I'm too busy to exercise.

I've been in the "I'm too busy to exercise" frame of mind for a few years. Here are the excuses I've used: I stay home with my 3 year old during the day and I work from home 7pm-11pm. We have a free gym in our neighborhood but it's only open from 6am to 10pm. I can't go at night b/c it's closed when I'm off work and I'm too tired to get up at 6am, plus it's dark and there's no one else up there so I don't feel safe. I can't go during the day b/c there's no one to watch my little and I can't take her up there with me. I can't go to a "real" gym where they have drop off's for kids b/c I don't have a car. I can't work out at home b/c my daughter wants to work out with me and I'll trip over her or accidentally hit her with a weight or something. I can't work out at home while she's napping b/c I have to take advantage of that time to do laundry, dishes, talk on the phone without interruptions, you name it. Plus my house is too small for a bunch of equipment.

I'm sure I've come up with many more reasons why I'm too busy or it just won't work but it's mostly just me making excuses for being lazy, tired and out of shape. So I bought stair machine (it's SOMETHING, at least), started doing that, bought some videos, started doing those, dug out my jump rope and weights, and I got yoga mats for myself AND my little so we have "safe" areas and we won't get in eachother's way. It's awesome because if I haven't started doing something by around 9:30, she says "mama, we have to exercise and be healthy!" She's not all weird or scarred by it or anything - she thinks it's fun, but eventually she'll really get what it means and it'll be apart of who she is. Hopefully she'll always want to do it. And when I get tired and stop while the video is still going, she yells "mama, you can do it, keep going!" and I laugh and get my butt in gear. She's the best personal trainer and she's free! Haha. I can do more and I try to do more everyday. DH's car will be paid off next month and I'll have a new car shortly after and will start going to the "real" gym. In the meantime, I'm constantly reminding myself that I have time and I have to do this.

I agree with the OP. even in really difficult circumstances, you can always go for a walk. If you can't, you can always do some rounds of situps, pushups, and Burpees. As long as you are physically able, the only thing stopping you is you. You can do situps and pushups in a hospital room, you can do them anywhere. If you're visiting with someone, you can get up a little early and busting a quick 20-minute workout. You can run in place. You can jump rope. There are so many things that you can do without having to even leave home. You don't need a gym. Saying you do not have time is really just deciding you don't want it bad enough.

I will agree that there are some life circumstances where you'll put things on hold for a while. It happens sometimes. But, most of the people that tell me they don't have time, really do. They just don't want to make the time.

I'm weird in that really bad crisis such as death in the family or horrible tragic life circumstances pushes me further into working out...probably because I'm trying to relieve the stress. I've experienced a few of those situations, and I don't know if I'm lucky or not, but most people pull back, and I get more out there and do it. So, I'm just weird, and lucky?

I've been in the "I'm too busy to exercise" frame of mind for a few years. Here are the excuses I've used: I stay home with my 3 year old during the day and I work from home 7pm-11pm. We have a free gym in our neighborhood but it's only open from 6am to 10pm. I can't go at night b/c it's closed when I'm off work and I'm too tired to get up at 6am, plus it's dark and there's no one else up there so I don't feel safe. I can't go during the day b/c there's no one to watch my little and I can't take her up there with me. I can't go to a "real" gym where they have drop off's for kids b/c I don't have a car. I can't work out at home b/c my daughter wants to work out with me and I'll trip over her or accidentally hit her with a weight or something. I can't work out at home while she's napping b/c I have to take advantage of that time to do laundry, dishes, talk on the phone without interruptions, you name it. Plus my house is too small for a bunch of equipment.

I'm sure I've come up with many more reasons why I'm too busy or it just won't work but it's mostly just me making excuses for being lazy, tired and out of shape. So I bought stair machine (it's SOMETHING, at least), started doing that, bought some videos, started doing those, dug out my jump rope and weights, and I got yoga mats for myself AND my little so we have "safe" areas and we won't get in eachother's way. It's awesome because if I haven't started doing something by around 9:30, she says "mama, we have to exercise and be healthy!" She's not all weird or scarred by it or anything - she thinks it's fun, but eventually she'll really get what it means and it'll be apart of who she is. Hopefully she'll always want to do it. And when I get tired and stop while the video is still going, she yells "mama, you can do it, keep going!" and I laugh and get my butt in gear. She's the best personal trainer and she's free! Haha. I can do more and I try to do more everyday. DH's car will be paid off next month and I'll have a new car shortly after and will start going to the "real" gym. In the meantime, I'm constantly reminding myself that I have time and I have to do this.

Your little girl sounds like a cutie. It's great to have some motivational support. I believe that your life change is an inspiration Keep it up!

