This whole message forum has so many phenomenal people, and a huge amount of wisdom all over the place. I'm always blown away by the fact that everyone has busy, busy lives, yet keeps on trying to control their weight, despite major lack-of-time issues. And that's not even counting all the OTHER issues that a person might have.
There are women who have full-time PAID jobs, and then young children. And women who also have full-time paid jobs, and serious eldercare issues. Students who are trying to balance crazy schedules, with or without family, with or without a part time or full time job. women with shift changes. children of many ages, whether you work outside the home or not. spouses, other family, financial issues, the list goes on and on and on.
soooo, here's my question to all of you:
HOW DO YOU DO IT???? make the time to eat right and exercise, and focus on taking care of yourself, i mean.
And I guess the second part of this is: WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU COULD IMPROVE?
I'll go first...
Full time job, and the Alzheimer's mom who has to be hauled out of bed at 7 am 3 days a week so that she can go to daycare. she requires considerable attention so that she keeps moving to get her <clean> clothes on and to eat breakfast. and the 90 pound dog, and two cats.
my STRATEGY is to do at least 30 minutes of cardio [in the form of walking or hiking] every blessed morning. And if i can do more later in the day, then that's fine, but those mornings are sacred.
Problem is: with the new job, i don't have mornings that are as flexible as in the past. these people CARE that i show up on time. the other jobs cared that i SHOWED UP!. I'm constantly battling fatigue, and have just started to sleep well. BUT, i'm not getting up at 6 am these days - more like 6:30, and it's blowing my schedule.
I'm thinking about getting a bike rack and bringing my bike to work for a mid-day ride. Or i could get up earlier. or take a walk later [but if i do that, i GREATLY reduce the chances of getting to the gym to do weights!] OR i could do water aerobics at the gym ... OR i could figure out how to work the DVD player and do a Tai Chi routine.
bottom line: something's gotta change here.
surprisingly, aside from the usual snacking issues, food's not as much of a problem. I'm SO into portion control, it's pretty much automatic. those little 1/2 cup containers save my life! AND, i don't have to cook. not really. Mom eats at my sister's several nights a week, and there's a paid caregiver who comes in the other nights and fixes dinner for mom. i provide the ingredients [generally hamburger, chicken nuggets, ham steak - it's what they like!], and some roasted veggies, and they make a salad or boil some new potatoes or something.
i DO manage to roast veggies, and i generally buy an already-cooked chicken for the week. add in some deli roast beef and turkey, LF plain yogurt, fruit, muesli [to add in with the yogurt and fruit], and a few other simple things, and i'm good to go. about once a month i actually COOK something - it would feed 4-6 normal eaters. for mom and me - and i share with my sister - it's more like 8-10 meals! last month, it was beef stew - and some is still in the freezer. this week, it'll be chicken cacciatore.
peachie - i bought a WHOLE chicken, with the intent of giving you ALL the white meat. just gotta buy a few red peppers, and red wine to make it all. have mushrooms, tomatoes, seasonings, onions, maybe some eggplant. it'll be good. promise!!!!
no veggie lasagna this week, unless you want what's in the freezer. there's also a steak in there. interested?
Ooh, ooh, ooh! The Sweet Juicy one has posted! I missed you, the forum has missed you, heck all of 3fatchickland has missed you!
You know that I have to write a bad limerick now in honor of the occasion!
Our Peachie came back to the forum.
For too long she thought "I'll ignore-um".
Your Chickie's delighted,
Thrilled, happy, excited!
Now Jiffy must watch our decorum!
Now, back to the post at hand. You ladies sound like fantastic cooks! Cacciatore - yum! Lasagna - yum! But what's with the tortellini soup sans torts? Would that not just be boring old soup? Flavored water just waiting for some floaters? Hmmm.
