Skip to main content

To Be, To Sleep, To Balance

Knowledge is just information,
unless it is paired with action, at which point,
we may call it Wisdom.
Did you know that proper rest and sleep are absolutely necessary for weight loss? We all know that under-nourishing our bodies (aka - not eating enough) will cause our bodies to go into survival mode, storing fat for nourishment, uncertain as to when it will receive more of the necessary nutrients to keep it going (if you didn't, then there you are). Anyway, when we deplete our energies and deny our body sufficient time to fuel up from rest, it does the same. Storing up nutrition for energy reserves until it is able to relax after a decent amount of sleep.

Now, I am by no means a medical or nutritional professional. So, please feel free to take my thoughts with a grain of salt, I am merely forwarding my experiences and recalling information from my college nutrition class. However, let me share my week with you.

After several weeks of operating on an average high of 6 hours and overall average of 5.5hours of sleep every night, I spent a couple of days struggling with over-indulgence. Mind you, this doesn't mean that I spent several days bingeing on ice cream and sweets, or bingeing at all. For me, it has meant increased grazing, lack of tracking, increased sweet content and returning to artificial and high dairy ingredients*. The result? Nausea, headaches, upset stomach, and fatigue.

*Disclaimer: I still eat dairy and some processed foods. But since beginning my journey 7 months ago, these items have gone lower and lower in my consumption. Failing to balance sleep and rest time with my increasing fitness have led to failed planning and apathetic attitudes.

After 2 nights of 9 hours of sleep, a day of rest without heavy burdens and intense workout sessions, I woke up refreshed and stepped on the scale with a 5 pound loss! I am not endorsing the scale's numbers as a defining tool in my journey, just a tool in general that gives me an idea of where I'm at. It informed me that I need to go back to the drawing board of my time management and figure out what my weeks need to look like (i.e. more sleep and consistent meal planning) as opposed to what I think they should look like (i.e. over-exercising and pushing through fatigue to keep my house tidy).

Too. Many. Goals.

I have yet to sit down and evaluate my goals and prioritize my needs from my wants. To recognize my shoulds from my whys. I cannot wait to share what comes from these evaluations with you all, but at the same time, I am nervous about what I might find. As much as I love to write and journal, sitting down and doing self-reflections is difficult to consider. Inasmuch as we all love to have the "who-has-it-tougher" showdowns to vent about our life's frustrations, we know that it means we have to sit down and have the "tough talk" with ourselves about where we need to purge.

Don't get me wrong, I actually LOVE to purge. I throw out clutter all of the time. By no means am I a physical hoarder. No, but I am an emotional hoarder. It might be worse. I refuse to let go of those things that make me feel just a little bit more important. To clear my schedule that is full of things that enrich my life. Yeah, when I type it, I sound ridiculous.

To cleanse or not to cleanse? That is the question. Yes, I know the answer. The question is when will I take the time to STOP?! Ask me about it next time you see me ;)

"To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub..." -William Shakespeare, Hamlet.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goals, Expectations, and Hitting Refresh

These past few weeks have been difficult to get on a plan and to be self-controlled. I ha ve found myself over-indulging with food, slacking in my work, and losing focus on my goals. Then I realized this week that it is because I have too many of them; which actually translates, "I have no goals at all." Have you ever sat down, made a to-do list, stared at it with overwhelming stress and anxiety, promptly set the list aside and then did nothing? Well, that's what having too may goals is. My focus is scattered, I cannot see progress in anything, I am frustrated by the sinking feeling of defeat and then I simply give up. Earlier this week, I realized the foundation of my problem and hit the reset button. After sitting down and spending some cleansing time in prayer and Bible reading, I made the most cleansing decision I have practiced in weeks: I deleted everything from my Google calendar. As I clicked, "Are you sure you want to delete this calendar, this action c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Calorie Counting, Honest Tracking, and a Break from the Numbers

Babies at the park, whom I am capable of keeping up with For the past 6 months, I have been eating at a caloric deficit and tracking my calories on My Fitness Pal. It is a handy little app in which I can keep a recipe box, my meals are tracked and it remembers my frequently used items. I am also able to keep a close eye on my macros, and this has kept my simple carbohydrate intake in check, as I have drastically limited these and the majority of my carbs have been fruits, vegetables, and multigrain/whole grain light breads. Keeping an eye on these things has helped me to increase my protein intake and keep me better filled throughout the day. By default, this is limiting binges, grazing, and general overeating because the satiation from the protein combined with the satisfaction of my exercise have kept my success rate high! Cue last Thursday. A refreshing morning ritual that keeps me sane throughout the day Early in the week, I had decided that Friday I would not be trac...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflecting on Progress Over Guilting Lack of Perfection

It has been about a week and I have been back on My Fitness Pal now. Great timing, right? Just before a baby shower on Saturday, an impromptu pre-Memorial Day dinner party at a friend's place and then Memorial Day, complete with picnic! Needless to say, I have been over my calorie budget each day since Friday. I do not regret it, I am not punishing myself for my choices, I am not feeling gross or completely out of line in my numbers or my decisions. I have maintained (as a matter of fact, I stepped on the scale this morning and was down 1 pound) and I am still waking up with relatively high energy levels - likely because I have been getting more sleep with the evening routine hubby and I have agreed to. How do I plan to move forward? I am working on adjusting our evening order of events, so that hubby and I are prioritizing our evening workout instead of skipping it once we sit down. I am taking a baby step in pre-tracking my food, without putting too much pressure on the eve...
2 comments
Read more