This is my first 9-5 job out of college.

I know many of you work full time jobs with commutes, so I'm hoping to get some tips for this newbie!

I get up at 5:00 am, get ready, have a long commute, work from 8:00am-6:00 pm, and come home by 7:30 pm.

Since I'm not used to this, I'm exhausted. I literally go to bed as soon as I come home, and I feel like my whole day is taken away from me. I never am able to work out anymore either. And I was a workoutaholic! If I go workout after work, after dinner is cooked/eaten/digested, then I go to bed SO late and I'm wide awake. If I go before, I'd have to get up at like 3:30 AM. I feel like I eat like crap at work too.

Any tips????
Thanks!

Try sneaking some stuff in at lunch that won't make you too gross or sweaty. Also - find a gym close to work, make sure you get out of work ON TIME if at all possible and hit that gym. This will give you more incentive. If necessary, pack a snack to eat on the way home until you can get to dinner.

Wait till you throw a kid in mix

Is it possible to cut down your commute, either by moving or shifting your commute time. 3 hours a day in the car is your workout time and then some.

Prepare your meals yourself? That might be one hint : My girlfriends gets up very early for her studies, so we prepare the breakfast smoothie the night before. Then in the morning it's ready to be consumed straight out of the jar, in something like 30 seconds.
As for the gym - ever considered jogging back from work at least a part of the commute? Or bike?

Wowzers that commute is a kick in the butt! Use as much of your lunch hour as you can to walk or do other exercises. (Providing you have a place nearby you cam go, even a mall works for walking).

Failing that, if you can, work standing sporadically (like while you're on the phone), take your bathroom breaks at the farthest restroom etc. google "at desk exercise" too.

Oh man, I feel your pain! I squeeze my workout in before work (20-30 minute, run with dogs and spouse so we all get exercise and they can go to the bathroom!). 3 nights a week, no matter what, I do a strength training workout when I get home. I use my slow-cooker so dinner is ready when I'm done working out and I eat it right away. Or, I will throw a chicken breast or 2 in the oven for 45 minutes while I workout. It's hectic and my schedule is tight but I don't give in to exhaustion when I get home. Once it becomes routine it will get easier!

Tips:
- Sleep in workout clothes so that you can eliminate that step if you do choose to work out in the morning. I do some of my regular "get ready steps" when I wake up too so it doesn't come down to the wire (brush teeth, put in contacts).
- Combine tasks to make your morning routine faster and therefore you can workout more in the morning. Eat breakfast while getting dressed or driving (only if you can safely manage this!!!).
- Snack on healthy things throughout the day at work. Make sure you are not famished when you leave otherwise, you will definitely not like working out when you get home. I like a handful of nuts, rice cakes, fruit, a cup of tea, and I drink tons of water!
- Exercise WILL wake you up! You say you're exhausted when you get home, a brisk walk or some strength training will *give* you energy. Enough, hopefully, to get some food in you before you go to sleep.
- Don't try to take it all on at once. Try fitting some exercise in the morning twice a week and do some exercise when you get home once a week. See what works for you. It can be totally overwhelming if you try to implement anything into a routine as strict as yours. Good luck and take deep breaths!

I feel your pain, I am in a similar situation thought my commute is slightly shorter (depending on traffic). I also do not use a gym and just work out at home, saves me having to find the willpower to go out again after spending an hour in my car.

Oh, honey - I've been fighting this battle for years!! It IS hard, but very possible. You just have to be a problem solver and not use it as an excuse. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes - "If you want it, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse."

Definitely ditto on the lunch thing. I'm assuming you work in the city with that long commute? If so, see if there are any gyms near you. If not, are there any parks nearby? Are the sidewalks safe? You can always walk or run (or do intervals) if so. I know when you start a new job, the tendency is to want to skip lunch to show a serious work ethic but resist this if you can. At least not everyday. Getting outside and getting some fresh air and movement will give you valuable processing time to think through all of those new things you are learning and come back to your desk refreshed. You'll do better work.

Another strategy could be do divide up your workout time. Is it at all possible to fit in 20 minutes in the morning of activity? Maybe some free weights or other strength moves when you get up and then get in 20 minutes of cardio when you get home? Personally, I have found that when I stay active, I am less tired.

Also, keep healthy snacks in your desk. You will likely be spending a lot of your day sitting for the first time and that alone will make weight gain easy. Don't add to it with all of the junk food in the office or by frequenting the "everyday go to fast food restaurant for lunch" crowd. If you can't spend the 20 minutes in the morning doing some strength work, maybe you can spend 10 minutes making sure you eat a healthy breakfast and pack a good day's worth of healthy snacks and lunch.

