I work full time and I'm a part time law student. This means I have early mornings and late nights. I leave the house at 8am every morning and usually do not get back until 8:30 pm that night at the earliest. I want to lose weight but with this type of schedule I don't really know where to start. Any starter suggestions?

Hi Lulu, time is an issue for all of us. The most obvious time to take for yourself during that period is your lunch break and go to the gym or for a walk. It's just a matter of committing to that time. If you can commit to going to class then you can commit to this too.

Waking up earlier than you already do is an option, as well as working out after you get home at night. It's hard but it's not impossible. Whenever I don't feel like working out I keep this mantra handy:

"Someone busier than you is on a treadmill right now."

Not having time to workout doesn't affect your ability to lose weight. Is it better for your overall health and maintaining muscle mass if you can? Sure. But you can lose weight just by changing your eating habits. If exercise is a struggle for you I would focus on eating first. Find a plan that works for your lifestyle and focus on that for now. Then you can gradually start incorporating exercise.

Start with working something small into your routine. Doesn't have to be a big change. Maybe you park at the back of the parking lot, or further away from work so there's some extra walking involved. Maybe it's focusing on making one meal healthier.

When I was crunched for time I'd pre-make, or pre-prep all of my meals for the week during the weekend. That way I'd only have to grab and go for work days. Or slap something in the crock-pot. Salads can be really awesome. If you get some mason jars you can pre-make a lot of them, dressing and all.. but putting the dressing in the bottom, then the veggies in the middle, and the lettuce on top. When you're ready to eat just shake it up. The veggies keep the lettuce from getting soggy by separating it from the dressing.

Baby steps though! A change is a change, and lifestyle changes don't have to be all or nothing at once

I think being busy actually helps in losing weight. The less time doing nothing, then the less time for mindless snacking.

You don't need to change how much time you have in order to lose weight, you just need to change how you act during that time. Start with diet. Eat out a lot? Choose salad or grilled chicken options and count how many calories you're eating daily. Work in some exercise such as walking over lunch a couple of days a week. Just some thoughts....

Love your username! I know its not the same situation, but I work part-time and go to school full time. If I want to work out, I either have to get up at 6 AM or work out at 10 PM after work. Its not ideal, but it is the way I have to fit it into my schedule if I want to lose weight. Good luck!

Try to manage your food. If you will be able to control your input you will also be able to control Output. Got the point?

At bare minimum I would suggest logging everything you eat. You can lose weight simply by reducing calories.

Law school is tough. Confession - I graduated law school at my highest weight ever. However, I also lost a lot of weight when I was studying for the bar. I was just able to reorganize things to fit in exercise, which, for me, is a critical component to weight loss. For many people, exercise is not essential.

Here are my law school-specific suggestions. Since we didn't go to the same law school, they may or may not work.

In most law schools, they don't have assignments or tests running up to the finals, with the exception of the legal research and writing class. If that's your situation, you will probably be assigned a lot of reading, but the focus really is on learning the material in the compressed time frame of a semester. Our library had audios we could check out for all the 1L subjects and a lot of upper-level courses. I used to download those to my computer and then upload them and play them in my car or on the treadmill. I felt really blessed to have discovered those early in my law school career because it simplifies it all down to black letter law, and that helped with the reading as well. Listen to those on the treadmill, skim the casebook, find case briefs online, and, in my experience, you'll be way ahead of the rest of your class.

Don't be afraid to eat during your big lecture classes. It's common, at least at my school, and saves you time during the day.

Don't be afraid to fail. That, I think, is the biggest time-saver. Don't reread your cases again and again so that you'll perform perfectly in the off-chance event you get called on in class. Familiarize yourself with the facts so that it's clear that you read (which can be done by skimming and then reading case briefs) and recognize that your grade does not reflect anything you do in class. If you are listening to the black letter law tapes, you'll be able to anticipate the professor's questions, anyway, and it becomes easier. But remember -- no one grades you on how well you do the reading or answer questions in class. Grades come down to that test, so just focus on what you need to know for that.

I had five kids and commuted 40 miles each way in law school, and I worked part-time. I did not spend the amount of time other students did studying because I couldn't, and I did very well. Organizing your studies properly can give you time to exercise and plan food (and feel physically better, which in turn gives you more energy to study). It also has the added bonus of helping you get better grades, which improves your chances in the job market after graduation.

Good luck with all that you're juggling! Law school is tough, but there are great experiences to be had there.

Lulu I was going to suggest what pink taffeta did start out with keeping track of your intake and activity. It's a great habit that can be really helpful.

I always do better when I track, but am not always good at tracking.

It also helps to try and figure out what a portion of something really is, by reading labels, measuring etc. I will count out however many crackers, nuts or whatever, shredded wheat biscuits, lol, think of it as part of the learning experience.

Make small changes, set a mini-goal, come on this site and explore, there's so much here, from different diet plans, to book suggestions, even games and jokes.

I just try and keep the healthy lifestyle in the front of my brain, not an afterthought.

Best of luck to you!

15 minutes is enough for loose weight so just get out some time for your schedule and work hard in those 15 minutes.

I do this all the time. Cooking one dish on the weekend, but coming up with 8 different homemade freezer meals is a real time saver. I make several dishes, so I have A LOT of choices.

You and I are on a similar boat. I am a fulltime business student, a part time worker and I have a very active 2yr old son at home so...my days actually start at 5:30am and I dont get time to myself until we put my son to bed at 8pm. And even then I have to study.

What I try to remember is losing weight is 70% diet and 30% exercise. Sure, it is really important for you to get some daily exercise in but if you cant get more than 20-30 minutes a day, thats fine as long as you make sure your eating is on point.

And sneak in some exercise when you can...if even 10 minutes of walking during your lunch break, etc.