I totally agree with op. You want it bad enough, you will get it!!!! I get up 40 minutes earlier than I have to just to get a workout in. Doing this, I managed to get the 30 something pounds of unwanted weight off in about six months. I am a mother/wife, CNA, and a student and still find time to take care of the only body that I will ever have!

Some people might not want to hear this.....Think I'm being mean or negative. Not at all. We as a society are really good at making excuses and not so good at making changes. It is work.....you have to make changes or else you wouldn't have gotten overweight in the first place.

oh if only it took was exercising to lose weight. if it did i wouldnt be 80 pounds overweight , considering that i continued to exercise (weightlifting, running 5 and 10ks, capoeira, kickboxing, boxing, biking etc) all the while i gained weight because i ate too much.

unfortunately you can't out exercise a bad diet even though many people think they can.

People say they can't _______(fill in the blank) because they're too busy, their plate is too full. NOO..its not! You just need a bigger plate!!

I think this is a bit like someone saying "it is so easy". I am taking 18 credits a quarter (time and a half) so I'm doing 8-12 hours of school work every day (even weekends, no exceptions). I'm still recovering from foot surgery that makes nearly all exerciser a no go on days when it is very swollen and painful. I also have stage 4 endometriosis. Some days I'm in so much pain it hurts to breathe. I can't work out every day. I think a better message is to keep trying. I'm not a lazy or unmotivated person, but my life has limits and challenges. What is important is that I don't give up on wanting to exercise as often as I can. I have had to prioritize exercise higher in the list just so that there is any bandwidth for it at all, but the trade off is lower grades and more fatigue and physical pain. There are days when I have so much to do that I'm making trade offs between eating and being able to shower or wash clothing, so don't say it's not possible to not have time. Say it is possible to make the best of the time you have.

Saying you dont have time to exercise is grown up version of the dog ate my homework !

Meh, get moving, the other thing that pees me off is people who say your so lucky your naturally thin, bugger off I work bloody hard at it ! Grr

I get up early and work out before work and school, my kids ride their bikes when i do my runs and come with me (6 &8 & they love it), i do utube work outs etc - i love to exercise, no time for tv though lol

Watch TV? Exercise Instead

or get a treadmill, exercise bike or similar and work out while watching TV

Also, it doesn't have to be "formal" exercise at the gym, anything that makes you move more is good, e.g.running for the bus, taking the stairs instead of the lift (and when you start to get fit, running up stairs two at a time), carrying shopping bags home instead of using a car/bus/taxi, playing active games with the kids, etc.

Good post Jac. I pretty much agree with it all.

I was working full time, school full time, four kids with activities that required rides all the time, etc. Some of the schooling was online classes, so when I watched the lectures I would lift or do some type of exercise while watching. Luckily for me, I was able to use some of my time during work to do homework and stuff. Yeah, some days it was very hard to fit in some type workout, but most days I did. I graduated last November, and now it feels like I have more time than I know what to do with.

I'm a manager of a team of 40 people on an IT service desk, servicing 33 clients.

And yes, being out of the house for 152 hours a fortnight for work alone, I still fit in the gym 1+ hr, 5 times a week.

Damn..... you have a team of 40 servicing 33....... those must be some high maintenance clients...I would kill for ratios like that. On my team ( not help desk) we have 8 people supporting >500.

33 clients could mean 50,000 ppl.

To be honest, I hate people who put forth this attitude on the internet. Not because they aren't right, but because of the way they present their message.

Life circumstances can make changes difficult. But telling people "You just don't want it enough to do the work so you're making excuses, might as well give up now because you are going to fail..." might actually make them give up! And if I hadn't listened to people who told me I just wasn't strong enough and didn't want it bad enough and decided they were right, I would not have spent the majority of my adult life overweight.

Instead of focusing on how someone isn't good enough because they can't do everything that you think they should or everything they think they need to do... I prefer to focus on what CAN be done. Small change is still better and more effective than no change at all, and it's momentum-building. So you don't have time to exercise? You can still lose fat by eating fewer calories. Maybe you think you must exercise in a gym? Can you find something you can do at home? That would cut out transport time. Or maybe you think you need to exercise every day? You can still see a change if you can find two half hour periods a week.

No need to give up completely. Change what you can, accept the things you cannot change for now. If you don't give yourself freedom to not be perfect it will never work for you because you'll spend all your time whining about how you aren't good enough.

I completely understand what you are saying....but let's agree to disagree. Here's why........I'll break it down part by part:

Life circumstances can make changes difficult. But telling people "You just don't want it enough to do the work so you're making excuses, might as well give up now because you are going to fail..." might actually make them give up! And if I hadn't listened to people who told me I just wasn't strong enough and didn't want it bad enough and decided they were right, I would not have spent the majority of my adult life overweight.

