Monday, January 21, 2008

Why Moms Don't Lose Weight

Due to the fact that I opened the dishwasher this morning, and blankly stared inside, only to realize that what I MEANT to do was to open the top of the coffee pot (at least the coffee pot is above it on the counter, hey, we all make mistakes) I am skipping my treadmill. I didn't, to my great relief, throw coffee grinds in and start the dishwasher, so I think I am fit enough to watch my children today. After downing some caffeine from lukewarm coffee, of course, the coffee pot is brewing (god, I hope that was the coffee pot) and I am waiting in great pain for it to be done. But I don't think my legs would cooperate with a morning run, and I think somehow the treadmill would end up on top of me, like those awful commericals with the forklift on top of the worker. Its not the kids I am worried about, Treehouse would take care of them all day,and they could scrounge food from the cupboards like the feral children they are, but that would just be really bad way to start my week.

But that lead my morning mind to thinking, in its haze, about how lack of sleep just undermines my health in so many ways. I've noticed it, in the fact that I can directly track my weight loss (and gains) with my amount of sleep. The Princess was sleeping almost through the night in September till about November, and that's when I was my most successful. Since then, no sleep, no motivation. When she doesn't sleep, its all I can do to dope myself with caffeine and try not to eat sugared food all day to get a fake energy boost. If you add in a day with a playdate, then there's just no chance of any exercise happening because it takes every minute amount of energy to get them dressed and out and be relatively in a good mood for them all day. And the mood part is a huge part of it, it takes a lot of damn energy out of you to be chipper and happy for your kids, and not cancel their playdates and suffer through them, when you are surviving on 4-5 hours of broken sleep. (And I will now edit and add that my friends and their playdate's don't suck.lol. )

There are articles out there on the topic of course, like this one and this one.

The first one annoyed me a bit, but I realized that it would be good if new moms could take the article from the viewpoint of NOT stressing about those "11 lbs" ( HA I wish) and just waiting until they started getting more sleep, instead of trying to lose it and being discouraged. It probably all ties in to nature, how we need that extra weight to breastfeed, and the lack of sleep keeps us sharp and on edge from predators or some related malarky.

We all know that healthy sleep habits = healthy life, but its pretty hard to implement when you can't control the fact that your kids may not let you sleep. And if there's anything I have learned, its that you can't fight your child's sleep habits. I have one sleeper, and one non sleeper.The Princess seems to be able to survive on 8 broken hours of rest, where Mr K, since about 14/15 months, sleeps a solid straight 12 hour night. I swear their personalities are a mitigating factor in this as well..

Or I could just be grasping at this because I am too freaking tired to even think about exercising, and its a nice handy excuse ;).

Coffee ready must drink.

3 comments:

Blackbird Pie said...

Uh, maybe leave the comments about suffering through playdates for a blog your friends don't read :D

Yeah, I agree with you. Lack of sleep is linked with poor health overall.. mental and physical. Exercise does give you more energy but it's really hard to motivate yourself to start some when you're exhausted.

The MIKK Family said...

Hahahah I was going to leave that out, then realized I don't know one person who hasn't been sleep deprived with their head immersed in a Caramel Corretto from Second Cup at a playdate, praying they don't have to parent for just 5 minutes till the sugar kicks in....

miss b said...

hey just wanted to point out that exercise helps you to sleep better, and pumps out endorphins, so while it may be hard to get motivated (trust me i do know) if you make yourself do it, you see the results in all areas of your life (again trust me i know!).

going to the gym regularly for 2 hours at a time during the winter break was the only thing that kept me sane!