I don't watch tv. Maybe once a week. How anyone can have a job, have kids, sleep, workout, AND watch tv is beyond me.

Try not watching tv for one week. Just give it a go.

Also, do you need to workout every day? Every other day should be fine and if you want every day than you don't need an hour every day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I am amazed at how well I function on so little sleep.

OP here

This is my problem. I am not tired during the day, dont drink coffee, and dont get sick easily/ever. So the only place it is supposedly hitting me is in my inability to drop weight, despite pretty good efforts. I guess an hour less of Dance Moms or Bravo is worth the chance that it will actually work.

PP here -- um....we are the same person! Love Dance Moms.

I am going to blame my belly fat on my lack of sleep and not the crap I eat while watching Dance Moms.

I get up at 5. I go to sleep at 9 five days a week, and 9:30 the two days I have sports practice. I get things done from 8pm when the kids go to bed until 9, and then of course on the weekends. I only watch tv while folding laundry, or some of the olympics with the kids.

Anonymous wrote: I am amazed at how well I function on so little sleep.

OP here

This is my problem. I am not tired during the day, dont drink coffee, and dont get sick easily/ever. So the only place it is supposedly hitting me is in my inability to drop weight, despite pretty good efforts. I guess an hour less of Dance Moms or Bravo is worth the chance that it will actually work.

I am an insomniac so even if I take the morning off from the gym I am up around 5 -- and on the weekends. Sometimes I will read in bed if I am not working out. I typically go to bed around midnight, but wish it was earlier. I have 4 kids so between them and work I can't turn my brain off even after they to go to bed.

I really want to get better sleep though. I have added in some melatonin which puts me to sleep but I still get up early. As I get older I have begun to embrace it though. I am amazed at how well I function on so little sleep.

Can you get the kids a little later and exercise right after work, thus getting up an hour later each morning? Otherwise, you have to suck it up and get to bed as close to 10 as possible. You'll feel so much better the next day it will be worth it.

OP here

I know I need to get to sleep earlier. I usually aim for 11, but its so hard. There is always more to do. Plus, I am a total tv addict.

My doctor and trainer both say lack of sleep is the reason I have trouble losing weight despite all the exercise, so I know I need to start taking it more seriously. I only have 1 day on the weekend to get chores done and with small kids, we rarely have much time and I hate taking them with me.

During the week I'm up at 3:30 bedtime is usually between 10 and 11. I ride the MARC train in so I can usually get in another 30 minutes or so on the train. On weekends I can sleep in until 6 or so.

I get up around the same time you do. 10:00 is a very late night for me. I'm usually in bed and asleep between 9 and 9:30.

I have your morning schedule exactly -- get up at 4:55 for a 5:30-6:30 boot camp. One of the keys, for me, is that I give myself Wednesdays to "sleep in" until 6-6:30. The other key is forcing myself to start my bedtime routine NLT than 9-9:30 on the nights before boot camp.

If, for some reason, I am out later than 9:30, or stay up late, I simply don't go to boot camp. I'll make it up with a run over the weekend. I'm not out to torture myself via sleep deprivation.

Sounds like you need to be more committed to going to bed earlier if you want to keep this up.

Before the kids were in school I woke up at 4:50. Showered and was out the door at 5:30 - got to work at 6am. Worked 6-2:30.

I would work out 3 days a week - either during the day or right after work. That way I was home by 3:00 or 4:00 when I worked out.

I would spend time with kids 3-6 or 4-6. Serve dinner - which was usually a crockpot dinner or something quick like grilled chicken. spend more time with kids/family 6:30-8.

Husband did dishes. We both do bath and reading time 8-9. 9 was bedtime for the kids.

My H and I would eat dinner together and let the kids watch TV 2 work nights a week - so that gave us about 1.5 hours together. Sometimes we will put the kids to bed and then have a late dinner or watch a movie.

I would be in bed no later than 11. Many nights we would go to bed at 9.

Laundry is done nightly - 1 load is pretty easy to manage.

Grocery shopping is done on Sunday.

I couldn't keep up that schedule. Most of our housecleaning is done on weekends, but evening cleanup and dinner and lunches are done by 8.30 at the latest. Biggest adjustment for me has been to cut down on TV. Not that it matters because I would fall asleep in front of it anyway if I tried to stay up. We watch about an hour of TV, have a cocktail, and then get in bed. I read for a few, usually fall asleep doing that as well. Lights out usually between 10-10.30ish.

There is no way I could keep up your schedule. I get up at 5:45, and have a pretty strict bedtime for myself of 10pm. Kid's are in bed by 7:30 and we eat dinner with them, so once they go to bed I've got two hours to clean up/ get ready for the next day with DH, do a bit more work, or decompress for a bit. Errands get done with the kids (I get them at 4), during lunch hour, or they wait for the weekend.

I used to get up at 4.30 to pump, but now that I'm done, I'm back to my usual wake up time of 5. I get to work at 6.45am and work till 4.15pm. Usually get home at 4.45ish or so. I work out over lunch hour. My kids go to bed btwn 6.45 and 7.45. Furiously clean dishes, get lunches ready for the next day, etc. after the kids are in bed. DH is working alongside me doing the same. I bathe both kids (2 and 4) together so he's emptying diaper pails, taking out trash, etc. while I'm bathing them. While DH is putting the 2 year old to bed, I let the 4 year old watch a little show on the iPad. During that time (she sits on our bed), I wash my face and iron my clothes. DH and I probably collapse on the couch at 8.15 or so and I go to bed around 9.30. We don't have any pets and neither of us has a job that requires us to work after hours- that helps a lot.

I get up at 4:55am to exercise from 5:30-6:30 before work at 7. I work till 4 and then get my kids at 4:45. They go to sleep around 8 and then I need to do some decompressing, errands, chores, extra work, and alone time with DH. I dont get to sleep before midnight (especially with the Olympics). 5 hrs simply isnt enough sleep.

If you get up early, when do you go to sleep and how do you manage to get things done?