Please help me find the time!

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icanplay3
icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am sure everyone has heard the excuse, "I can't lose weight because I don't have time". That is my excuse for sure. I am a single Mom who works full time. I'm going to give you a run-down of a typical weekday for me and you will (hopefully) help me figure out how/when I will fit healthy meal prep/exercise into my already hectic daily routine.

Wake up at 5:30am
Shower/get ready
Get baby ready
Drop baby off at babysitter at 6:45am
Drive to work at 7am
One hour commute
Arrive at work at 8am
Leave work at 4:30pm
Pick baby up from babysitter at 5:30pm
Arrive home approx. 6pm
Try to find something remotely healthy to eat while entertaining or sometimes feeding baby
8pm - feed baby, bathe baby, put baby to bed
9pm - wash baby bottles, straighten up living room & kitchen, put dishes in dishwasher, pack diaper bag for next morning
10pm - collapse into bed, exhausted

My weekends are "free"...they are usually spent shopping, spending time with baby & my 2 older daughters and doing the laundry and house cleaning

I eat "breakfast" and drink coffee in my vehicle on the way to work...lunch is usually something I buy from the diner next door to my office unless I pack a lunch the night before, and dinner is usually take out or fast food.

All I can see is "no time". Can you all please give me suggestions for when/how I can try fitting healthy meal prep/exercise into my days?

Thanks so much in advance!!!
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Replies

  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
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    plan meals so you are taking lunch to work - leftovers are great. Spend an hour or so of your weekend planning and putting meals together for both lunch and dinner - it will save you time looking through takeaway menus and be way better for your health and your wallet.

    Try eating lunch at your desk and use your lunchtime to go for a walk.

    Take the baby out when you get home - an hour walking is going to be good for both of you.

    finally - what about you? Where's your 'me' time? Can you hand over the childcare for a couple of hours a week to someone else?
  • whatatime2befit
    whatatime2befit Posts: 625 Member
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    Buy a slowcooker. Prep the food the night before, before leaving for work get the slowcooker ready and set the timer. A healthy meal will be waiting for you when you get home.

    As for activity, walk during lunch. After baby goes to bed, and tidy up time is done, take a half hour to work out either with free weights, body resistance training or do a DVD.

    I have 3 kids (ages 17 months to 11 years) and work full time as well. Believe me, I know the "no time" excuse, but really you need to make time. I work out over lunch, and go to the gym after I get all kids to bed (usually after 10 PM) (I know you are a single mom so that is out, but you can work out at home). I cook extra meals on the weekends, to use for the first few days of the workweek, and use the slowcooker for other days, when I want our meal ready for us when we get home.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Why do you need more time to lose weight? If it's all about calories in, and even if you want to eat "healthy", it looks like there's an hour in your schedule to cook dinner so I don't really understand. Breakfast is easy, lots of low cal on the go options, lunch-you may have to use some of your time on the weekend to prep some veggies/meat/etc, but you can also buy lunch and have it be healthy/low cal (salad bars, soup), and dinner you have time to make.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    Sorry, no experience with a child-centric schedule, but I have a couple thoughts of things that may not require any additional time.

    1) Nobody says you have to eat "healthy" whatever that means, to lose weight. You just have to eat fewer calories than you burn. For now, you may be able to eat the same stuff you already eat, but just less of it and choose the most nutritious items that you can find on the take out or fast food menu.

    2) On your "free" weekends, whatever you already cook on those days, make a larger quantity of it so that you have leftovers ready to eat during the week.

    3) It isn't essential to do exercise in order to lose weight, but it seems to me that you get plenty of it running after kids. Since you already make the effort to spend time with your children, maybe you can join them in active play
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    Also, for lunches-you can be hard boiling eggs at the same time you're making a stir-fry or whatever for dinner.
  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    Thank you....this is what I needed. All great suggestions. <3
  • AmandaHugginkiss
    AmandaHugginkiss Posts: 486 Member
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    I'm seeing a 2 hour window every night that could be used to prep meals and get in a little exercise in the home. Entertaining babies doesn't require constantly holding them, and you have 2 older kids who can take care of the entertaining part. Or just park your baby in her high chair while you cook.

    Get a slow cooker and set it on low to cook for 12 hours. Research slow cooker meals. If you have a grill, use it to cook a bunch of chicken breasts in bulk on the weekend. Eat them all week either at dinner or for lunch. Frozen bagged veggies are $1-2 and microwave in 5 minutes.

    You have 2 older kids. Make them clean the living room and load the dishwasher while you cook. Use that hour from 9-10 to get in a little exercise instead of watching tv or while watching tv.
  • JenAndSome
    JenAndSome Posts: 1,908 Member
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    Get up at 4:30 and do some sort of work out.
    Prep dinners for the week on Sunday and work out when you get home from work instead of trying to find something then.
    Join a gym that has a daycare center and utilize it.
    There are workouts that you can do that include your baby. You can find these with a simple Google search.

