Hello all:

Any tips on balancing work and your significant other while trying to lose weight? The struggle is real....

Hey! I hear ya sister! Honestly, for me, I was always so overweight because I used to put everyone and everything first. And last year something changed, I decided I was important too! I work full time, am married and have a 9 year old daughter. I came right out and told both my husband and my kiddo that they were gonna have to start doing more around the house, as I wanted to start looking after myself better. I needed to make the time, even on the days there seemed to be negative time! I get up early, before they do, and I exercise. I make it work. And they support me on it.
You have to find a way to make it work

I've also found that getting up early before anyone else and doing my workout is the only way I get it done. If I try after work, I'm either too tired, or someone really needs my help, or a multitude of other issues crops up.

Once you get past the first hump, the breaking of old habits, it is actually easier, because you just feel better.

Once you get in a groove as far as meal prep and a workout routine, again, it isn't harder. Unless someone isn't currently cooking at all, in which case I guess it WOULD be harder. But I doubt that is what you are talking about.

I did it by calorie counting. So the only time sink was early on, learning which calorie bomb meals I needed to cut out, trying a few new recipes, and measuring each plateful (which I no longer need to do, I can now eyeball it.) The difficulty passed pretty quickly.

Ok, so I'm terminally single, so take my words with a grain of salt. First off, weight loss is like 90%+ about diet. You need exercise for fitness, but the majority of your weight loss is going to come from what you put in your mouth. But my main question is, you only need like 45-60 minutes to get in a killer workout...do you really not have that much time to yourself once you get married/have kids?

Hey Monte! I can't speak for anyone else but it's not so much that I "don't have the time"...it's the fact that I have to schedule that time around others. I'm usually dealing with the kids in the mornings to get them ready for school. After that, I *may* have some time to myself but usually I'm running errands, helping out family members, or just generally doing things until I begin working. After work, it's getting the kids settled, homework done, and getting them ready for bed. This is aside from cooking and cleaning (husband sucks at cooking...except for grilled cheese and omelets and yes, others help clean but meh.....there's always a lot get done). I also have school full-time which comes after everything else is done in the evenings.

Also, a lot of it comes not just from killer time management but also motivation. When I do have some time to myself, it's very easy to let myself go and NOT exercise because I think "man, today has been crazy. I am so tired. I deserve to sit here and not move" In order to begin my own weight loss program, I have had to chunk out time and space for myself in order to do that. For some it's easier than others but yeah, once you get married and start raising spawn, you are sharing ALL of your time and depending on how big of a place you have ALL your space with however many other people there are in your household. And kids aren't like roommates that understand "personal space" oh no...they want to be on you at all times. Or maybe my kids are clingy but that's ok, I love them anyway :P

I also think it depends on how many kids you have and if you have other people sharing the responsibilities.

I got myself 5 kids within 4.5 years and no, I do NOT have 45 minutes a day for myself, I hardly ever have 10 minutes. I am juggling work and kids and household and volunteering work (and I love all of it). I go to bed after midnight and get between 6 and 6.30 while I still wake up to breastfeed the youngest one one or twice a night.

But, most people do not have such a crazy family or arrangament. Normal people get a baby, and then perhaps another one. Not twins and then another set of twins for the fun of it If your husband helps or you have grandparents, you can still attain a reasonable lifestyle that does include things like free time and personal space, although in much lesser amounts than you had been used to.

Just my two cents