Another thing to do is to pack your gym bag in your trunk and then go directly to the gym from work. If you're like me, once you're home and on the couch, it's over. But if you go directly there, once you get moving you'll probably find that you aren't as tired as you think you are. Personally, I'm "exhausted" in the half hour before I leave work and the first half hour that I get home, but the time in the car right when work is out - I feel alive and great!

Finally, capitalize on your weekends. If all you can do is get in one or two workouts through the week but you get good ones in on the weekends, you're doing well.

Good luck and congrats on the new job!

8 - 6 is a long time to be at work...is it possible for you to work out during lunch?

Also, I second packing your own lunch and snacks for work.

Welcome to the world of work... I have more flexibility now... but up until not that long ago I had to be at work by 7am and didn't leave until about 8pm!!! I would have to be up by 5am to be at work on time... So here's what I would do...

Get up a half hour earlier at 4:30am so I could do a 30 minute run on my treadmill at home before getting ready for work... This was VERY hard to do since I was tired and DID NOT want to get out of bed, but when I forced myself to do it I actually felt better and had more energry at work...

At work... Take the stairs as much as possible and take a 20 minute brisk walk IF I got a break for lunch (which wasn't always the case) and I would try to take a short break after 5pm and eat something to get me through to the end of the work day and so I had some energy for hitting the gym after...

After work... I had a gym membership near where I worked (had to go right past it on the way home, so I would feel guilty if I skipped it) This was VERY hard as well since as you can imagine I was pretty tired from being at work for 13 hours!!! But an easy workout and watching some TV at the gym was better than just going straight home and crashing on the couch....

Get home... Eat a little something... Relax... Pass out... Repeat...

Tips... Always have clean gym gear ready to go and keep extra at work in case you forget to bring it with you... so you can't use that excuse... Friday night skip the gym, but still get to bed relatively early so you'll have the energy for longer workouts on the weekends... Do your best to go to bed and get up at the same time on weekends as well... Trust me, this WILL make a difference during the week so you'll have the energy for your workouts and getting up so early will be a little less painful...

I know this might all sound like a bit much... But it does get easier once you get into a routine... Good luck!

have you thought of taking your dinner (fully prepared, of course) to work with you? You could eat it before you begin the commute home, so that by the time you get there you are ready to go right to the gym. I have a fairly quick commute and work 7:30 - 4:00, so I don't have this problem, but that's what I would do. I also used to take my gym clothes to a job I had about 10 years ago and change in to them there so that I could go straight to the gym. Where there's a will, there's a way!

You didn't say how long you have been working at this job. If you are just starting, I would wait until you are over the "complete exhaustion" phase that always comes with a new job. By that time, you will have a better idea of what might work, as far as timing goes, for formal exercise. In the meantime, do what an earlier poster suggested - walk to the farthest bathroom, take the stairs etc.

If you are too pressed for time to cook, buy some healthy convenience foods. I eat Lean Cuisine sometimes, and where appropriate, I add a cup of extra veggies to each meal. I buy a huge bag of frozen stir-fry veggies just for this purpose. I also have gotten pre-cooked chicken patties and black bean burgers. All you do is warm them up, and add a veg and/or salad. You can even buy premade salads and replace the supplied dressing with one of your own. I sometimes eat the bean burger on a tortilla and add chopped bell pepper. I also buy very lean lunch meat and roll that up in a tortilla.

I know Lean Cuisine may not be the best thing in the world, but sometimes you have to compromise with something that is really fast and easy.

I use tortillas because I am trying not to eat bread; you could use whole grain bread.

Best of luck with your new job and the workout schedule!

Ah work, the land of eternal donut pushers and kid's leftover halloween candy. What - didn't have lunch? Not to worry, there will be an array of leftover cookies and pizza from whatever group brought lunch that day waiting on the file cabinet for you.

Make sure you get 8 hours sleep even though that means going to bed somewhere around 10 and do as best as you can to have the same sleep pattern on the weekends. Getting up at 5 is lame. I do it myself.

It's going to take some time before your body adjusts to its new schedule. You might find in a few weeks or so, and as it starts staying lighter longer outside your energy starts to return. Winter really is not a friend in this case.

8-6 is a long day though- are you on a condensed work week or something?

I cannot believe how many AMAZING tips I received! Thank you so much!!

And I'm actually an unpaid intern. Go, me! haha.

I had another thought for you - maybe you can streamline your morning routine so it takes less time to get ready? If you can come up with some cute updos for your hair, maybe you'll have time in the morning to exercise?