I am very lucky that (for now anyway) I work part time. I am able to get to the gym pretty easily most days. I don't have to fight the clock too much - only my lack of motivation some days. I'm coaching a softball team and have had to rearrange my days, so last week I was a little lax in the gym department. I'm making myself do morning workouts instead of afternoon and it's kind of wierd to change, but at least I usually do it.
As for food, I'm the queen of making leftovers into something delicious. I always cook too much for dinner and both my husband and I eat it for lunch the next day. Easier, cheaper and healthier than "boughten" food.
Jif dahlink, could you do weights at lunch and cardio later? Gotta get those weights in so you have strong bones lady!
Time for me ...... hmmmmmmmm whats that. No comprenda'
I'm up at 4:30 AM... besides getting myself ready i do a load of laundry in the morning, make lunches, take care of the doggy, and get the bambino up and ready for school/daycare and there by 7 AM...then its off on the highway racing to work by 7:30 am. I pick up DD at 5 - 5:30 and home shortly after that. Then its cooking dinner, homework if she has any, dishes, getting ready for the next day, baths, showers and in bed by 8:30 PM.
I'm sure I could sneak a 1/2 hr of exercise some where in there but dang gum it, I'm tired. The weekends is catching up on the cleaning, usually going some where visiting inlaws or my mom. Mostly cleaning and trying to spend time with DD that I feel I'm robbing her with during the week. Putting away laundry inbetween. I try to cook on Ssundays for the week so its easier so there's 1/2 a day on Sunday.
I don't even paint my finger nails anymore, there's just no time to keep up maintaining it.
I'm not complaining but I wanted to point out that its a full life and that people should trade shoes for a day to see what its like before saying "why can't you, or you should do this" - meaning my Mother. OY....VEY...
GREAT THREAD JIFFY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
QUEEN OF EXCUSES, thats me oh and I'm not an "organized" person by no means.
Peach!! I had to rub my eyes and blink lotsa times to make sure it was really you!! Good to see ya! (its RobinH....got married since the last time you posted, 2 yrs ago!)
Jiff....thought Id jump in here too.
How do I do it?!
Both dh and I have agreed that we need to get out of bed earlier. He keeps me to that....good thing too!
Dd being in school all day frees up time for me to take 1.5 hrs at the gym in the afternoon. A luxury I often pay for by having to work in the evening.
All house work gets done in the morning, cooking sort of gets done at any time, then frozen in portions for when I need it. Last night I cooked a 10lb bag of chicken parts while I was making supper...so no extra time needed for that.
Sign business (basically my work) gets done right after house tidying. If anything more needs to be done after the alloted time, I'll do it after supper.
If its sunny outside, I push everything aside and make it wait until Ive gone for a walk outside. Some seasons in buffalo you have to take advantage of everyday of sunshine you get....they can be too few and far between. (this is a mental health issue for me)
I dont know how its going to work out this summer with dd home, but Im in a good routine now. First time in a long time and its working for me.
Nope, I dont do my nails anymore either No time, and besides the vinyl lettering for the signs pulls the top coat off every time, and I have to redo them. So...I cant be bothered anymore.
I guess to anwer your question, its a routine...once I got into it, and didnt waver too much, I was good. Things are actually getting accomplished now.
Jiffy.... to tell the truth some days I don't feel like I am doing it. I'm a real estate agent and part time secretary at the office and it seems like I run all day long. I also have 2 mentally handicapped sisters in law and my father in law has always been grouchy and mean....now he's old, grouchy, and mean!!
If I hadn't lost all this weight I think I would have expired by now LOL. My mother in law died last year and it's been **** since then. 6 weeks after that my brother in law shot himself in the heart and since then every one them has been in the hospital including my husband. My sister in law is an alcholic basket case and no help at all. I went over to check on her one day and she was drunk as a skunk holding a loaded pistol threatening to shoot herself. Her husband is the one who shot himself. I could go on ....but I'll spare you all. In the midst of all this and more I had my surgery anyway!! I was determined nothing was going to stop me.
