Ok...I've been working out 5-6 days a week. My husband just started a new school schdule and Im lucky if I can get 4 days in. I feel like crap on the weeks I cant get at least 5 days in. Is this bad? Is 4 days enough for me to keep losing weight? Im so scared Im not going to be able to lose anymore. The reson I cant work out more is because we have 2 small children and unless he is home I cant work out. It's too hard to work out at home because the kids dont let me. Get in my way...etc... With the weather getting nicer the kids are wanting to stay up later and I already work 10 hour days and dont get home till 7:30 so after around 8:00 I am tired and ready to get to bed. So I guess I just want to know if 4 days a week is still good enough to lose weight. I still have alot more weight to lose. Thank you!

First, four days is probably going to be plenty Just make it count when you do have time to work out.

I don't know what ages your children are, but is there an activity they could do with you? It would be a great for creating memories of mom and developing healthy habits Even just putting on some fun music and dancing around the house burns more calories then watching tv. I'm sure there are lots of other activities that you can do with them..family walks or bike rides. If there is a recreation department where you live, they some times have inexpensive classes families can do together.. karate or dance for example. My mom was always to tired or busy to do things like that with us. I wish I had more memories of her taking a walk with us instead of dusting

Yes and I wish I had the time. But with me working 10 hours a day 5 days a week I just dont have the time or energy. Like I said I dont get home till 7:30 and the kids are usally down to bed by 8:30. It takes about that long to get bathed and put to bed. On my days off we usally go to the park or things like that. My kids are 4 and 2. I wish I had more time to do things with them. I guess I could try going on a walk with them when I get home..but Im just sooo tired....it takes alot of engery to get them to bed. Lol. I guess that could be a work out?!?! Lol

Obsessed here too.. I feel terribly lazy on days I don't work out. Surgery last week so having to take it easy for a while. I think your 4 days weekly of exercise should be plenty to still take off the weight. Good luck.

Thank you! Im up late today....had to make a late dinner. Didnt get the kids to bed till 10:00. We did take a short walk to the store but they made such a fit I made is VERY short. Im now going to try and fit in at least 15 mins of sit ups and leg workouts with my Denise Austin DVD. I need to get some better work out DVD's. I have such a small livingroom it's hard to do the cardio ones.

Well, as an OCD sufferer (seriously) myself...I don't think that is what you have.

You are, though, one of the lucky ones, like myself, who has gotten "addicted" to working out. Once you get used to doing it-it feels good, you feel good afterwards, and you want to do it again. This is a good thing.

What I would suggest, is if your schedule only allows for 4 workouts a week-is just to "make them count". If they are getting easy at all-then upgrade to a harder workout. For intance-if you use a treadmill and walk at 3mph, then set it at 3.2mph...and when that gets easier, set it a tad higher. If you do Denise Austin and the workouts use hand weights-if you use 3 pound weights and it is not very difficult...then go with 4 or 5 pound weights. You want to really "feel" it. If you do Walk Away The Pounds, and have done the 1 mile routine for a while...then move up to the 2 mile. (only 10 minutes longer) This can be done with about any workout that you are doing-increase the intensity of whatever you are doing if it gets easy, to make it more intense.

Think about how much it took to do a workout when you first started...if it doesn't take that much effort any longer...then notch it up a bit.

With your work schedule, I would definitely make sure that you are getting in *some* quality time with your children on days off...or even when you get home-talk with them while they are getting bathed...read them a story, etc. for that little time that you have with them.

Good luck,
Aphil

Thank you! Aphil......I understand what you are saying...and I guess I could increase my workouts alittle bit. They are getting alittle easier. Right now I am doing 2 min intervals of 3.8 walking and 5.1 jogging for 30 mins.

I understand your dilemma. It is hard being a mom and fitting in the "me time." My son makes it difficult for me to workout so I try to give him something to preoccupy his time or incorporate him into the workout. When I can't go to Curves I do Taebo or the Biggest Loser workout. I turn up the volume and tell him to kick with me or he will run around like crazy because he thinks its fun.

