24 lbs overweight - ft working mom of 2 under 3

bcdg24

I am a Full-Time, married, working mother of a 2.5-year-old and 8-month-old. I work in the natural gas industry, and am a homeowner and have a couple pet bunnies. My husband and I decided to finally start eating right and exercising on Monday. As far as we are concerned, this is a lifestyle change, not a temporary diet.
My challenges to even starting these lifestyle changes include an addicted sweet tooth and lack of any spare time for exercising. I'm finding my way around both of these.
For instance, we have digital cable, and there are many fitness tv on demand workout videos available for free. Last night my two-year-old and i walked to the Family Walk video by Leslie Sansone for 15 minutes (the first mile).
I have reasons for dropping weight besides just looking better; on my side of the family, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancers, high blood pressure, back problems (partially due to being overweight), and obesity run rampant. Cancer seems to be the only known issue on my husband's side, but I think that's due to the fact that most of his distant family members eat or grew up on farm-raised, homemade carribean foods. Both his mother and father are overweight, but still young (early middle aged) and so dont seem to have much health problems yet. Either way, my babies are chunky, and while I dont think my 2-year-old is overwieght in a bad way, I do realize that we need to change his diet to exclude juices and sweets and include veggies and less-processed foods more. He is the size of a 4-year-old in weight and height. He goes to day care 3 days a week and has a 40-minute once-per-week kiddie soccer class. We try to fit playing at the park or going for a walk in on the weekends, but I realize I need to get him involved in a 30-minute play workout every day (it's probably best before we begin the bedtime winddown so it can tire him out).
How do you working moms or SAHM with several young children find time to work out? How are you able to implement a diet change with picky eaters or those who hate all vegetables? What do you do to overcome your most stubborn negative thoughts, and what are they?

LittleWub

Hello! I'm a mum too, i've added you as a friend.

joanndixon

hello, im a mum too i have a 6 yr old 2.5 yr old like you and an 11 month old baby, i think you just have to have realistic expectations of your self. If you know you are not going to have time to work out try leaving the house in the morning and walk to work if you drive and its not too far away or get off the bus stop one stop earlier play football on your garden with your children set aside a little time or you could even take your child to a soft play gym area which you could both go round together.
Exercise doesn't have to be a workout at the gym so don't beat yourself up cos you cant do a workout i know a lot of people say it but those little things really help.
With meals i'll give my children food they really enjoy but introduce one different veg most of the time if works or maybe you could try making spag bol and put all your different veg in there he may not even notice and i find sitting down to eat together so he can see what your eating helps my boys too, i hope this helps you a little and after a while you start to feel alot better about it.
I'd love to know how you get on

bcdg24

Thanks Joann!
Yesterday I ran on the treadmill at work for a mile, and last night my 2-year-old and I danced to kiddie music videos for 30 minutes. I'm doing what i can to fit it in here and there. I'm really trying to stay committed but at the end of the day i feel it all comes down to my own will power, and by setting myself up for success by making sure i'm full by eating good foods so i'm not left hungry and gorging on the wrong foods.

How do you control your diet?

joanndixon

i've just started to drink a lot more water so that has helped me but i try to have 3 decent sized meals containg mostly veg except breakfast i have cereal or toast, then if im hungry i do try and have fruit or some mixed fruit and nuts, but some times i do just go for junk, chocolate is my downfall so now i try not to buy the junk when i go shopping if its not in the house i cant eat it. when i go to work i work evenings so i leave my purse at home and take my own dinner then i also know i wont be tempted to spend on junk food when i've had a hard shift im also a comfort eater too. I think most of it is reconising how you can improve your diet and reconising your bad habits and just working at it one step at a time.

bcdg24

I've been drinking a ton of water every day this week too! I had one swallow of o.j. last night, and i've had a couple of Fuze slenderize juices (they are free at my job), but other than that, just water, water, and more water.

I definitely agree that chocolate is my downfall. As I said, I think my strategy is to stay full on good foods so I dont want to eat junk foods, and after this first full work week of eating right, i need to make sure my family stays full / has access to good foods so they dont want junk foods also. You know the saying "nature abhors a vacuum"? You can't just cut something out of your life; you will leave an empty space that wants to be filled. If you want to cut something bad out of your life, you must replace it with something good.

Monday evening I went through our kitchen (fridge, pantry, freezer, etc) and I gathered up all the processed/junk foods. I threw away those that were half-eaten, and the rest I took to my job (I work in a place where we get amazing snacks, people are always sharing food, and it's easy to get rid of food you dont want at home by bringing it to the kitchen at work). I have noticed my 2-year-old son asking for cookies and donuts at home often and I think he has gone through some withdrawals himself this week. I have only bought whole wheat breads/tortillas, fresh fruit and vegetables, and staples like veggie-fed-hen eggs, skim milk, o.j. as our only non-water drink. So even if we are hungry, we dont have "bad food" to eat at home, now.
I noticed that this was maybe too drastic a change for my family. Eating isn't bad; eating the wrong things is bad.

So yesterday evening I bought unsalted nuts for snacking (instead of the cheese-its, saltine crackers, chocolate chip cookies, and starburst candy we used to have) and i bought supplies to make a "healthy" peanut butter chocolate chip cookie (it has whole wheat flour, chopped walnuts, and rolled oats in it, along with all-natural peanut butter and some chocolate chips). In the process, I learned of a great snack to add to our list that we will like that also happens to be great for us: sunflower seed kernels are an EXCELLENT snack food - less fat per serving than peanuts or walnuts and more than half of what your body needs in Vitamin E. I think having food to snack on and something that's sweet besides fruit will help us cheat without totally going back to our old ways. at least that's my hope!!!

By the way, Joann, I think it's very smart of you to bring your own dinner to work and leave your wallet at home!