What do you do when you're stuck in a rut?

You don't need to exercise really. Take the pressure off yourself. If you are overweight, work on your diet mainly. Add exercise later when you have dealt with the other stuff and then exercise can be used to help you stay on top. Make sure exercise fun that adds only positive things to your life and is not a chore or something that you do because you think you must.

For your mental energy, you might need a little personal support. Have some counselling. When you get run down, your seratonin levels tend to drop and this contributes to your lack of motivation. And also have you tried to find any expert help with your baby's issues? If not, get some. I've never had a baby but i know enough to know that you should seek professional help with difficulties of being a mum and you should not feel guilty that you are finding it hard.

Look for easy ways back into enjoying life and being in control of your eating and weight. Forcing yourself to do things that you are not ready for is just going to add to your mental pain. Look for supportive environments, people and ideas.

Read some motivating diet books such as French Women Don't get Fat. I haven't read this one but i know a bit about CBT so try reading Judith Beck's book on managing the mental side of weightloss.

Going for walks can also help her sleep. My son (3rd child) had some breathing issues and therefore a hard time sleeping at night. I found that taking him out for some fresh air helped. Even in the cold I would bundle him up and go out for 15 minutes to 1/2 hour. It also gave me some exercise time outside.

My little girl had the supernatural ability of being able to stay awake 24/7, and I came down with multiple colds, flus and even shingles due to my lack of sleep. Best thing I can suggest, to kill two birds, is to put the kids in a wagon/stroller scenario, and take them for a nice walk. It will tire them out and help them to sleep, AND it will get you your much-needed stress-relieving exercise in. Now she's 9 and sleeps like a log, thank Heavens. Good luck.

I totally get it. My youngest was a tough baby. He was terrible with naps, didn't sleep through the night until he was 14 months old, crawled early, walked early, and has never been content to just chill or play quietly. He's an explorer, constantly into everything.

When you have long days of constantly attending to children with very real and pressing needs, the first thing you want to do is say, no, I'm not doing anything else.

I was very late to figuring out how to deal with this, and gained significant weight in the first 18 months of my youngest's life.

The only thing that helped was to stop seeing changes as yet another thing that needed to be done. You hear it here all the time, but its so true. Its about a new lifestyle. You have to find a way to tell yourself, show yourself, that its not a task. Its just how your life is. Find new ways to spend the times when cravings/snacking fits hit. Go easy on yourself for now with exercise expectations. Don't tell yourself that because you're not at the gym an hour a day that you're not doing anything. Take walks with baby. Incorporate baby into as much activity as you can. You have to take care of her anyway. Double down on that time whenever possible.

And my advice to all moms with high needs babies, whether trying to lose weight or not: get some time to yourself! This is key, and will help everything else fall in place. And remember, it doesn't last forever.