My day....

I'm a stay at home mom with a 2 and 4 year old. Our oldest only goes to pre school 3 days a week for half a day. I'm also a full time college student. I'm wearing myself out scrambling to fit in 40 minutes of exercise a day and it's proving not to be nearly enough.

With everyday house cleaning, erands, child care, a few hours of reading and doing homework and cooking on top of the usual time you deduct for sleeping, eating meals, personal grooming, yoga, playing with, teaching or reading with the girls and maybe 30 minutes in the evening to just relax from a busy day when am I going to exercise? I micromanage enough to fit everything in, there just aren't enough hours in the day, period.

I don't stay up late to study so thats out of the question, you retain nothing when doing that. I'm too tired by 9 anyways and we are in bed by 10:30. How do I possibly find even more time to exercise without making myself completely miserable?

Hey hearthgal,

What exercise do you do for the 40 minutes you do get? Do you walk with a stroller? Or do an exercise video? Maybe we can make some suggestions.

40 minutes a day is a good amount of exercise--especially if it's every day.

I have a set of small dumbells, and sometimes when watching TV I'll do some exercises using those.

Jay

If you are doing yoga + 40 minutes a day (on TOP of everything else) it sounds to me like you are doing more than enough!!! I'm amazed that you haven't collapsed already. Perhaps an adjustment to your eating plan would be more effective. Or consider rotating cardio/weights in those 40 minutes.

You may want to try waking up earlier, if that's at all possible. (With kids, I'm sure that's a challenge ) As a single person with no kids, I can only tell you that I've had some success by waking up 30 minutes earlier so I can do some planning (meals, mostly) and stretching. It helps jump start my day.

Good luck to you.

I've heard that exercise doesn't have to all be in one big chunk to be effective - you can still get a benefit from several 10 minute blocks throughout the day. Maybe you can find 10 minutes during a child's nap or when they're watching TV. Although getting 40 minutes a day is already a big accomplishment. Good luck finding something that works for you!

The 40 minutes is either on our eliptical or my tony little gazelle if I just want to burn calories. I have free weights I lift about every other day and ankle weights I use each day inbetween. Every day I do pushups and crunches on my balance ball, I take weekends off from these usually. I do about 20-30 minutes of yoga every day, light stuff nothing too strenuous but we do have power yoga DVDs too.

Like I said I'm prior military and my husband is still in, he runs marathons, so we definitely know how to exercise and I'm used to being in very lean shape but after having two kids I'm having a hard time getting it back. Especially when so many other things have to take priority of my time.

See thats what I think too, this should be enough, maybe I'm still just eating too much still although we eat extremely healthy. I just started back with this 40-50 minutes a day because I was only doing about 20 min or none because I had a very time consuming last semester. Maybe I need to give myself more time.

I know I am combatting stress too which the yoga a herbal teas should be helping but a lot of the time it still never seems to be enough. I like to meditate but I never have the time anymore. The girls and school stress me out. I get plenty of sleep tho, usually 8-9 hours.

Sounds like you're quite active, plus you get 40 mins exercise/day and Yoga... That sounds about the right amount to me too...

Don't forget playing with the kids, housework, walking to and from the car with kids in tow, are all informal types of exercise... Give yourself some credit for doing so much in the first place

Thank you, I had a friend tell me recently that I need to give myself more credit too. They say it's so much harder for people who aren't overweight to loose weight and they are not kidding. 2 pounds for us is like 15 to someone whose largely overweight if not more.

Hey again,

Yes, from what you've listed, that's quite enough exercise! Wow... Wish I could do that much.

You'll probably need to reduce your food intake somewhat--it's good you are eating healthy, but people do gain weight eating healthy foods!

Good luck!
Jay

Jay,

I don't always monitor how many calories I consume because to me it's a pain in the a$$ to do but when I do, I'm usually under 1500.

First off, you said you had leg weights. So why not just strap them on as you go about your daily routine? Secondly, reading? Ever try that while doing the elliptical or gazelle? Relax with a dance. Put on some dance music and just have some fun. During errands, be sure to park far from your destinations...and don't forget those weights.

I used to do that with my ankle weights and I read on numerous health sites that it's bad for the ligaments or something in your knees. Maybe that's if their really heavy which mine are not.

I have tried reading on a treadmill and it's too bumpy I think. Our elyptical didn't come with a book holder due to that fact that it was the floor model because the Navy NEX was sold out. lol (It's hard to get things here) On the gazelle I'd have to hold it too but again I find it too hard to read going all over the place.

Can you rig a music stand to hold your book/magazine?