To sleep or not to sleep

So, down another pound.  That makes 22 since the first weekend in March.  That's a start.

I didn't go to the gym on Thursday, Friday or Saturday last week - had a family emergency on Wednesday night that kept me up all hours and I do NOT do well without sleep so was getting my sleep clock re-set.

I did go back today.  Did the 30 minute express circuit.  Still hate the steps.  BUT I'm not in as much immediate pain as I was last week when we first did it.  So there's that.  :) Yeah I'm going to keep doing the circuit for a bit.  The treadmill is a great (easy) warm up for me and I can very easily do that for 30 minutes.  This circuit with the weights and steps for cardio is not easy.  Which means I need to keep doing it.  So the goal is to do it 3 times at least this week and see where we are next week.

So, re: sleep.  I remember a while back hearing that the lack of sleep could contribute to weight gain and I thought I'd look into that for today's post.  I have always, ALWAYS needed steady sleep.  In college I had one or 2 nights (perhaps more but lost to the haze of time) where I did not sleep at all, but since I was a wee girl I have always known when I was tired and that I could fix that feeling by going and finding somewhere comfy to sleep.  I generally get 7 or 8 hours of sleep consistently.  When I was depressed I could sleep 15 hours easily but thankfully those years are LONG gone.

There are many places to find the info on how sleep and weight are related but one of my favorite sites to check stuff out is webmd.com.   There is an article there that points out exactly what happened to me on Thursday.  That when you are tired you are more inclined to make poor decisions - picking up that donut for a quick pick me up instead of going for the salad.  Well on Thursday I had what would normally be a stressful day at work but on top of that I'd had about 4 and a half hours of sleep and thus found myself rationalizing the veggie burger I got at Burger King.  I got a salad as well but still.... Yeah.  White bread buns, cheese (oddly enough I didn't find my guts hurting like I'd expected from the cheese) stuff I've stayed far away from in the last month and a half.  And I had 60 ounces of iced coffee, sixty.  It kept me awake and I survived the day at work, however I did find myself wide awake at 9pm when by rights I should have been passed OUT.

Now, I know I have moms that read my blog and I know one that is a brand-new mom and she has been struggling to get ANY sleep much less adequate and consistent sleep.  I thought that perhaps this article might be of interest to you as it is to me.  It won't help you get more sleep, but might be food for thought with regards to choices when you're tired.

Here's the link: http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/lack-of-sleep-weight-gain

Keeping on keeping on here.   You do the same.

One day.  One pound.  One step at a time.

~N