Not enough time for exercise?

krystinaarlene

I know this is b.s. I do. I need some help really believing it. I work a full time job, a part time job and I'm about to start going to school full time next work. My days start with waking up at 7 to be at work at 8, and end with finishing work at 10:30, going home to shower and if I'm lucky, spend an hour with my boyfriend. Lately though I have been so tired. that I just crash out at 11. Fitting exercise back into my routine feels impossible and I can only cut so many calories.

I have 40 lbs to lose and have been stuck for far too long. Does anyone out there have any advIce or suggestions?

surfrgrl1

You have a LOT on your plate. All I can suggest is that when you have breaks at work and school, get in some walking. Doesn't have to be a long walk, you can do several short walks and get a good benefit. The key is to keep moving. Exercise helps the mind too, so if you are walking, it will help with your school work and keeping alert at work.

formersec

You can do little things such as parking your car far from the store instead of at the front four or taking the elevator instead of the stairs.

77tes

Some suggsetions, for what they are worth.

1) Get up at six and exercise then -- I know, you need sleep, too, and you probably aren't getting to bed early if you aren't getting home from work before 10:30.:yawn:

2) Do you have some break time at work? I work really long days a couple times a week, but I have a 2-hour window between shifts, so I go for a walk. :ohwell:

Keep your eyes open for opportunities to get moving that fit your schedule. Good Luck!

_Kate_P

even just waking up 15-30 minutes earlier you can get a nice workout in. Check out some videos, there's lots on YouTube if you don't want to spend the money to buy one, and plenty of them are only 15-20 minutes. 20 minutes is better than 0! Throughout the day, get up and walk for 5 minutes just around your office or wherever you work. I take a 5 minute walking break every hour at work and since I work 9-5, it comes out as 40 minutes of walking!

soccermom004

I'm a mom of 4 with a husband and a full time job. While I technically don't have a second job, when I get home I have to get dinner, run kids places and do laundry etc. I get up at 5 and exercise so I can be out the door by 7 and to work by 7:30. I try to be in bed by 10:30 or 11 every night. If I don't exercise before I get going each day it just won't happen. Try the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. It's a great dvd program and is only about 25 minutes from start to finish but is a really great workout.
Good luck!

sandnessmj

You need to reframe your belief that it's impossible to find more time. Ask yourself these questions:

Is it really impossible to find time to exercise, or is it just challenging?
Are other people able to fit time to exercise into their equally busy schedules?
Does believing that it's impossible help your or hurt you in your ultimate goal to lose weight?
What is the cost of this limiting belief that finding time to work out is impossible?
What are the future consequences of this belief if you don't change it?

I highly recommend Tom Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution". It will challenge your current mindset as much as your methods.

Here's a little food for thought:
If you were able to burn 200 calories a day with a short workout and change NOTHING else about your diet, you would lose 20lbs in a year.

krystinaarlene

Thanks everyone! These are all excellent suggestions! I currently do take the stairs whenever possible and since I live on the 4th floor of my building that's a fairly easy one to squeeze in each day at least twice. I am going to try my hardest to find some time at least two times a week, preferably 3 to get a little something in. That will definitely help. Thank you all again!

ninerbuff

A lot of studying involves reading. You CAN read while walking on a treadmill, pedaling a bike or using an elliptical. If you don't have access to a gym, then even just a few pushups and squats (which should take more than 10 minutes for 3 sets of each) are doable if you really want to do them.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

barbarajean3

Do it 10 min at a time if you have to. It works. You will have more energy also. Good luck to you. :flowerforyou:

FitN50s

I also suggest reading Ninerbuff's post on counter motivation. I know that my counter-motivation is getting a half hour extra sleep in the mornings and now I have a plan in place to deal with it. He has a great way of explaining things!

snakesandladders2

You could do some quick Afterburn exercises in the morning or in the evening. They only need to take 15-20 minutes, but because you get your heart rate up so much, and it's so intense, your body spends the next 24 hours burning more energy.

A previous poster suggested YouTube; I agree! Search for "Afterburn workout" and see what you get.

I've done this one before and it really works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkBX5hvzEug

Good luck, you really do have a lot on your plate. Make sure you don't burn out, hon, relaxation time (eg with the boyfriend) is very very important for your well-being too! xxx

xcrushx28

Does your BF not work?

carrie0210

I also have a very long day with little to no time for exercise. I've made a couple of changes that are helping me. I started parking further away from work. Instead of a 2 minute walk to the office from the parking garage, I now park a 10 minute walk away, and also upped the speed I walk in order to make the 10 minutes possible. I get a hour lunch break and try to walk for 30 minutes of it before I eat.

Small efforts can help when you are in a crunch for time. Good luck, I hope you can figure something out to get your "burn" on!

NNSSJSKR

You can also try to take a break once every hour from work/studying and do some quick exercises like jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups, etc. I work retail and I am able to sneak into our backroom and get some exercise in when I go back for a glass of water or to use the rest room. Here are some exercises you can do in an office chair http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blofficeworkout.htm

Before I started working out again, I had no idea how people had the energy to go to the gym. I was always so tired. Working out actually makes you feel better though and gives you more energy. At the moment I just go and do 30-45 min of cardio a day. Once I am back in a routine I will be adding weights.

