Any ladies in their 40s with toddlers?

bikinibottom29

Hi! I'm 45 and have a 22-month old. I've always been fairly fit until my daughter came along. For the sake of convenience I've adopted a less-than-healthy diet and exercise is nearly zero. Weight loss is not really my main goal. Instead I'd like to eat better and increase my flexibility, strength/muscle mass, and balance.

viennagrace

I am a mother of an 8 year old but I am a nanny to 2 kids aged 3.5 and 19 months. I can totally understand the eating for convenience Parr. However I recently changed my eating habits and lost 5lbs in 3 weeks by just eating clean. If you have a 22 month old what are you feeding her? Are you eating together or do you feed her and grab something afterwards? I always say I should start eating what my 8 year old eats as she has problems putting weight on and she eats like a horse....all healthy food. Maybe start out by doing some pushup, squats and burpees to get your heart rate up and work the larger muscle groups. 3 sets of 12-15reps would be a good place to start. Check YouTube for short yoga videos for your balance. Friend me if you like.

bikinibottom29

When she was an infant she ate everything. I mean like... turnips. Rutabaga. Spinach. Indian food! But at about the 18-month stage she started throwing everything. She rejects anything that's wet, sticky or gooey. For breakfast she'll eat waffles, cereal bars, pancakes, french toast and *maybe* some freeze-dried fruit. She refuses to eat fresh fruit of any kind. She eats lunch at daycare and it's a 50-50 chance that she'll eat what they give her (ordinarily, she'll eat all of one item and then leave the rest). For dinner she'll eat chicken tenders (and do not dare try to give her any other kind of chicken), brown rice (NOT white, LOL), raw carrots, and broccoli, green peas or edamame. Oh, and black olives, pita and cheese. And that's it. We try EVERY DAY to give her a vast array of food and it all gets thrown.

We do try to all sit down together at the table to eat. She's usually hungry by 6:00 (and you know how persistent a toddler can be when they want something), so if we want to all sit down together we have to make our food very quickly. That means that half the time we just get takeout (oh yeah, Vietnamese rice and noodles -- she'll eat that!), in addition to the food we make for her. Because I'm rushed I tend to scarf more of the food than I ordinarily would (because if I'm taking my time I know that I'm full and I know when to stop).

MsWizzo

I'm just a couple years from the 40s (38 now), and have 22 month old twins. Managing my healthy diet has been hard, especially because we've been working on getting them to put on weight. This means they get all sorts of yummy higher-calorie food --- which I had previously avoided eating for years. Alas, it's hard for me to resist...I'm also a low-carber, but their toast, waffles, pasta, etc looks so tasty, and I have been cheating a lot. Funny that when it was just me and my husband, I wasn't at all tempted to eat carbs while he did.

We do eat veggies too, and I find that persistence usually wins them over. For example, we'll provide some edamame, or lima beans for several days. They may ignore the edamame at first, but will usually try it and eat it after a while.

(This after the early infant days when they both ate any veggie we gave them!)

bikinibottom29

Twins!! I have a couple friends with twinks and know what kind of work you're going through. Makes me feel bad for ever complaining! It's so funny though how alike they all are (e.g., eating anything as an infant and then rejecting the same things later).

Like you, carbs were not something I ate very much pre-kid. And we really didn't eat any take-out -- we had sooooo much time to do anything we liked. Now it's like... rush, rush, rush to get an entire meal on the table by 6:30 at the latest, which is not easy to do when you leave work at 5, pick up kid from daycare, walk/feed dogs, etc.

luckyblueeye

Yep, 41 with a 20 month old (and 3.5, 8 and 9 year old). My last pregnancy wrecked me! It was very high risk and I ended up with a hysterectomy...which changed my metabolism. The surgery also left me with massive scar tissue and some problems that might need to be fixed later (I have bulges that make my stomach stick out lop sided...not motivating). I had to be totally inactive for months during the pregnancy and then again for 6 months after delivery and it shows, argh. Belly looks sad I started running 2 miles a day 12 days ago and I already see some benefits..did I just find my long lost abs!!? I eat pretty well, but my portions were too big. So logging my food, exercising 5-6 times a week.

bikinibottom29

Wow, 4 kids, how do you do it? I only have one and constantly feel like I'm unraveling. Sorry to hear about your last pregnancy, it sounds very tough. It's promising to hear that running is bringing some benefits already.

luckyblueeye

Thanks bikinibottom Yeah, 4 is a lot, but they also entertain each other well (and can be SO loud, haha). I have also noticed that the running gives me more patience with them....I get my run and they get a nice Mom

bikinibottom29

I have a friend with 4 kids and I can attest to the loud part, haha!

