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

Dealing With Stress

Emotional eating is a definite struggle of mine. That feels kind of obvious to me, as if it is clearly a problem or else we would not be here, right? Anyway, recognizing it has been an imperative part of my journey. Stress bingeing has not been as much of an issue since I started, but when I dwell on the desire to binge, I have begun to recognize that something stressful is causing anxiety or frustration. It would be so easy for me to close my tracking app and head for the kitchen. Then I consider the journey that I have been on over the last six months. It has been so encouraging to see my progress. I know that there is no perfection to be attained and that I will (have) slipped up from time to time, but I also know that my choices will affect my mindset. Today, I chose not to thaw a box of chocolate chip cookies after pre-tracking my entire day. I chose to eat my evening snack before dinner after a cup of green grapes and will be content to have my tea on its own this evening. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Balance, Contentment, Motivation

It has been quite a while since Heather Robertson shared this point on the Half Size Me show, but it still rings true and continues to be a type of mantra for me:  1. Barely made it out of bed./2. Oh well, guess the day is just going to be "survive."/3. Workout done, kitchen cleaned, girls napping, ready to tackle the day!  "Motivation does not cause our actions,  motivation comes when we take action." It is quite difficult to balance life when you have such a heavy goal in weight loss (see what I did there?). Anyway... I began this journey on January 9 at 251 pounds. On June 9, when hubby and I took a short vacation, I had hit 187. It is almost August and I am maintaining between 183 and 185. My emotions have been all over the place with this:  Okay, maintenance, this is new Let's up the calories a little bit while we increase movement Let's switch up the food Maybe I'll change my exercise Okay, now I'm a little frustrated Ins...
Post a Comment
Read more