Can you do anything during your lunch break - may take a walk or something?

Four times a week is more than enough. Really you only need 30 minutes 3 days of week and a balanced diet. The diet is the key no matter how much cardio or weight training you do - if the diet is not in order you will only maintain or gain.

Good luck!

Im definitely addicted to working out myself, I absolutely HAVE to work out 5-6 times a week, for at least an hour a day or I get moody.

Cassie - I guess there is no easy way to say this, however, you ARE obsessed if you are exercising a third time a day BECAUSE you ate something you shouldnt, and the fact that you weigh 3-4 times a day. Sounds more along the lines of developing a form of bulemia. Cant remember the exact name of the bulemia that its called, but about 8mos ago I found myself slipping into the same thing. Research it, stop it before it goes too far. Before you know it, you will be spitting too. If you arent already, which is something I also used to do, and I actually thought it was ok, that there was nothing wrong with it but there IS. Just some tough love because Ive been there..

Well, I think that it depends on what you are doing, and to what extreme-so be careful. Some people have to do their workouts in 2 parts due to their schedules-like they do their strength training in the evening, and their cardio in the morning, etc.

What you want to be careful of-is that you are not getting to where you are saying "I ate a 200 calorie muffin, so I have to stay on the treadmill until the counter says I burned 200 calories. That is where you get into the form of bulimia that Ready2Shed was talking about. Basically when you start doing that-you are eating, and then "purging" yourself, and it is the same effect as eating and throwing up, or eating and then taking laxatives to make yourself expel it at the other end. They can all be forms of bulimia, just the purging takes on a different form.

With that being said, after each child, and here soon after this one is born-I have to do my workouts in a couple of small chunks-or not get them in at all. With my daughter (my first, 7+ years ago) I did a 10 minute ab or upper body weight segment on a vhs when I got a break in the day and she was napping, and then later in the day I would get on the exercise bike and go for 10-20 minutes at a time. It would be considered 2 workouts, but I was trying to fit in two bits of "something" with a newborn baby.

I guess what I am saying, is that working out more than once a day can be totally normal, or it can be dangerous-it just depends on the extreme that you are doing it in, so be careful. What does bother me, though, is the weighing in 3-4 times a day. It really serves no purpose to weigh in that much-because you cannot measure any real pounds or fat lost in that time. If you weigh 210, and you drink a pint of water and weigh in again, you are probably going to weigh 211...if you pee later on, then you are probably back down to 210, and so forth. There are too many "small" fluctuations like this that happen throughout the day for weighing in that many times a day to be "doing anything" but causing you stress. Try to get it down to once in the morning, and then after you have done that-to a couple times a week. I would much rather weigh in once a week and see a pound gone each time-than to weigh in 4x a day and see all of the ups and downs and everything all week long.

I do Walk Away the Pounds videos. They are a great cardio if you get the right ones. There is anything from 1 Mile to 5 Miles the last I knew. There is a website Leslie Sansone.com. A lot of people suggest purchasing from Collagevideo.com, but I got mine thru Barnes & Noble. I am 49 and do daycare in my home for 2 four yr. olds and 2 two year olds. Some days I get through 1/2 hour or 45 minutes just fine. Other days when they are rowdy, I put the toddlers in their high chairs in the LR and give them something to do. I ususally don't have to resort to this. I have to remind them a lot to stand in a certain area and they are usually good about it, but once in awhile I have to physically move them away and I just make it fun for them. They love to do it with me. If I didn't have these videos, I don't think I would be exercising as much. I can see where doing other videos could be frustrating if you have to stop and start. With Leslie's I just keep moving and my pedometer usually registers 5000+ steps so I know I must be doing something right. I almost gave up a few times when the kids were going thru a "monster" stage. I just had to sit them down and set them simple rules and they have been very good about it. I let them know if they are well behaved, we will go outside to play or watch a favorite show/video when I'm done and it works pretty well-nothin' like bribery LOL! Just try not to get discouraged and keep moving. Even having a pedometer has helped me to be more active. Good luck!!