Hi Angie.
First of all I would like to say that you are definitely not alone in being stressed and overwhelmed raising a child and working, as well as struggling to loose extra weight. I am at least lucky with baby-sitting for my little girl (she will be 2 in a week and I have been working full time since she turned 6 months). My mother and my mother-in-law take turns baby-sitting her. Even though my husband and I have to drive her to my mother-in-law, we are still so lucky that so far we have not had necessity to put her in daycare or hire a sitter. Hiring a strange person to baby-sit your child is already overwhelmingly stressful. And then add working and taking care of family to it - it is enough to put one over the edge.
I also gained a lot of weight since I lost some after birth. Eating whatever and not excercising adds stress as well. So recently my husband and I decided enough is enough and started with South Beach diet. Now diet in general does not help, but most people need to be in a mind set of following specific rules of what to and not to eat to start. Then, hopefully, it just becomes a healthy life style. I also went back to yoga classes (I am really just a beginner, but I find it helps A LOT, physically and emotionally). Then again, I do not go regularly and definitly we all lack time for ourselves and exercise. If you absolutely cannot go to a classe, just take 10-20 minutes several times a day to do something at home or if you can get someone else to take care of your baby, go out for a jog and mild short exercise. This by itself reduces stress a lot! Find a diet plan to follow just so you have some sort of rules in the beginning. I strongly recommend South Beach one. It is tough the 1st 2 weeks, but in the end you can eat almost everything knowing what is good and what is not good for you. Eating healthy will further reduce stress and add energy, which we all desperately need.
As for support group, have you tried meetup.com? They have groups almost everywhere and if they do not, you can actually start one. Of course, being a full time working mom, it is hard to organize a group, but just an idea. Also, most diet plans (like South Beach) also have on-line tools and groups.
Finally, no matter how hard and impossible it seams, do your best to find some time for yourself - read a book, go for a walk, to a store - anything at all that can take your mind off things even if for a few minutes.
And remember to just take a moment, look at your beautiful child and be eternally grateful for such a blessing.
I hope I helped a bit.
Anastasia |