I'm having a hard time sticking to any schedule. I'm getting a lot more excercise than I've had in years out of necessity. Before I wouldn't have been able to do it. When I'm showing houses I can actually go up and down stairs now!! And I'm selling more than I have in years because I can actually walk property with my clients. Imagine that!! But it's hard to find time to eat when I'm supposed to. If I'm out in the boonies showing property there is nowhere to eat and people don't understand if you tell them you have to stop showing them houses cause you have to go eat. I've started keeping those tuna and chicken lunches to go in my car all the time. Also I keep bottles of water in my car. In fact I keep a file cabinet full of them at the office. They are saving my life !! I keep lean cuisines everywhere too. My doctor doesn't want me have anymore protien shakes. He says they will eventually start putting the weight back on. But I don't seem to do as well without having one in the morning. I have a hard time eating breakfast. I seem to feel better when I put a scoop of protein shake in my coffee in the morning. But I'm doing what he said. I usually have yogurt and bacon, sausage, or leftovers from dinner. Sometimes things I've been eating all along make me nauseous. Anyone who thinks this is the easy way out is nuts!!
But it's all worth it...every bit of it.
Anyhow....I'm sure that's more than you were asking about LOL I just got started and kept going.
I thought I'd give this one a try.......Well, I have 5 small children, 2 of which are in school, and one being a baby. My twins get to go to school next yr!!! YES!!!! lol I get up everyday at 6am, wake up the 2 older girls, get em ready, feed em, and make my coffee. Then while they are eating, I put a load of clothes in, pick up the kitchen and living room, and check my emails. 7:30am rolls by quickly, and it's out the door to the bus stop!! After seeing the girls off to school, I'm back at home doing laundry, and cleaning. Around 9am the twins and the baby wake up, and it's time for their breakfast. Breakfast usually takes about an hr because they all picky eaters. Then, I clean them all up, turn on the cartoons, and sit back down at the computer. When afternoon hits, I am usually done with laundry but then lunchtime hits!! So, I feed the lil uns again, and head outside for an hr of outdoor fun with them. Usually jumping on the trampoline and playing soccer. I dont play the whole time, but I do go out there with them seeings they are all small. Gotta make sure no one gets hurt!! Then it's nap time for the baby about 1 pm. The twins are sent outta the room so he can sleep. I jump back on the net, and turn on my soaps(depressing I know). 4pm comes along, and it's time to pick up the older girls from the bus. Snacktime follows that, and then homework and reading school books. Then of, course the next mealtime is already here, and I cook. After dinner, I get all 5 of them ready for baths. That takes about 1 1/2 hrs!! Then it's off to bed for them all by 8:30 pm. About that time, I am so pooped out, I lay down on the couch, and usually pass out there!! ha ha Now the reason I havent mentioned Hubby is because his job takes him outta state 2 weeks a month!! So, I am on my own half the month!! The other half consists of honey do's and bill paying!! UGH!! Somewhere in between all of this I can actually find the time to eat 3 meals a day, and 1-2 snacks. But exercise isnt fitting into my routine anymore!! On somedays, I also have soccer practices and games for my oldest daughter. And hubby makes sure that at least once a month, he takes me out to the karaoke club so I can sing my heart out and have some fun!!! I really dont know how I do it. I've been asked a million times, and I never know what to say except, "I dunno, I just do." ha ha I guess they are expecting more than that but I cant deliver it!! lol I just do. It's my job. And I have NO clue how I managed to lose all this weight!! It's been so long that I just cant remember!! I wish I could because i'm stuck right now, and would like to lose the remainder of the weight.<<sigh>> OK, so there's my story, lol. Hope I didnt kill ya with boredum!! ha ha ha
How do you do it????
oh and I'm not an "organized" person by no means.
I had to rub my eyes and blink lotsa times to make sure it was really you!! Good to see ya! 
(its RobinH....got married since the last time you posted, 2 yrs ago!) 
