I just spent 5 glorious weeks in Michigan with my parents. I went to help my mom, who has been a little sick, as well as to give my kids some bonding time with this set of Grandparents. My work, however, is still rather busy, so fortunately I was able to arrange to work from my laptop part time while I was there. While in Michigan, my plan was to prepare meals, clean, run errands, take my mom to appointments, and work. I enrolled my children (both toddlers) in preschool to provide them with a routine and allow me to focus on the aforementioned things. However, I did not realize that to drop them off at daycare each day would take 1 hour, round trip, twice a day, leaving limited time for the rest of my plans, let alone time to work.
I was excited to cook for my family and show them my new style of eating. I was successful in this endeavor. However, I did not anticipate how busy I would be during this time. I also did not anticipate how little sleep I would get and how it would affect my weight and my body.
I learned something about my body during those 5 weeks. I learned that lack of sleep adds pounds - regardless of what I'm eating. In addition, I learned that am STILL an emotional eater. When I am stressed, I still automatically reach for food. Fortunately, I had a lot of chocolate delight on hand, as well as no sugar added ice cream, so I was able to "cheat" without too much guilt.
On a positive side, my whole family loved the chocolate delight and my "riced" cauliflower recipes. They ate for 5 weeks on my eating plan and appeared to really enjoy it. Again, I count it as a success, in spite of a few gained pounds. Also, regardless of a "few" added pounds (6!) and a stressful time, I still found much joy in my time in Michigan. I have also not found too much distress about the change in the scale as I have still been able to fulfill my spirit with God. This is a huge achievement as in my "past life" the gain would have been devastating and would have taken over my thoughts and conquered my self esteem. Quite the contrary, praise God! I still feel beautiful and loved, from the inside out, and still feel like that joy glows from within. However, with that said, I still want to honor my body as a Temple of God, therefor, am getting back on track eating and weight wise.
In the meantime -- I am back to bed at a reasonable time and keeping my stress level within check. And... wouldn't you know it, the scale is responding.
Well, look at the time! I think I have a date with my pillow!