And I'm noting and taking to heart your comment about getting exercise and being more patient. I really need to work on this.

luckyblueeye

Sounds good!! I include my kids if I can....they do sit ups next to me and jumping jacks are their favorite

jellybird

I'm 47 and have an 8 month old and a 7 year old.

luckyblueeye

Amazing jellybird! sometimes chasing after little ones in our forties is exercise in itself

tigerblue

Hang in there ladies. Being Mom is difficult regardless of the age of your kids. New and different challenges at every stage! Remember--mostly healthy choices. Most of the time. Nobody's perfect, and for everything there is a season.

must_deflate

My kid is 14 now, but I had him when I was 41. This kid never slept and was never happy unless he was being held or moving. Carrying a kid= good upper body workout. Pushing a stroller all over town for a couple hours a day = good aerobic workout. Sadly some of the benefits were cancelled by my newfound need for sanity-saving "mommy juice" in the afternoons.

SpclK1106

Hi, I am 45, no toddlers anymore, mine are 6 and 8. Seems like just yesterday that I had toddlers. It gets easier in some ways, but in others, I feel busier because of their activities and helping with homework. I work FT, so there are days that I can't get a workout in until after 8:00 pm, which is tough because I feel like I am ready to drop at that point! Trying my best to get back on the bandwagon and lose the extra 8 I just put on over the holidays, so I am motivated. Gonna get back to doing the 30 day shred too, even though sometimes Jillian annoys me! Anyway, nice to meet you and hang in there! The struggle is real.

tigerblue

SpclK1106 wrote: »

Hi, I am 45, no toddlers anymore, mine are 6 and 8. Seems like just yesterday that I had toddlers. It gets easier in some ways, but in others, I feel busier because of their activities and helping with homework. I work FT, so there are days that I can't get a workout in until after 8:00 pm, which is tough because I feel like I am ready to drop at that point! Trying my best to get back on the bandwagon and lose the extra 8 I just put on over the holidays, so I am motivated. Gonna get back to doing the 30 day shred too, even though sometimes Jillian annoys me! Anyway, nice to meet you and hang in there! The struggle is real.

Exactly what I was saying! Having small children is a special kind of stress, especially psychologically and emotionally. But I have found that the busy-ness and time crunch is much worse now. For instance, I spent over an hour tutoring my 14 year old last night. (Saves us lots of money if we don't have to hire a tutor, and he struggles with math). And over the next three days I will spend probably 10 hours sitting at their sporting events. Plus go to work and do all the wife/housekeeper/mom things that must be done.

Jillian is a life saver for me. And now I have collected Dumbbells and kettlebells up to 30 lbs so I am creating a home gym and using them for weight lifting. If I have to drive to and from the gym, then I lose most of the 45 minutes I have available for exercise per day.

It is possible, but difficult for sure.

luckyblueeye

I use "Jillian therapy" also

SpclK1106

tigerblue wrote: »

SpclK1106 wrote: »

Hi, I am 45, no toddlers anymore, mine are 6 and 8. Seems like just yesterday that I had toddlers. It gets easier in some ways, but in others, I feel busier because of their activities and helping with homework. I work FT, so there are days that I can't get a workout in until after 8:00 pm, which is tough because I feel like I am ready to drop at that point! Trying my best to get back on the bandwagon and lose the extra 8 I just put on over the holidays, so I am motivated. Gonna get back to doing the 30 day shred too, even though sometimes Jillian annoys me! Anyway, nice to meet you and hang in there! The struggle is real.

Exactly what I was saying! Having small children is a special kind of stress, especially psychologically and emotionally. But I have found that the busy-ness and time crunch is much worse now. For instance, I spent over an hour tutoring my 14 year old last night. (Saves us lots of money if we don't have to hire a tutor, and he struggles with math). And over the next three days I will spend probably 10 hours sitting at their sporting events. Plus go to work and do all the wife/housekeeper/mom things that must be done.

Jillian is a life saver for me. And now I have collected Dumbbells and kettlebells up to 30 lbs so I am creating a home gym and using them for weight lifting. If I have to drive to and from the gym, then I lose most of the 45 minutes I have available for exercise per day.

It is possible, but difficult for sure.

I agree completely. It is tough no matter what their ages are. Each stage seems to have their own challenges. I can't even imagine what it will be like to have teenagers! I used to go to the gym before kids, but agree, I can't afford to lose those minutes to go to the gym now. Plus, with working all day. I just don't want to go out again once I am home. I have workout equipment at home too, and am slowly adding to it little by little. I did one of jillian's 30 day shred workouts today because I didn't get home until 6:30 from work (i get up at 4:30 a.m because i have a very long commute) and after dinner and homework, I figure 20 min is better than nothing! I probably wouldn't do nearly as much with weights if I didn't have her videos to push me.

Off topic, but I just had half a banana with 1 Tbsp Justin's hazelnut butter. Did you ever try that stuff? OMG, I wanted to lick the plate clean...okay, I practically did! LOL

SpclK1106

luckyblueeye wrote: »

I use "Jillian therapy" also

Her workouts kick my butt and I saw results the last time I did it consistently. Plus those 30 day shred workouts are only 20 min, which is perfect when it's a very busy day!