The Stress-Free Diet

I’m going to guess a few of you guys clicked on this post in your reader, all confused – ‘Stress-free diet? But Carly doesn’t believe in dieting! What’s going on?’ It’s true, I am not a fan of following rules for the way you eat, of restricting what you can and cannot have.

You know what I am a fan of? Less stress.

I found out what a huge fan I am of living a more stress-free life over the last week, when Fran took Roman on a big-boys-only-adventure to go used-car shopping in Vermont, staying at Casa Grandma. (Turns out, when you decide to move from Brooklyn to Vermont, you kind of need a car.) The morning they left was a whirlwind, of course, with Roman waking up around 6:30am, immediately turning our bed into a police car, turning on the sirens (i.e. making siren noises at the top of his lungs) and basically being a three-year-old. Then came packing of important trip necessities in his backpack – a broken Xbox controller, several cars, a walkie talkie (singular) with no batteries, a water pistol and who knows what else.

And then they were off!

So it was the Mama-Tanner show here in Brooklyn for nearly a week and it was eye-opening. I didn’t raise my voice once. I found out Baby T’s normal wake-up time when his brother isn’t around is 8:30am (YES!!! THANK YOU!!!) I saw friends in the afternoons, when I would normally be at home for Roman’s nap time. I even made it out to a friend’s place for a couple of hours one evening because it’s way easier with a little baby who will sleep anywhere to be able to stay a little past bedtime.

I ate whatever I want, when I felt like eating. Pre kids, we would eat dinner about 8 or 8:30pm most nights. Now? 6 or 6:30pm is the norm, so we can get Roman in bed by 8pm. Since Tanner is still exclusively breast-fed, the only person I needed to cook for was me. This didn’t mean there weren’t moments of panic, when I would think, “How did it get to be 7:30pm and I still haven’t started dinner? Ohmigod I am the worst mama ev…oh wait, Roman isn’t here. Breathe.”

And Baby T and I had quite the morning routine of me changing him while coffee brewed, nursing him his breakfast, then making my own concoction.

I made it to baby-and-me yoga and was able to enjoy taking my time in the space following the class, letting Tanner nap a little longer while I did a few extra poses (I usually have to get home quickly to relieve my sitter, but without Roman home, she just finished for the day when she handed Tanner over to me at the studio).

I got out for a couple of runs.

Tanner and I giggled and tickled and sang and read so many books together. We practiced our little baby yoga moves at home and laughed some more. He cooed at me and made crazy dolphin-meets-dinosaur noises that suddenly sounded loud and space-filling when his brother wasn’t there to yell back at him.

I even managed to purge a bunch of “stuff” that had just accumulated over our last couple of moves that I don’t want to continue moving from home to home.

The cats crept out from under the couch and the crib and lounged about without fear of a rampaging toddler screeching into the room at any moment.

I read a real, proper book.

And even though I wasn’t trying, I lost weight. (Ohhhh, NOW the title makes a little more sense, right?) I honestly believe I lost weight because I wasn’t stressed out. There were no dinner-time arguments about eating. There was no battle of bedtime. There weren’t any potty training moments. There weren’t any sudden 6:30am wake ups with a scuba-masked boy yelling that there was an emergency from headquarters and we MUST RESPOND QUICKLY!

While I enjoyed every glorious moment of my little mini mama-vacation, the hugs and kisses I got upon the boys’ return were pretty amazing.

Also, we now have a car! Woah. (Does that make us grown ups?)

Anyway, the whole experience made me realize how much stress we live with without noticing. You know how when you’re in a crappy relationship, you really don’t comprehend that it was toxic until you’re out of it? Or when you’re really nervous or scared about something and you just kind of power your way though it, then realize how much you were affected when it’s over and you feel the adrenaline leaving your system? Well, I didn’t realize how much stress I was under, being a mama of two boys at totally different stages.

So, new plan: stress less. I’m resolving to pick my battles more wisely with Roman. Yes, it’s important to have rules and a schedule, but I don’t need to nit pick every single thing. I’m going to breathe deeper, take time to stretch and move, worry less and enjoy more.

I’m hoping this new resolution will last at least a full day. 😉 I’ll keep you posted!

Do you think you’re living stress-free, or stressfully?

Have you ever had a staycation where you really unwound?

P.S. The winner of the GoMoji foot massager was Jeffrey! Congrats – check your inbox for an email and enjoy your prize! 🙂