New mom guilt...

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Hi Ladies,
I am a new mom to a 5 month old boy after TTC for MANY years and have just went back to my full-time desk job. I have a 45 min commute (one-way) to work so I leave the house around 6:45am and don't get home until 6pm. By the time I get home, I am exhausted and then I only have a few hours with my little one before he goes down for the night. How do you ladies find time to exercise?! I was thinking of joining the local gym but that would mean time away from my little one at night...and I don't get that much time with him during the weekdays as it is...oh yeah, and time with the hubby too! LOL Anyone else battling the "mom guilt"? How do I get over it and make myself a priority too?

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  • shrinkinc
    shrinkinc Posts: 74 Member
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    Hi Ladies,
    I am a new mom to a 5 month old boy after TTC for MANY years and have just went back to my full-time desk job. I have a 45 min commute (one-way) to work so I leave the house around 6:45am and don't get home until 6pm. By the time I get home, I am exhausted and then I only have a few hours with my little one before he goes down for the night. How do you ladies find time to exercise?! I was thinking of joining the local gym but that would mean time away from my little one at night...and I don't get that much time with him during the weekdays as it is...oh yeah, and time with the hubby too! LOL Anyone else battling the "mom guilt"? How do I get over it and make myself a priority too?

    It's REALLY REALLY hard. I run every other day right now. I have a treadmill at home. DH watches the kids while I do that? Can you incorporate him into your exercise? Do a work out video while he watches? I think if you google you can find strength training that acutally incorporates the baby.
    We're pretty much home bound right now at night because of winter. But if we have to shovel snow (which I so count as exercise) we'll suit DD up and she'll come out with whoever is shoveling. Once it warms up there will be trips to the playgrounds and on weekends I like to walk for an hour or two (hopefully funning too) so I'll be pushing two kids in a stroller now instead of just one. It wasn't worth it to me to join a gym because 1) I can't commit 2) it's more time away from the home 3) why spend the money when I can do things at home.
    Good luck! It's definitely hard finding a balance. I do call my running time "me" time now.
  • Wende3
    Wende3 Posts: 41
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    I work full time with three kids. I always got up very early and did it before work.
  • whitneyps7
    whitneyps7 Posts: 409 Member
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    baby & me yoga:happy:
  • GinE73
    GinE73 Posts: 68
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    Thanks ladies for the tips!

    @shrinkinc- Yeah, I just need to dust off the workout dvd's, pop one in, and see how little one reacts. I can't wait until the weather warms up so I can go for walks with him too.

    Does shopping with little one in a baby bjorn count as exercise?! LOL
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    If there was any justice in the world, you would burn the 1 million calories it feels like you expend taking care of a little one and you would be as thin as a lathe. No justice.

    I did the Couch to 5k running program because it was 30 minutes three times a week and I could do it either by myself or with my two toddlers in the stroller. They take the BEST naps outside while I run.
  • dbv777
    dbv777 Posts: 6
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    Just saw your post, I was/am the same way! I leave for work at 6:30am, have a 2 hour drive most mornings in traffic, work a 9-10 hour day, drive home 1-1.5 hours and get home around 7. I tried to change my schedule and they wouldn't let me. I had my first baby at age 35 in May (he's going on 10 months now) so I've been doing this schedule since I went back to work mid-August. Its been rough. My husband has a weird rotating schedule so he is home with the baby 2-3 days a week, but that also means when he works he is gone from 5:30am-9pm and works every other weekend so when I am home with the baby I'm usually home by myself. Its been exhausting. And I have the same guilt you do. And the same lack of time/energy for exercising!

    So my advice after having done it for a little while now-

    Work out every Saturday and Sunday morning - I personally put my little one in his jumperoo and I put on a Tae Bo video, he loves to jump around with me and thinks its hilarious, and I count out loud (you know how they count in those workout videos) so he'll hear the numbers etc, he seems to have fun!

    I also have treadmill in our bedroom so I'll sometimes do that on weekends and he'll sit on the bed and play with his toys. So don't know if its in your budget to buy a peice of workout equipment but it may be worth the gym membership to have something at home, our treadmill was about $400 (which I figured would be about 2 years of a gym membership for me and my husband) and maybe some free weights, so that you can spend time with your baby while working out.

    I personally don't work out during the week. I just have no time. But what I do while sitting at my desk is seated leg extensions. I'm only working my quadriceps but I definitely notice a huge difference in my thigh muscles and it burns after a while! I take a post it note and I write down every time I've done one, so that by the end of the day I've done it for 30 minutes total, 15 minutes each leg. What I do is while sitting in my chair I raise one leg off the seat and keep it off the seat for 3 minutes at a time, and kick in and out while holding my leg up for the 3 minutes. Do one leg and then the other. From what I've calculated it burns about 90 calories per 30 minutes, so its better than nothing I figure, and like I said its really toned my quads just in the 6 months I've been doing them, usually about 4 days a week while at work.

    Anyway good luck, I know it sucks! I actually am getting laid off this week (they wanted to transfer me to a different, busier department that would have given me a WORSE commute and I said no thanks so they're laying me off, my last day is tomorrow). And although I'm not thrilled about being unemployed and I'm slightly stressed about the finances, I'm so relieved and happy I'll get to see my baby more!

    If I were you I would see about changing your schedule, reducing your hours, or maybe finding another job?
  • MrsG31
    MrsG31 Posts: 364 Member
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    I also find it very hard to incorporate any sort of exercise into my day. So far all I have been doing is walking during my 2 breaks at work (15 minutes each). And when the weather is nice on the weekends, we'll take the kids for a walk or a nature-hike/walk, but it has been too cold lately. Or raining. This Saturday it is supposed to be very nice, so I am looking forward to taking them on a hike. Granted it is so going with the baby, but at least we are all out together, getting fresh air and exercise.

    I used to be a gym member, when I only had 1 child, for about 8 months. Even that was difficult, but I really enjoyed it. I only went 2 nights a week and sometimes a 3rd night or a Saturday morning. They had childcare, but the classes I was taking ended at 8:45 which is after bed-time, then they changed the hours of the childcare to closed at 8:30...so daddy usually stayed at home with her and we alternated nights. (when really he hardly went at all!) Then around Thanksgiving I had to cancel the membership due to finances.

    I have a couple DVD's but I just have not found the motivation to get up early to do them or to do them after the kids are in bed. Joining a gym now is really not feesible what with laundry, dishes, bath time, homework, and actually getting to see my husband and kids! Plus my youngest is a clingy, needy baby and would scream bloody murder if I tried to drop him off in some new enviorment while I went to a Zumba class or something. He would get used to it eventually....like say 6 weeks, which is how long it took him to stop crying everytime we left him in his Sunday School class at our new church. So.not.worth.it. to to do that to him again at a gym.