Late 30’s FT job & 2 high maintenance kids, where’s the time?

hugabug325

Weighing more now then 10 months pregnant with both my kids. Looking for help to make the time in the moments between getting home from work, picking up one child from activity, figuring out dinner, helping with homework and getting to bed. Stress eater with a special needs child and a high level athlete! How does one do it and keep it up?

hipari

What’s your current weight and how much you want to lose? What’s your lifestyle like?

Without any extra info, here’s some general ideas and suggestions:
- doing, say, 10 squats while waiting for your kid to get dressed is a lot better than nothing. With 2 kids, surely there are times in your day when you’re just waiting for them to put their shoes on / finish their dinner / whatever.
- how long are the distances, could you walk to pick up your kid and then walk back with them? You’d both get some exercise, fresh air and some quality time together
- meal plan, seriously. I don’t even prep beforehand, but just making a dinner plan for the whole week, putting that in the fridge door and picking up all the groceries at once has helped me sooo much. There’s no ”figuring out” dinner as you put it, I just check the fridge door and start cooking. I make better choices, too, since there’s no ”hmmm, what do I feel like today”. Of course, I plan for some treats as well.
- sounds like work might actually be a calmer environment than home, could you start small by improving your work lunch (no picky kids there, either)?

alyssanavetta

I am a fulltime working mom of 2 kids as well and just recently (within last 2 months) started to really prioritize my eating and exercising. When they say "no excuses" you really have to push aside all excuses. I have made it a goal to wake up at 4:40am 3x/week to exercise during the week and 1 weekend day- some weeks I have only made it 2 mornings during the week - but I have not missed a weekend day in 6 weeks.

I can honestly say the hardest part is getting started. I am starting to enjoy it and look at it as "me time" not focused on anyone else but myself (which is a rarity!).

I meal prep on Sundays to save HOURS of time throughout my week. I always have pre bagged fruit and veggies and nuts easily available. I have a lot of tips on this stuff if interested, Ill be happy to share.

It sucks getting started at first because it really does feel like zero time - but once you have it scheduled and start meeting tiny goals, it will motivate you to make bigger goals. Don't look at big picture ("I want to loose 20 lbs" or whatever) you will get overwhelmed. Instead try " I am going to meal prep and workout 3 times this week" or even start with "I am going to make it through today clean eating"

So here is my advice in nutshell - specifically schedule exercise into your day, meal prep, set tiny attainable goals to reach long term goals.