My days are crazy especially on school days where things are so broken up its easy for me to forget to eat properly. Next thing you know I'm feeling light headed and ‘fainty’ as I like to call it lol …. Actually its not a laughing matter it really effects me terribly and takes a good 45 minutes after eating for me to be back to normal again and able to function!
So What Was My Problem?
Its simply that I get so busy and distracted I ‘forget’ to eat! On a normal school day my day runs as follows:
- 7:45am wake up and get ready to take Joseph to school
- 8:30 – 10am school drop off, supermarket to get milk if I need, $1 (wake me up for the day after a long night working) 7 Eleven coffee pickup, eat breakfast.
- 10-12am doing things around house, play time with Isabella or out at a play date for Isabella. (I also fit in a little bit of social media work if I can to do with the blog and photography/invitation business)
- 12pm organize lunch, do some clean up do some work on blog/photography/invitation in the kitchen whilst I’m doing lunch If I can.
- 1-1:30pm get Isabella down for her afternoon nap
- 1:30-2:30pm work on what ever I can fit in!
- 2:30pm get going to the school for school pickup and work in the car on what ever I can.
- 3:30pm – 5pm do something with the kids after school pickup. That could be at home or out and about.
- 5pm start dinner and josephs homework
- 5:30pm still doing dinner, cleaning up kitchen, getting kids into shower/bath and working on computer at kitchen bench as much as I can.
- 6:30pm dinner
- 7-7:45pm Game time with kids before bed
- 7:45 – 8pm kids toilet, teeth and get ready to get into bed.
- 8-8:30pm reader with Joseph, story with Isabella and get Isabella a bottle for bed.
- 8:30 – 1-1:30am I start my work for the night which mostly consists of photo editing at this time of the day for the photography business. I also do any invitation orders I have, complete blog tasks I need to do and posts that are required to be published. I also finish off editing the days vlog for You Tube If I have one as I would have started that at 5pm in the kitchen whilst cooking dinner!
So my days are jam packed. That is a usual school day apart from the nights Joseph has swimming and a Friday where Isabella has daycare. On those days I do a lot more work as I can sit down in long streches to get more done (yes even when Joseph has swimming. I sit at the pool for a couple of hours whilst he swims and has his lesson working)
The problem is I just forget to eat as I’m always trying to get something done. Lunch I usually get to have but forget to eat regularly in between eg a fruit snack, yoghurt… So between lunch and dinner especially I may forget to eat as I’m so busy and then all of a sudden around 5pm I’m literally ready to faint! It’s just my body. I know a lot of people could get through it no problems, but I literally feel shakey and light headed ready to fall. So it’s defiantly something I want to try and avoid.
Other Side Effects:
Besides those effects, there are other side effects from not eating properly too….
- Weight gain – I defiantly notice the difference between being at home on a normal day and when we are away on holidays. Most people put on weight when on vacation, I actually lose it! When we are on vacation I am not as crazy working etc so I eat very regularly through the day which makes a big difference and obviously keeps my metabolism going!
- Not always getting the right nutrition intake – I like to think I eat pretty healthy, however I will admit at those times when all of a sudden I Feel ‘fainty’ I will grab literally what ever is easy just to get food into me. This is actually something I do not need to do much prep for so I will grab the closest biscuit, potato curl etc Not good …. Not good at all!
- Trouble sleeping – I get very little sleep as it is as I do stay up so late working. I find if I have not eaten well through the day I have trouble trying to get to sleep as I all of a sudden become hungry! It’s a long stretch between dinner and when I actually go to bed. So to fix this I usually make sure I have something to eat a couple of hours before I know I will sleep.
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So How Can A Busy Mum Improve Her Daily Eating?
Since my problem is always remembering to eat and then not really have a specific plan for myself (like I do for Joseph with his ‘lunch box meal planning’ for school) I decided I perhaps needed my own plan. Yes I know another printable! Lol lol lol But honestly I always look after everyone elses food intake and forget mine, so having something set for me to refer to and remind me to eat helps improve this area.
There are many set programs people use for such an occasion when doing weight loss etc. I did not want anything that was too complicated. After all as busy mums we just need something quick and simple to use, so I use the following printable just to give ideas daily and at times plan ahead with some meal prep for lunches where I can.
So to all you busy mums looking to look after yourself a bit better, I am offering blog subscribers this printable FREE in the This Mum At Home shop for a limited time (see codes needed on subscriber newsletter/email). Subscribe free here to This Mum At Home and receive your code for not only this but also the Monthly Meal Planning pack & Grocery Calculator.