Finding the TIME to Exercise??

You don't find time, you make time.

What are your goals? Simple weight loss? Body composition? ???

I walk (fast) around the parking lot during my breaks at work. It may not be much but it's better than nothing. I started out walking for 3 minutes at a time because it's been a long time since I got any kind of exercise so I had to start out slow. I just got back in from my break and I walked 10 minutes this time. Yay!! Anything to get your heart rate up. Hang in there. A friend of mine tells me to take 1 hour a day for myself. We are worth it!

I don't find it, I make it.

Simple.

Plenty of moms doing this. Read their stories.

ALL SUCCESSFUL ladies ---> http://www.venusindex.com/transformation-contest/

Many are young moms. This is an excellent women's workout, all body, designed to make you look good and be strong, its different every day. Just 1 hour for 3 days a week. Some break it up. Check out what it did for those ladies and you can even listen to their interviews and see how they fit it in.

At lot members here wake up 30-60 min early to fit in a workout. If you can get up easily, I'd suggest that.

There's a program called 10-Minute Trainer by Tony Horton (the guy who created P90X). It's an at home Total Body workout that u can complete in 10-12 minutes. I can answer questions if u have any.

I am in the same boat as you as far as finding time to exercise. Everyone says "make time", but that can be VERY difficult to do. Especially with small children and working two jobs. I walk during my lunch hour. I put my iPod on and go. There have been a lot of days where I've just had to walk out on phones ringing, etc., but it's worth it. It only takes me a few minutes to actually eat, and the rest of the time I spend walking.

Good luck! I hope you find something that works for you, your family, and your schedule. If you're like me, your children are your FIRST priority. That's just part of being a mom. If you can take them out and get them active with you, play a family game of kickball or something. Have a walking "race" around the park, your block, or the local high school football field.

(((HUGS)))

I have 2 young kids (4 and 10 months) and my husband works away tues morning to thurs evening each week. I also work 3 days a week. I used to say I had no time to exercise but I was just making excuses cos I was too tired or felt I had too much else to do. I made time. Firstly I hired a cleaner so I didn't spend a few hours at weekends and during the week cleaning my house or moaning that I should clean my house or half heartedly wasting time cleaning bits of my house. £20 a week and that's one less thing for me to do and money well spent - instead of a gym membership that I wouldn't have found time to use. Secondly I signed up for a 10k run and believe me when I say I couldn't run the length of myself. Now I am up to running 10k twice a week and another run or two in between. A lot of us are doing the run for charity so twice a week I can usually find someone to run with which makes it easier. As soon as hubby gets home on a thurs evening I am away out the door running. I used to think I couldn't exercise then cos I was tired and only saw him from 7-9pm before going to bed. The run energises me so I stay up til 10 and he has the kids in bed while I have an hour or so pounding the streets free from hassle - bonus! I also run Mon evening when he is home. Those are my two definite times each week and I do at least 2 other sessions. I tried the 30 day shred and other dvds but only did them half hearetdly in the evenings so felt there was no point.

I am a working mom too. I have two in college and two at home (ages 13 and 8). I work full-time, go to school part-time, and have kids in dance 4 nights a week and on Sundays. My 13 year old takes 5 different dance classes plus has solos and a duet that she is taking to competitions this winter and my 8 year old has 2 classes per week. We spend approximately 17-1/2 hours a week at dance <sigh>....And to top that off, my husband is deployed in Kuwait right now so things are pretty hectic at my house. I felt, as you do, that there just isn't any time to exercise when I am running 50 different directions every day. I have found as one of the other posters mentioned, that working out in the morning before everyone gets up to be my only option if I want to get fit again. I get up at 5am and workout for an hour and then start waking up the kids and getting my day started. I have to be at work at 7:30 in the morning and work until 4:30, then our first dance class starts at 5pm. I guess it just boils down to making a choice of losing an extra hour of sleep or not. It sure isn't easy, but I am hoping that the sacrifice will be worth it in the end when I am back to feeling good about myself :-D Good luck to you!!

I've got a few suggestions:

A.) Get a Fitbit. It's a pedometer that tracks your steps throughout the day. Just having that information will empower you to walk more. You can also link it up with MyFitnessPal and see your calories burned vs. your calorie intake right there at your fingertips. In it's pure basic form, calories going in vs. calories going out is what you want to be mindful of. You don't need a gym to monitor that, and make subtle (but huge over time) changes with the data you've collected with the Fitbit and MyFitnessPal.

B.) If you want to find more time... systematically look at where you're spending your time and determine if what you're doing adds value to the crux of your day. Most people spend 80+% of their day doing things that don't matter for the big picture. So many people that have no time can have lengthy conversations about the many many TV shows they watch. In hindsight, do you care what was on TV sitcoms 5-years ago? Nope. Do you wish you have been going to the gym for 5-years now. Yes. Now, I'm just using TV as an example, maybe you don't watch TV, but you get my point.

C.) The power of making it a routine. I've seen a few comments where people say they don't find time, they make time. What they are really saying is, they have made going to the gym a routine in their lives. Do you find time to watch TV? No, it's a routine... oops, I'm back on TV again. Let's think about a different routine that everyone does in the morning. Most people spend 45-minutes to an hour getting ready in the morning. Getting ready = shower, brushing teeth, combing hair, doing makeup, getting dressed (I'm sure most women try on like 4 different outfits in the morning). Taking a shower, brushing our teeth, getting dressed are things we've been doing our entire lives, so we don't think of these things as tedious because they are engrained in our routine. We don't think twice about spending an hour every single morning doing this. That's the power of a routine. Make the gym a daily or weekly routine and you're not finding time for it, you just do it.

You don't find time, you make time.

I am stealing this quote...Best answer to the OP question even without reading any further.

I have been in your shoes! When I joined MFP I was working full time, drove an hour each way to work, volunteered 3 nights a week, plus had a 4 year old and husband to deal with I started slow (and it proved to be enough) working out 2 to 3 days a week for 30-45 minutes. If you ever sit and watch a half hour show on TV, the you have a half hour to exercise. Not that I never watch TV now (honestly I watch it a lot more b/c I am sidelined from exercise due to health issues AND not working right now), but I find that there is nothing that I feel like I HAVE to watch, I just want to do things that are beneficial to me and my family now!