If you have spent the majority of your adult life overweight then they (and I) are right. You don't want it enough (yet). This is not to say you never will............but for now you don't and it's not a priority. I'm not telling people to give up.......but if you want to see big results you have to make big changes. You can't get upset with the results you don't get because of the work you didn't put in. Now maybe you are different but I have repeatedly heard where people "try" for a couple months.......don't see enough of a change.......and quit.

Instead of focusing on how someone isn't good enough because they can't do everything that you think they should or everything they think they need to do... I prefer to focus on what CAN be done. Small change is still better and more effective than no change at all, and it's momentum-building. So you don't have time to exercise? You can still lose fat by eating fewer calories. Maybe you think you must exercise in a gym? Can you find something you can do at home? That would cut out transport time. Or maybe you think you need to exercise every day? You can still see a change if you can find two half hour periods a week.

Never once did I say anyone wasn't good enough. I did not list multiple things they "have" to do. All I said was if they WANT to work out.........they have time to work out. Saying "I would work out but I just don't have the time" is not enough. Anyone who says that is setting themselves up to fail. You can lose fat by eating fewer calories. You can also lose more lean mass that way. The best wait to retain lean mass is to eat at a moderate deficit and incorporate strength and cardiovascular training. That said I never said anything about a gym.......I also never said what I consider exercise.....you determined that all on your own. If you eat the same and work out for 1hr/ week you will see very minimal if any change.

No need to give up completely. Change what you can, accept the things you cannot change for now. If you don't give yourself freedom to not be perfect it will never work for you because you'll spend all your time whining about how you aren't good enough.

Or you could make some changes......I'm not talking about a ton.....I'm talking about eating better and working out 3-5 times per week. Instead of whining about how you "aren't good" maybe you actually start feeling better about yourself because you realize not only are you good......you are GREAT! Nobody can be perfect.......but we can all strive to be the best we can be whatever that is. I still believe a lot of people (not saying you in particular) try to see how little they can do to make changes.......why not instead find out what you can do. what you are capable of? Instead of looking at the negative and seeing it as me saying people aren't good enough, how about looking at it as I am trying to help people empower themselves.....I do think they are good enough....they are the ones doubting themselves.....I want them to believe in themselves.....they can do it if they put their mind to it.

We are saying the same thing but you keep putting the blame back in.

As someone who has also suffered from major depression my entire life, I can't have people telling me what I can't do. My whole life is me struggling to accept that I'm NOT a grotesque disgusting freak who has every single wrong instinct and blaming myself for every single bad thing that happens in my life even when I didn't see it coming and could have done nothing to prevent it, such as getting laid off from a job because the local economy went down the tubes and the company had no customers.

I will literally try to do something, then fail one time and then every time I think about that thing, I will think "I shouldn't try to do that, remember what happened last time? I suck. I suck at everything, and being fat is just another reason I suck and no one loves me and now I'm making a list of people in my head who I know get no exercise and eat pizza for every meal and who are thinner than me, and there's something wrong with me that I have to put forth effort to be thin and I really should just stay inside where it's safe and no one will laugh at me and not try another thing I'll just fail at."

Or, see, I can not set myself up to fail by blaming myself for not doing everything at once. I can say "I am going to log my calories every day for a week." Then one week turns into three, and I feel like I accomplished something, this isn't really so hard, maybe I will look into trying out some simple lifting and bodyweight exercises, I can probably devote 20 min every other day to that."

What I'm trying to say is that if you suffer from low self esteem, depression, etc. (and a lot of very overweight people do because being fat can give you low self esteem and many drugs for depression and other mental disorders that include depression can cause weight gain as a side effect.) negative reinforcement does not work. I agree 100% with your last paragraph... make SOME changes. But rome wasn't built in a day and most of the people on this site agree that it took a long time to get the fat on, and it's not going to come off overnight. You would probably also agree that you need to be able to stick to whatever your changes are in order to achieve anything, right? So if you do one thing differently, say eat within a certain target goal, and then once you have that down, do another thing differently, and then once you have that down change something else... it becomes more sustainable.

What I disagree with is you telling people that wanting something is enough, and that if they TRULY want something, they will magically be able to change their entire life overnight through sheer force of WANTING. If wanting something really bad and being willing to work very hard for it was enough, children in the middle east would all have food, people wouldn't pay their life's savings for in vitro and still not get pregnant, and every kid who was on his high school football team would be in the NFL.

I am saying that if you want to succeed, you need to give yourself permission to not be perfect and not constantly worry that you don't want it enough because you aren't perfect. Some progress is always better than no progress at all.