I can feel myself falling off the wagon...
 

I need HELP!!!

My life is just crazy. How do I do this? I work full time. Work is nasty right now AND school just started back (I'm in school part time to work on finishing up my degree). Because of my schedule, I'm in class Monday til Thursday right after work. So I'm out of the house from 7am to 730pm or so.. sometimes later. I've never been good a planning ahead or packing food. I'm eating out 3 meals a day at this point and wondering when/where to fit in gym time.

Anyone out there have any suggestions? :(

Jackie I can relate to what your going through. Here's what I do. I get the grilled chicken sandwich w/o sauce. (If you really like the sauce see if they can put on the side for you) Watch out for some of the salads. They could be worse than many of the common items. Do you go to certain fast food places? If so check their web sites and get the nutritional info on their menu items. That way you'll have in mind what you get and can stick to your diet. Gym time is something that I HAVE to make time for. I'm very flexible with it. If things are going on that I can't do my workout in the moring I do it in afternoon or evening. I figure better late than never.
You could alway try and make your meals the night before. Or on a weekend.
Mez

Sometimes you just have to fit in exercise where you can, like, for example, walking during lunch hour, taking the stairs instead of elevator, parking a long ways away and walking to classes. If you get a break during your class, then walk the hallways. It's not organized exercise, but it certainly is better than nothing.

Jackie - I'm with you hon! I can totally relate, I work full-time and am working towards my degree part-time, however I've taken this semester off so I'm not in your boat right now. From my past experience, make the healthiest choices you can when eating out.. instead of fries, go for salad, instead of pop - drink water, etc. For exercise, take the stairs as much as possible - walk to a washroom further away from your classroom or office - wake up 10 minutes early in the morning and do the 8 minute Power Tae-Bo workout to jumpstart your metabolism (you can find it online).

Kudos to you for trying to stay OP in the midst of all this. I think everyone has given you some great tips. I know it may not be what you want to hear but if you're having trouble fitting in the gym time, you may have to get up earlier to go to the gym if that's the type of exercise you are wanting to do. If not while doing your homework, get some dumbells and lift them while reading, do leg lifts, etc. There's a ton of exercises you can do while reading and it won't feel like exercise at all.
Good luck and don't give up hope. We know you can do this.

Pushing you back on the wagon....
 

I too, understand where you are coming from! With work, kids, and other commitments, the smallest thing can throw off my day! This morning it was my hubby sleeping through his alarm and not waking up till mine went off. This of course, put me behind and in the rush of the first day of school, I forgot to pack gym clothes as I was going to start going today. That little thing has left me unable to get there today as going home for clothes then back out to the Y would leave me with next to no time before my oldest gets off the bus.


Anyway! People have offered lots of great suggestions and I'm alot like you and not real organized with preparing food in advance. However, I have been working on it and it does help. I especially enjoy wraps and you can make them low fat...once the initial prep is over, it is pretty easy to throw one or two together to take with you on the road. You can always also snack on some pretzels or something like that in the car.

Just a few thoughts and sending more good thoughts your way!