Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Standards

Obviously I have pretty low standards. My house is borderline hygenic, my laundry waits for days, and sometimes weeks to get folded. My son picks all his own outfits and has been known to leave the house in a variety of Halloween costumes in various stages of disintegration. I haven't blow-dried my hair since we got back from Colorado. My five second rule is a more generous "beat the dog to it." But I still like to believe that I have some standards. Especially when it comes to my own personal success.

I've talked so much about my struggle to lose weight that I'm kind of sick of mentioning it. Long story short, I've tried a lot of things and the needle isn't budging. I got frustrated, gave up on the diet, and quit forcing myself to go to the gym. And I lost a couple pounds. Probably when that stick fell out of my butt. Moving on...

While we were back home I met a couple of C's friends wives who were drop-dead gorgeous. All of them actually. And pulled together and fit and pretty much exactly how I want others to see me. I come home and it seems like everyone is having great success staying in/getting back into shape. It's like reality television around here, all the beautiful people. I have, at times, had a body I would describe as fit. I have at times looked super-cute in a tight little dress and heels. That time is not now. And frankly, it's driving me crazy. So I decided I would force myself back to the gym, back on the diet, back to the grindstone. Problem is that I have 0 motivation. None at all. I'm working slightly longer hours, C's working a lot of nights, and even if I could force myself to exercise I have a hard time forcing my kids to drive from one daycare to another, then home to rush through dinner and start the bedtime routine. And that's where my lightbulb went off. I'm busy. Really busy. I have a long commute, a typical full-time job, two kids, a husband, a house, and pets. I do a lot of the household chores. I always do daycare pick-up. I have to make sacrifices for my time, and unfortunately I've chosen to sacrifice my health, fitness, and some of my self-esteem. That's not exactly how I want to live my life, and certainly not what I want to teach Syd. So I'm throwing it out there. How do other working moms fit in time for themselves? Especially self-care stuff like the gym? I'm thinking about trying videos at home, but I'm not sure how feasible that will be. I have to assume that if I try long enough, the weight will eventually come down and I can rock that mini.

1 comment:

  1. So I am not a working mom but I still really relate. And even being at home with the kiddos my standards have DROPPED drastically-mopping went from daily to every other day to its current status of weekly. It isn't that I can barley keep up it is I can't keep up. And health and exercise suffers. I started doing the Jillian Michales 30 day shred and am finding some results. Although the needle has moved-curse those last 10 lbs!-I have lost some inches and am seeing my body get much more toned. It is only 20 minutes long, comes with 3 different workouts at 3 different levels, and it is kick your but 20 min. My goal is 3 days a week, if I wake early enough I can do it. Driving to the gym takes up to much time. Running with a stroller is plain hell. And I really have no more time than 20 m to devote. Also, you may want to try the South Beach Diet. Or at least phase one of it. It is two weeks of low sugar/ high fiber. Joe did it and lost 15 lbs recently. It resets your glycemic index so it helps keeping weight off too. If we see you guys next week we can talk more about it. You are probably already doing this but make sure to check labels for cornsyrup. You can be eating a low calorie, low fat diet but if the foods you are eating are made with cornsyrup it can cause weight gain or weight stabilization. It messes with your glycemic index. I am really working on judging myself not on the scale or how I perceive my body but on how healthy of a lifestyle I lived that day. It is pretty hard to change my mindset though cause I really find myself esteem is higher 10 lbs lighter. Good grief how am I going to save my girls from this crazy weight esteem?!

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