How to start?

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Hi,

I'm 39. I have a 3 year old & a 4 month old and I now weigh 227 after baby #2. I need help on where and how to start... I already only sleep 6 hrs a night and I have no clue where to fit in exercise b/c I cannot go down to 5 hrs of sleep or I will be too tired to handle work and motherhood. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • momxs2
    momxs2 Posts: 173 Member
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    I too work full time and am mom of 2. If you are completely new to MFP I recommend starting with logging your food consistently. I hear you about not having time to workout!! I wake at 4:45 am just to squeeze it in.

    You can friend me for motivation!
  • kfordcarolina1
    kfordcarolina1 Posts: 2 Member
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    I also am am mom of 2, but a bit older 16 and 13. Finally time for me to lose that Baby weight 2!! Need to get healthy and be a good role model for my teens who are athletes but eat horribly. They can now but... will look like me when they can't excercise all that junk off!
  • genkimomof2
    genkimomof2 Posts: 50 Member
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    I agree that logging your food is a good place to start. But if you are breastfeeding, you might want to hold off any real dieting because it might really mess with your milk supply. Also, if you dump a lot of fat while breastfeeding, you will also be dumping heavy metals (and other toxins stored in fat cells) into the milk, so it's wise to take it very slow while BFing. Also if you are BFing, you are burning off lots of calories every time you cuddle your baby, so that's a huge bonus!

    If you are not breastfeeding, try restricting your calorie intake a bit at a time. I assume baby is not sleeping through the night yet, so you need every minute of sleep you can get, so exercise might be hard.

    If you do want to exercise, carry your LO when you go for walks. Your LO will love it, will sleep better, and you burn more calories when you are carrying an infant! It's like those people who strap weights to their ankles for extra resistance.

    If you haven't had a C, you can probably do crunches by holding your baby and sitting up and going down. Baby will love the attention and game and your abs will get a good workout. If you have an exercise ball, use it to bounce semi-vigorously with baby in arms. Your LO will love the bouncing and you will tone your muscles.

    Dance with baby in arms. he'll love the music and dancing and you'll get a good workout. Your 3 year old will love dancing with you too!

    While feeding baby, you can strap weights to your ankles and do leg lifts. Do this on the exercise ball for extra core training. If you google, you can find lots more exercises to do with an infant that will keep him smiling and entertained and keep you fit.

    Running after a three year old sounds like plenty of exercise to me though! Don't stress....this is a tough time in your life when your babies are still very small. I waited until my daughter was a year old before I decided to get serious about weight loss. Your body is still recovering from childbirth and with two in the house, you are probably pretty tired. Make sure you get enough sleep....you don't eat when you are sleeping, so you will consume fewer calories as a bonus!
  • ramolivarez
    ramolivarez Posts: 4 Member
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    Hi!

    I'm 38 y.o. working mom with 3 boys - 13,11,&5 - I have been on MFP for about 4 weeks now, I have squeezed in exercise mostly on the weekends and not too much during the week due to dinner, homework time, baths and all that great kid stuff.

    I find that logging your food for the first 2-3 weeks give your body time to adjust to the shock of reducing calories, before adding in the workouts. I don't know about you, but working out makes me hungrier which can lead to total diet sabotage.

    Anyway, I'm glad to have found this group and hope to get some good ideas and feedback from other working moms.

    Good Luck Everyone! Does this group have a weekly weigh in?
  • Mamakatspokane
    Mamakatspokane Posts: 3,098 Member
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    HI
    Is this group still active? Looking for a motivating group with similiar struggles. My kids are 8 & 6 1/2 and when they were little there was no time, then when they were a little older they went to bed at 7:00-7:30 and it worked great....now we have sports, homework, school meetings and my son doesn't go to bed till 8:30....And like you other working mom's the thought of getting up at 5am or earlier doesn't thrill me either!!!!!
  • kfordcarolina1
    kfordcarolina1 Posts: 2 Member
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    Im here and check periodically. Friend me if you would like and we can motivate each other!! :smile: My kiddos a little older but I have been there and understand. AND there is always new challenges to deal with!!