight and get back to running, but it felt like pure torture to be away from him any longer than I already was! I’m only just now starting to feel better about making time for myself and not devoting every free minute to him. He is starting to sleep a little later, so I think morning runs may be possible again….if I can get to bed on time!!
I want to hear from you. Even if you don’t have children, we ALL have busy lives with conflicting priorities.
- How do you juggle everything?
- How do you make it all work?
- How do you avoid feeling guilty making time for yourself instead of something or someone else?
I need to figure out a balance so I can be a good mom and get my health back on track. EVERYTHING is harder to do with this extra 50 pounds. I can’t believe I used to carry even more weight than this. It’s no wonder I always felt miserable. I don’t want to feel miserable anymore. How about you?!