WW (Weight Watchers) Chat #193: A Good Night’s Sleep

Don’t forget! The extended free Lifetime benefits requirements are still waived until the end of November BUT you will have to weigh in once between Nov 1st and 30th to receive your continued benefits.

If you are in East Tennessee we now have Wellness Check-Ins in Maryville, Oak Ridge, Powell, and at the Cedar Bluff main location. While you are there check out the sale on WW baked snacks!

And of course, don’t forget to use our special 10% from Simple Living Products! Go to simplelivingproducts.com, choose the air fryer you’d like, and enter code EGG10 at checkout.

Last week’s Chat #192: “Make a Plan For Unexpected Food” saved my rear. Little did I know that less than 24 hours later we would be at the hospital with my father in law and then still be in for a long ICU visit while he fights for his life. Talk about a week of *PANIC* moments for both phone calls and food. We are going to talk more (a lot more) about this week during the second half so keep your seats ladies. Your homework was to choose a favorite food that you would not want to be surprised with and a plan for how to handle it or to let us know how you already did handle it with #nosurprises. Let’s see how you did!

Lynn loves Mexican food and has refrained from ordering it because they send a big bag of warm tortilla chips with every order. She broke down and ordered it for her birthday and had what she wanted of the chips then immediately threw away the rest of the bag so she wouldn’t be tempted. She got to have her treat and didn’t feel bad about it!
Carla is trying to get everything done before leaving for a Disney trip next week! Loaded pizza is her favorite so she makes sure to budget for a slice of loaded pizza per week. If she feels like she wants a second piece she eats a salad with a low- or zero-point dressing to fill her up and curb the “want.” And if she really just *must* eat that second slice, she goes ahead but uses her weeklies to keep from worrying over it!
Sandra budgets for desserts when she goes out to lunch with her friends. She rolls over points for a few days so she can have what she wants and stay within her points.

Bravo ladies, you nailed it!

This Week’s Topic: A Good Night’s Sleep

This week in your WW Weekly, we discuss roadblocks to sleep success. You may want to put your big girl pants on because we are having a good old fashioned Southern come to Jesus meeting in the second half of our chat. Actually we are having a “hope you don’t come to meet Jesus too soon” meeting. But for now, not sleeping well seems like a trivial subject and one that I have not only taken for granted in the past but have rolled my eyes at when the topic came up again year after year. After this last week with Poppy in ICU, I no longer poo poo WW’s annual effort to make sure I get some shut eye and make it count. One of the reasons so many of us are not meeting up with the sandman are bedtime roadblocks …they are common, many people experience them and many times we can do some things to conquer them!

A busy mind: If you either can’t wind down or wake up thinking, pondering, or worrying try to find a way to calm your mind like jotting down tomorrow’s to do list or trying Headspace in your WW app
A restless body: I find my legs are less twitchy when I get plenty of exercise and water throughout the day, take my iron supplement (do NOT take any supplements without consulting your physician), adding lavender/lemon/peppermint to my diffuser, and stretching head to toe before I climb in
A hectic evening: Talk about hectic… this week has been a roller coaster of who has what and which parent where. If I had not already prepped a couple of meals and made a plan with everyone involved for the next morning it would have been a chaos that would not have been quieted when I closed my eyes
Waking up at night: This one happens to me every single night no matter what and not always for the same reason. Gwen taught us a trick that I have used the last few weeks that works like a charm. Don’t get up (unless you have to pee), don’t check the alarm clock or the time, and using the alphabet start naming things like vegetables, music groups, books, etc… I don’t think I’ve ever made it to Q before I fell back asleep!

This Week’s Homework: #noroadblocks

Identify your Bedtime Roadblocks and let us know what your plan is for busting through it to head straight back down the road to sleepyland. Post it and tag me for your homework AND to earn your next super cool badge!

Don’t forget to do your homework #noroadblocks and tag me when you share on social media!

Instagram tag @ifyouhaveanegg
Facebook Page tag @ifyouhaveanegg
Facebook Group tag @Kelly Green Milligan
WW Connect tag @scrapnstamp2

Extra Credit: WW Tips for Caregivers

Today’s extra credit is more of a come to Jesus meeting for all of the caregivers out there. If you’ve ever been a caregiver, you know that rest is hard to come by when you’re constantly giving care. You’re under a lot of stress and it’s so important to take your sleep habits seriously.

For the last two years, my father-in-law has been a full-time caregiver for his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s. He was healthy as a horse for 72 years, but after those two years of sleep deprivation he developed diabetes and has now had two heart attacks in the past week. His lack of rest has destroyed his otherwise healthy body.

And this past week as my family and I have become the primary caregiver for both of them, we’ve experienced headaches, digestive issues, poor nutrition, lightheaded, and of course exhaustion.

It’s so important to make sure that our caregivers are being taken care of themselves, so I’m providing a few tips for caregivers and those who have a caregiver in their life:

If you’re not the caregiver:

Don’t ask the caregiver what they need. They’ll say, “nothing.” It’s so difficult for those people to ask for help. Don’t ask them – just do something for them. If you notice their yard needs to be mowed, go mow it. If you notice they’re running low on toilet paper, go pick some up for them.
Make sure they have the tools they need. Especially if they’re a Weight Watcher, make them some prepared meals, bring them some point-friendly snacks to help them stay on track, and make sure they have plenty of water to stay hydrated.
Show up ready to help and make them take a break. They won’t want to, but they need to.

If you are the caregiver:

ACCEPT THE HELP. It’s a huge challenge because you feel so much responsibility, but it’s important to learn to accept help.
Avoid salt and sugar. It might sound weird, but the exhaustion you’ll feel will be heightened if you’re filling your body with salt and sugar.
Rest. Try to get a good night’s sleep, take a nap when you can, and try to identify those roadblocks to getting rest.

To finish off our chat, we’ll make a quick lightened up Waldorf Salad (recipe coming soon) that I’m going to be eating throughout this week to ensure I get some real food in the midst of all the craziness. If you know a caregiver, this is a perfect meal to make ahead and deliver to them!