February 5: Oh, Weekend!

          Last weekend was surreal.  On Saturday the Lighten Up contestants gathered for photos, assessments, rules, and interviews.  I spent the remainder of the day trying to absorb the feeling of being a contestant who wouldn't really have much contact with the others.  It's not like we're living together, working out together, eating together.  (I do read and savor everyone's blogs daily – they make me feel less intimidated by the process, less alone.)  On Sunday I was exhausted from the built up tension of anticipation. 

          Today begins a weekend like all the others (I hesitate to write normal weekend, because around here, there's no such thing), which means I'm into my most challenging days of the week.  No school for my older kids and hopefully no office work for my husband mean that my routine is blown out of the water. 

          During weekends, I feel like I lose every lesson I know so well during the week.  I forget how to plan, how to eat, how to cook, how to track, how to motivate myself for exercise.  Everyone wants a piece of me on the weekends, and I want a piece of everyone.  There are extra weekend activities (church; meal planning & grocery shopping; always another load of laundry; extra toys, books, and what-not to pick up).  It doesn't all fall to me – my husband and kids are completely involved.  Still, it makes me a little dizzy.

          Because of the temptation to sweep Saturday & Sunday under the rug, I attend Weight Watchers meetings on Sunday or Monday.  Knowing there's a scale in my very near future helps me avoid full blown binges.  Thankfully my very supportive husband is a tremendous help, giving me time to workout (even when I feel too overwhelmed to walk out the door) and, if he's cooking dinner, prepares a lower sodium version of the meal for me.

          Weekends aren't easy, but they're part of life.  Life is filled with breaks in routine.  The trick is how we handle them.  The signature line on my email is "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."  So I can't hide from the busy-ness of the weekend; I can't pretend that weekend calories don't count.  I have to learn to balance the time-out from the Everyday with the structure of improving my health.  I'm working on it.

 

~Karin