Where do you put your children so you can workout?

JeanMachine41

Holy crap. You asked for advice on working out and you got 6 pages of advice on parenting. I am a parent of a 3 and 5 year old so I will refrain from telling you how to parent your children. Instead I will actually try to answer your question. What you need are short focused, interval workouts - probably chopped up due to your schedule. I am currently using the workouts in the Women's Health Big Book of Fitness and the diet plan to lose 20 pounds. There are a lot of choices for the exercises. You are mainly standing up so no one is crawling on you and all you need is a mat and a pair of weights (I use 15 lbs). You do 5 sets of exercises, 3 sets each for a total of 15. Each is a minute so its about 20 minutes for the whole thing. I just do it right in the middle of the craziness. I do put on a video but as my youngest doesnt want TV, he just plays. Even f I stop a little longer between exercises, it still is the plan. Then you are supposed to do intervals in cardio. I take the kids and the dog and we walk a bit and then race 20 feet to the next parked car, and repeat. I was never into the stronger running thing but a lot of people do well with it. What is important to remember is that you just need a routine and it can be short, as long as you are doing something. I would NOT get up earlier than my kids. Good grief, it goes fast and you need your sleep. My kids now are up before I get up and just being quiet and playing with each other. Don't rush it with a baby. Just enjoy your baby. I do remember the diet though, on a side note.

gettingmeback2013

I agree, the "advice" on how to parent your kids were ALL uncalled for, for sure. If you wanted parenting advice, you'd probably be on How Do I Parent.com or something. LOL While I used to be the judgmental A-hole, once I became a parent, I realized no one knows their kids better than their mom. You know your kids better than anyone on this planet, and you know what works for them. So if a response doesn't have anything to do with your question from now on? Skip it and go to one that gives suggestions for what you were WANTING to know. For some reason in today's society, everyone thinks they have a RIGHT to open to mouths to people they know and don't know alike about how they parent. It's ridiculous. I mean, when it happens to me, I just want to scream "Who ARE you? And WHY are you even talking to me about this???"

Anyhoo, I know your original question was how do you get ALONE exercising time. But let's be honest, sometimes that just isn't possible - especially with your schedule. So maybe finding the best way to exercise with your kids around is the best way to go if you truly want to do this. If you want it, you'll make it happen..kids in tow or not.

danasings

Well, OP, I certainly wasn't trying to be a judgmental a**hole by suggesting you try to get your kids to sleep more (therefore getting more sleep yourself). I just remember being so tired that I could barely function when my boys were babies (they are 19 months apart in age).

It wasn't until my little one was almost a year old that I finally got myself together enough to begin losing weight, and most of my exercise back then was pushing them around in a double stroller. I also worked out in my kitchen with a baby gate up while they played/watched a DVD in the living room. Close enough that I could see/hear them, but far away enough to allow me to work out unencumbered. Also, I ALWAYS had to put the youngest down for a nap during workout time back then (and still really can't work out while he is present).

Exhaustion can make everything feel impossible, especially exercise. Anyway, I hope you found some suggestions you can use, and I wish you the best of luck. :flowerforyou:

Sharon_C

even if your kids don't do naps, instill a "Quiet Time" every afternoon, from noon to 1 or 1:30, where they have to stay in their rooms, reading, doing puzzles, laying down, or playing a quiet game. Tell them they don't HAVE to sleep, but they DO have to be quiet and not leave the room until Quiet Time is over. There you go. Designated You time every day.

This is what I did with my kids when they didn't want to take a nap. I'd tell them they didn't have to sleep but they had to stay in their room and do something quietly. Nine times out of ten they would fall asleep. As for the 1 year old, I would put him in his crib for that amount of time. It won't harm him to have a little alone time.

If that doesn't work then there is the old stand by--the TV. At least for the 3 yo that would work.

ETA this is by no means parenting advice. This was meant as advice to help you find some alone time to exercise. Its none of my business if your kids take naps or not. Although I do feel for you because nap time was always my favorite time of the day.

Ninkyou

Strap them into the stroller and go for a walk on those trails you mentioned. When they're strapped in, you don't have to dawdle and stop. Just keep going. If the 3 year old or whatever wants to see some flower or animal, just say "Maybe on another day we'll have time for that, but today we are here to exercise, not look at XXX". I tell my 5 year old this all the time. "We're not here to pick flowers, we're here to ride bikes" or something to that effect.

I also am a member of the YMCA and use their drop-in babysitting. The Y offers financial assistance, so don't count yourself out for a membership. You don't have to pay for the kids, btw. Just for you (or hubby if he wants a membership). You only pay for the kids if you put them in one of their classes or sign them up for their Giant Steps Preschool program (which is fantastic, btw. It ended up being cheaper to put my daughter in Giant Steps than a regular preschool). So you can just have a single person membership and still put your kids in the daycare.

And yeah... baby gate the whole house if you have to. It works really well. When my daughter was little, I blocked her off into one room so she wouldn't be all up in the kitchen and on the stairs, etc. It was a great setup, and it allowed me to at least cook without worrying if she was too close to the oven/stove or getting into pots/pans.