Subject says it all...
I weigh 226 as of this morning.. 2 kids and a husband that goes out for work.
Kind of freezing out there, Kids start back school tomorrow...
I wake up at 5, cook and pack 3 lunches, snacks and they go out the door at 7:30. I make myself some breakfast, coffee and sit for work around 8. I hardly move until 2 when I take a quick shower, go get kids. Give them snack, their home work while juggling meetings and work. Make dinner, do dishes... get some study going, a little TV, dinner, clean up.. sleep
I know mine is such a BAD sedentary life style and that got me to gain so much over the years.
This is pretty much my schedule for the past 8 to 10 years.. sans kids, ofcourse.
I tried many times to do the 30 day shred. I actually own the entire biggest looser DVD collection and so much more. I have a gym membership that is used only once or twice. When I try to do those, they almost all have a thing or two of jumping up and down and the whole reason I don't do them. Is there anything that can be done in an upstairs apartment?
I am sure many of you.. if not all of you, make time for exercise. How and when do you sneak in that time?
I started watching what I eat but I know I need to be moving sooner or later.
I have a split level so have about 17 steps inside my house. All the excercise I get right now is making sure to go up and down the stairs 2 times every hour. I tried going up a third time and quickly got out of breath coz I am in such a horrible shape, :-(
Before kids 9 years ago, I get my daily walk/jog/gym before the day starts and I am done, always maintained.
Please offer your valuable advice about what/how do you plan your day?
I wish I could wake up at 4, get to the gym and get atleast 30 mins of treadmill going... but I am worried my hypo thyroid gland needs sleep as much as it needs exercise.
Help.....
You could probably do some strength exercises without causing too much noise. Things like push-ups, tricep dips, leg lifts, crunches, and squats. They're good because you can do them in short intervals, and they don't have you jumping up and down. Cardio can be your stair running
Building up muscle is also good cause it will eventually lead to you burning more calories when you aren't moving. Keep working out on the stairs too, eventually you'd be running up them more than two times. Good work on already getting started! When I lived on the third floor in my own place I always used it as an excuse not to do anything at all.. I realize it was just an excuse now, of course.. but you're ahead of me there!
I lived in a second floor apartment for years so I understand! I used the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds dvd's for exercise. You don't need very much room at all. I did try and wait until I knew my downstairs neighbor was gone though just in case I was noisy.
You could also use a resistance band to do some exercises in place. Best of luck to you!
Check out JessicaSmithTV on YouTube. She has a lot of awesome low-impact (read non-jumpy), but highly effective exercise videos on YouTube. I consider myself an intermediate to advanced exerciser (i run, have done insanity etc) and even though her videos seem short and easy, my body changed a lot doing them so I really CAN'T recommend her enough. Her whole mantra is that you don't have to be flying all over the place, killing yourself to get an effective workout.
If you check out her website (jessicasmithtv dot com), she JUST started another month-long daily challenge called Fit in 15 which uses her online youtube videos to give you a 15-minute or less daily workout. I did her last challenge over Christmas and New Year and it was excellent AND a great, fast way to keep you motivated and get you started working out every day for free. I highly recommend.
Another thing you could look into would be a yoga or pilates-type fitness video. Although that might involve buying more DVDs. For a good, cardio yoga dvd that has NO JUMPING and would be downstairs neighbour friendly, I recomment Fat-Free yoga by Ravi and Ana. I had a lot of success with this and it's a kind of yoga that's less about flexibility and more about cardiovascular strength whilst toning the body.
Last edited by toastedsmoke; 01-06-2015 at 08:57 AM.
I have the exact same problem! I live on the second floor in an apartment and would really like to find more ways to exercise at home. I sometimes do a month to month gym membership but it's pretty expensive. I'm going to check out some of these suggestions!
The only dvr I currently use is p90 sculpt and I really like it but would like to branch out a bit. I got really good results when I used it consistently - it's weight training and lunges, push-ups, etc.
Leslie Sansone videos are awesome and get you nice and sweaty. I do her 1 mile walk and 3 mile walk depending how much time I have. They are more intense than you'd think. I checked out a couple from my library too.
Get a resistance band too, it changed my life. I thought it was just a silly rubber rope. Nope!
As for time, cut out the TV of your routine, and use that 30 minutes or so to work out. Sounds like you might not be able to make it to the gym, so I'd cancel or not renew and just focus on working out at home. What about after you clean up, or asking your husband to clean up after dinner? how old are your kids, could they do dishes? I had to do dishes and clean up when i was a kid. The burden shouldn't fall on you. Also as for lunches you could do meal planning and make all lunches sunday night in advance for the week. Or just a couple the night before for the next couple of days, and then use mornings to work out.
toastedsmoke, Looked at Jessica Smith in youtube, looks easy but I am sure they kick butt,
Rin, These are great suggestions on this thread, I am totally going to start doing these today! Hope you and I find something we can keep doing over and over again
TheLastStraw323, I used to do Leslie almost 10 years ago, back then I didn't really need to lose weight, it was to maintain, But given I am 75lbs heavier, they sound excellent to get going...
banditbear, Kids are 9 and 6, They both are in honors programs so tons of homework.
I must look in to making lunches once a week though, sounds a great idea.
Yeah I've heard kids have a lot more homework now than when i was growing up. What about your husband? can he cook a couple of times a week? My husband and I have an agreement: Whoever cooks, the other person does the dishes. It works, for the most part.
Do you have a wii? My daughter and I used to do dance dance revolution. And that will get your heartrate up! You can look up the videos on you tube as well.
If your are worried about the noise you could try an exercise Trampoline. As far as time I do get an hour in a day of walking or biking but I do it in 20 minute intervals. Of course I have an office a mile from my house so I use that to get my exercise. I walk to work walk another mile at lunch and then walk home. http://www.walmart.com/ip/881612?wml...060082&veh=sem
Check out JessicaSmithTV on YouTube. She has a lot of awesome low-impact (read non-jumpy), but highly effective exercise videos on YouTube. I consider myself an intermediate to advanced exerciser (i run, have done insanity etc) and even though her videos seem short and easy, my body changed a lot doing them so I really CAN'T recommend her enough. Her whole mantra is that you don't have to be flying all over the place, killing yourself to get an effective workout.
If you check out her website (jessicasmithtv dot com), she JUST started another month-long daily challenge called Fit in 15 which uses her online youtube videos to give you a 15-minute or less daily workout. I did her last challenge over Christmas and New Year and it was excellent AND a great, fast way to keep you motivated and get you started working out every day for free. I highly recommend.
Another thing you could look into would be a yoga or pilates-type fitness video. Although that might involve buying more DVDs. For a good, cardio yoga dvd that has NO JUMPING and would be downstairs neighbour friendly, I recomment Fat-Free yoga by Ravi and Ana. I had a lot of success with this and it's a kind of yoga that's less about flexibility and more about cardiovascular strength whilst toning the body.
Thank you ToastedSmoke for turning me onto JessicaSmithTV. I have just book marked her YouTube channel and I think I will give her Fit in 15 challenge a go!
I'm a big fan of the HULA HOOP and it's amazing how invigorating it is
Another life saver is a mini-cycle i keep under my desk, it's just the pedal mechanism of a bicycle, and you can keep motoring while you're sitting. I got one for about $50 off Amazon, love it!
Working out in second floor apartment