Jillian Michaels also has some good DVDs for quick workouts at home. 30 Day Shred is a great video for beginners and is only 20-25 minutes long including warmup and cooldown.

firesoforion

Just do a few sets of squats, lunges, push ups or crunches when you have a few minutes free. Those are hard exercises that don't take much time to get you tired or produce results. Sprints can work too (just run or do whatever at your absolute fastest for 30 seconds to a couple minutes, and repeat as many times as you want to/can). Shorter bouts of more intense work can actually be as effective as or more effective than longer stuff, but you sound like you have perfectly valid reasons that exercise is not really possible right now. Those things *will* get you tired, so if you're already tired, it may or may not be good. Other things you can do is just take the stairs, or park farther away (if you can park down a hill, even better! Walking up a hill every day can give you toning and exercise you wouldn't even imagine!).

ahavoc

Are there stairs where you work? A staircase? Buy some small weights and spend 10 minutes climbing the stairs with the weights. Do this on your breaks and at lunch, so 3x = 30 minutes. Start with one or 2 lb weights and 1 to 2 x a day. Screw what everyone else may think at work They're just jealous because you've ruined their excuses.

pratod

all of the workouts on here are 12 minutes or less, and they can be pretty effective.

http://www.bodyrock.tv/

neddoh

I get that you feel like you have no time, I have a course overload at school (120%), two jobs, MOH in an upcoming wedding and a long distance relationship. My advice? Wake up earlier. It sucks, but you get used to it and end up feeling SO energized and great when you start your day with a workout. Also, the Jillian Michaels workout DVDs are awesome because they pack a great workout into 20ish minutes. Hope that helps, and good luck!

snakesandladders2

Hi Krystina,

Just wondering how you were getting on with this problem - have you managed to squeeze some exercise into your day? Hope you're feeling less stressed!

Snakes

Skeemer118

I read this on RunnersWorld.com this morning. Then I promptly got myself to exercising while my 6 month old napped at 7:00 am.



On her drive to work most mornings, Sheri Piers calls her best friend, Kristin Barry, to plan where and when they're going to run that afternoon.

Nothing remarkable about that, except that they'll have already spent most of the early morning together, running between 10 and 20 miles around Portland, Maine, before rushing home to get their kids to the school bus stop.

In the darkness and extreme cold, they've logged their miles and kept a steady conversation going—sometimes through frozen face masks, occasionally over insults yelled by snowplow drivers. The friendship has propelled both to excellence. Piers, 40, is a 2:37 marathoner and the 2011 national masters champion at the distance, and Barry, 38, has a marathon PR of 2:40. Next stop is a warmer climate: the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston. (See our Trials preview, page 60.)

Although Piers and Barry will likely trail the top three winners by several minutes, just lining up at the Trials ranks as a rare accomplishment. To qualify, a woman must run faster than 2:46. In 2008, only 124 women—Piers and Barry among them—finished the event.

"There's no way I would have accomplished what I have training on my own," Piers says. "Kristin feels the same way."

The two do whatever it takes to meet their running goals without disrupting their work and family lives. After the morning run, Piers, who has three children ages 8 to 11, is off to her job as a nurse practitioner. Barry, a nonpracticing attorney with kids 7 and 10 and a husband who's often away on business, is now a high school cross-country coach. They run early on weekends, too, so they can be home in time for family activities.

At first glance, the two aren't likely candidates for best friends. Piers is outgoing, a hugger, and seems to be in a different outfit for every run. Barry is introverted, a reader, and prides herself on her 15-year-old tights. Piers is the natural marathoner who thrives on long runs and tempo workouts; Barry excels at 5-Ks and pounding out repeats on the track. But the counterbalance seems to work.

"I'm more analytical," Barry says. "Sheri's better at dreaming big and not putting limitations on performances."

"Kristin is a friggin' running encyclopedia!" Piers says. "If she says we can run a race in a certain time, we can."

In 2005, they met at a turkey trot, which Barry won. Although Piers was a state champion in high school cross-country and on the track team, at the time she was running only 20 miles a week and finished a minute behind Barry. The two got to talking. Barry encouraged Piers to join the Dirigo Running Club, which helped Piers get motivated to train harder. By that fall, she dipped under 3:00 in the marathon for the first time.

At the 2007 Philadelphia Marathon, they ran side by side from the start, holding hands as they finished in 2:45:37, good for a 2008 Olympic Trials qualifier. In the years since, they've increased their training to 120 miles per week.

They lean on each other for more than mileage. When Piers was going through a divorce in 2009, "it was nice to know I had Kristin to confide in." Piers comforted Barry through a knee injury in 2010.

If you had asked them a year ago how much longer they planned to keep balancing high-level running with the rest of their lives, they would have said the 2012 Trials would be their swan song. Now they're not so sure.

"I feel like we've been saying 'one more year' for forever," Barry says. She looks at Piers, shrugs, and the two laugh.

Adds Piers, "It blows my mind that we never run out of anything to say, even after all those miles."

Chantal34

I'm only able to go to the gym twice a week, 3 times if I'm lucky. I get the rest of my exercise in by taking the stairs at work. I've also turned my cubicle at work into a mini gym, lol. Between calls I do repetitions with 2 8lb weights and also a resistance band. Sometimes I'll wear ankle weights to school and work. I've decided if I can't find a way, I'm gonna make one!

Chantal34

I've just decided that I'm going to get up at 4:30 tomorrow to get to gym for my workout. That'll give me 3 gym days.