    I am a single mom, have three kids, work full time and have two part time jobs. I try to get to the gym four days a week and have Krav Maga classes twice a week. You just make it work. I don't watch much tv or spend hours on the internet in lieu of doing what I need to do to be happy with my body.
  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    I bought a lot of great healthy foods over the weekend and I will spend some time tonight doing meal prep before I have to bathe baby...I also have the Jillian Michaels dvd "30 day shred"...it is only 20 mins and I have free weights at home so working out at home is definitely an option after baby's bath
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    My babies always had an evening fussy time around 7 pm. I would put on some great music and dance with them. It was great family time for everyone, it calmed the fussiness and it was GREAT exercise!
  • Jerrypeoples
    Jerrypeoples Posts: 1,541 Member
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    I do not have a extensive schedule such as yours but i spend part of my Saturday or Sunday doing the following:

    Preparing Garlic Red Taters (about 15 minutes prep time and 50 minutes cooking time)

    while that cooks i prepare my chicken for lunch. Usually the night before or early in the morning i take chicken breasts and soak in lemon juice.

    Lay out the tin foil on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with chicken seasoning. take out chicken and place on cookie sheet and again sprinkling the season on it. Once that is done i wait for the taters to be done then cook my chicken for about 40 minutes at 350-375

    cook bacon :)

    when taters are done i weigh them out in equal 4 day portions

    i place the rest in the fridge to cool down. after an hour or so i place 3 ozs of chicken, a piece of provolone cheese, a strip of bacon, a thin bagel and some chipolte sauce in a container.

    i make 8 of these containers

    total time is about 2 hours of prep and cook work

    is it the most healthy? i can probably do better but it works for now

    i guess it also helps i have a 8 minute commute to work and no kids but still...

  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    I do have a gym membership...they have a daycare that is open until 8pm on weekdays I believe. But I haven't taken baby there because I am afraid of him getting sick from too many germs. I know, I know. LOL
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    icanplay3 wrote: »
    I do have a gym membership...they have a daycare that is open until 8pm on weekdays I believe. But I haven't taken baby there because I am afraid of him getting sick from too many germs. I know, I know. LOL

    How old is the baby? You know at some point you have to let that germ thing go. Ha.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    i agree with taking the baby out for a walk or something after dinner.
  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    My son is only 4 mo old :)
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    icanplay3 wrote: »
    My son is only 4 mo old :)

    Yeah, no. Don't give him to the gym's childcare haha.
  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    Jerrypeoples wrote: »
    I do not have a extensive schedule such as yours but i spend part of my Saturday or Sunday doing the following:

    Preparing Garlic Red Taters (about 15 minutes prep time and 50 minutes cooking time)

    while that cooks i prepare my chicken for lunch. Usually the night before or early in the morning i take chicken breasts and soak in lemon juice.

    Lay out the tin foil on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with chicken seasoning. take out chicken and place on cookie sheet and again sprinkling the season on it. Once that is done i wait for the taters to be done then cook my chicken for about 40 minutes at 350-375

    cook bacon :)

    when taters are done i weigh them out in equal 4 day portions

    i place the rest in the fridge to cool down. after an hour or so i place 3 ozs of chicken, a piece of provolone cheese, a strip of bacon, a thin bagel and some chipolte sauce in a container.

    i make 8 of these containers

    total time is about 2 hours of prep and cook work

    is it the most healthy? i can probably do better but it works for now

    i guess it also helps i have a 8 minute commute to work and no kids but still...

    Thanks for sharing this with me!! I need to do the meal prep thing so I don't have to wonder what's for lunch/dinner on a daily basis! :)
  • icanplay3
    icanplay3 Posts: 173 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    My son is only 4 mo old :)

    Yeah, no. Don't give him to the gym's childcare haha.

    Exactly. My daughters are 16 and 18 though and they can watch him sometimes in the evenings when they aren't working if I want to work out at the gym. Just trying to coordinate their work schedules and babysitting their little brother...ahhhh!!! Too much! haha

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    icanplay3 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    My son is only 4 mo old :)

    Yeah, no. Don't give him to the gym's childcare haha.

    Exactly. My daughters are 16 and 18 though and they can watch him sometimes in the evenings when they aren't working if I want to work out at the gym. Just trying to coordinate their work schedules and babysitting their little brother...ahhhh!!! Too much! haha

    Whoa! an 18 year old and a 4 month old. Awesome. Yeah, they can cook dinner too right?
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    icanplay3 wrote: »
    My son is only 4 mo old :)

    Yeah, no. Don't give him to the gym's childcare haha.

    Exactly. My daughters are 16 and 18 though and they can watch him sometimes in the evenings when they aren't working if I want to work out at the gym. Just trying to coordinate their work schedules and babysitting their little brother...ahhhh!!! Too much! haha

    Whoa! an 18 year old and a 4 month old. Awesome. Yeah, they can cook dinner too right?
    And help with the laundry and house cleaning too.
    Sounds like you do everything... let them help.

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