I started at the gym about 4 months ago, now that summer is here and I have the girls home (4 and 2 yrs), i can't get my exercise in. I know I'm not being inventive enough or maybe just using it as a easy excuse but I just want the wt to melt off me. I'm not depressed however when I talk about wt, I'm so negative. I was going to the gym on avg of 3-4 times a week and working out for 1-2 hrs. I find that when I read success stories, ppl lose good numbers if they run/jog so that's what I want to do however when.....seriously. My hubbie is in school part-time and we both work full time. I work shift work 2 days, 2 nights then 4 days off. I clean, cook, bath kids, clean, laundry, play outside with kids. when it's nice the kids won't even come inside so i can do my housework so I do it while they are eating and I eat outside while they play or not at all. My life is complete chaos, I feel like I'll never get a chance to exercise ever again. How do ppl fit the time in? I need this wt off now. starvation diet is starting to look tempting just for sheer convenience. (yes I know better). just saying that's all.
so when does everyone with kids find time?
Robin
I understand the struggle to fit exercise into your daily routine. I'm in the same boat. What works for me is to look at my schedule and see what I can cut out of "down time" to fit in my exercise.
For example, I know I work every day from 8AM to 5PM. I know I have an hour's commute each way. So I leave my house at 7AM and don't get home until 6PM. Then I have to cook dinner, feed the family, bathe the 4 year old, and get her in bed at a decent hour. By then it's usually 9PM and getting close to time for me to go to bed myself. So when can I exercise?
I fit in exercise during my lunch break. I am fortunate that I can take my lunch whenever I want to. I like to go at noon. My office also has a small gym in our building so I'll go up there and either walk on the treadmill or ride the stationary bike for a half hour. Then I cool down and come back to my desk, where I eat my lunch on the clock. No one objects at all.
I also can fit in exercise in the evenings. My daughter is 4 and it's impossible to take her to a gym. (Been there, tried that. She acted out in the gym's day care because I wasn't spending enough time with her, so I ended up cancelling my gym membership.) She wants to be with me so I have to find kid-friendly workouts. She likes to go for a walk with me and the dog and she will walk a mile with me. (I'd like to walk farther but she's tired after that much.) We do that when it's not too hot outside. My mom also has an above ground pool and we'll go swimming from time to time. It's shallow enough that she can touch the bottom of the pool standing up. I may not get much lap swimming in, but playing around with her in the pool is still good exercise and fun too! And we have a Wii at home. She loves to play games on the Wii Fit with me. We take turns doing the different games on there and have a good time doing so.
So there are ways to fit in exercise, even with young kids. You can do it!
Last edited by HealthyMeWannabe; 07-09-2012 at 04:53 PM.
Reason: typo correction
Is there a way you could take your kids to the gym with you? Do they have a daycare type deal for them? That's what I do with my almost 5 year old now that school's out and she loves it! Interation with other kids, and I get my workout.
My husband works out of town for long periods of time, so honestly it's really the only real time I get to myself. So hopefully you can figure something out!
I joined a gym with childcare. It's nice for all of us to get a break from each other! My husband is deployed and I'm in school full time. There is NO way I'd fit it in otherwise.
i work part time, about 6 hours a day, and my DH works full time...we have two boys ages 6 and 14....i get up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym, i work out for about an hour (half hour weight machines and half hour running intervals)...i'm home by 7 a.m. when he's getting up to get ready for work...i'm home with the boys until 10:30 a.m. when i go to work...my teenager watches our younger son and they are both responsible, capable kids...i work til 4 or 4:30 and come home...DH is home by 5:30...when i get home i clean the house, cook dinner, run errands and anything else that needs to be done...i'm usually asleep by 10:30 p.m. so i can get up at 5 or 5:30 a.m. the next day
It can be done but you have to want it really really bad, no excuses... I did the same as Alaska for years, get up at 5am get to the gym back by 7 when hubby leaves for work I did this till the kids were old enough to stay alone, for at least 10 years, summer and winter... At first it's really hard by Friday you're toast... but it can be done...
Once the girls are older I know it will be easier but I cannot stay fat until then. My gym opens at 7 am, I work at 8 am in the opposite direction. I work until 8 pm. On my nights I go to work for 8 pm however the hubbie is at work from 6 am til 6pm that day. we have 2 days off at the same time however he's in school so I take care of kids and the house/yard/bills alone, like a single parent. The only option i have I think....is get up at 5am and go on my treadmill. I don't have any wts but my 10 yr old treadmill still works. lol. I don't have down time at work as I am a paramedic. we eat dinner whenever we can. Not allowed to have a treadmill at work b/c we can't be sweaty if we go on a call. But we might get sweaty there but it doens't matter. I'm bitter about it, sorry. I find that without exercise I don't see results. If I but calories too low then I end up giving up and eating ice-cream to make up for the calories. I am just frustrated, I'm tired of being this big.
Robin
I wake up early and exercise at home. I don't care much for paying for a gym membership, and I don't want to give up time in the evenings with my daughter anyhow. It took me a long time to just buckle down and do it. I wake up at 5:30, and exercise for anywhere from 1/2 hr to an hour. It depends on where my daughter is going for daycare for the day, as one place requires me to leave earlier, as it's more out of the way (she goes to a french daycare a couple days a week, so that she'll hopefully pick up a bit of the language). On the days I have more time, I do my weight training, and a bit of cardio. The other days, I just do cardio (but for longer than on weight days). I already had an elliptical and a bowflex in my basement before I got into my routine. The elliptical is very cheap and on its way out, but it suffices.
Part of the way I convinced myself to commit to it was telling myself that waking up early to exercise is no different than when my kid was still waking up 3 times a night and I still had to work the following day. Sure it can be tough, but you adjust to it and you survive. Occasionally I have to cut my workouts short, if my DD wakes up earlier than usual and comes looking for me, but it is working pretty well for me now that I'm used to it, and I no longer feel tired waking up that early (well anymore tired than I would've waking up at the later time before), and post workout, I always feel better.
Seems like the ladies here are giving you lots of great suggestions.
1. Join a Gym with good hours and childcare (mine is only 10 bucks a month and has childcare until 9 an is open unil 11 on weekdays and 8 on weekends)
2. Exercise at anytime possible. Like Jennifer Lopez in a magazine says she wakes up at 4 am to start working out because her schedule is so busy.
3. Get some home equipment. I have free weights and I lift them for about 10 mins in the morning when I wake up or when I am watching dvd's I will do arm curls because when I am at the gym I focus strictly on cardio.
4. Get some exercise dvds or dance to music. Even if it is just 10 mins twice a day. If you combine this with step 4, that is already 30 mins a day.
5. Double up your workouts when you are at the gym. I workout for about 130 to 2 hours on average so if I only get a chance to go to the gym say 3 days a week, I will try to aim for at least 2 hours a session.
Hope that helps and best of luck to you on your journey!
It sounds pretty tough and I don't have any kids yet myself but I remember when I was a little kid, my mom used to put in her Jane Fonda New Workout videos and workout whilst my brother and I were occupied with some craft (colouring books, lego, puzzles etc). We usually ended up joining her and bouncing around with her (and probably getting in her way) BUT she did get her workout on.
Another alternative to getting your workout in early in the morning, could be getting it in later at night after they've gone to bed or whilst they're napping during the day. I imagine you have a million chores to catch up with when your kids are down but maybe on some days a week, exercise could take the place of these? Good luck!
finding time to exercise???
You can do it!
I'm tired of being this big. 
