Working Moms
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Its hard, I work part-time, do a college course part-time and have a hubby who works shifts, but what I find works best for me is to do my workout as soon as I get home from work. I put the tv on in one room for the kids then go in the dining room and use my computer to play my workout. I can't do this everyday but I try to aim for 2-3 times a week. I also swim on one of my days off while my little girl is in nursery. As for food, I buy a lot of frozen veg and that way it saves on prep time and I always have it in ready to use. It's better than having fresh veg wasting away in your fridge cos you're short on time x0
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I had a hard time adding it to my schedule also. My kids are older, but I had to sacrifce my mornings...AND let me be clear I'M NOT A MORNING PERSON! I work from 10:30 -7pm & school 2-3 nights a week from 6-10pm - so to make up the hours that i leave early, i go in earlier to work. ANYWHO! I wake up anywhere from 6:30 to 7pm to get a workout in from 30-60 mins, shower & then usually cook the family dinner (Popping dinner in the oven to cook, while i workout) & tidy up. before work - to include assigning everyone else the task needed around the house so that we work as a TEAM...
Also, i took my own advise...I require the kids to gather all their clothes & accessories (clean socks & undies, earrings, necklaces- to avoid the 'mad search' each morning) for the week & place them on hangers on Sunday night! This causes all of us to look at the news together & make decisions on what to wear to AVOID the total headache in the mornings! :mad: - just in case anyone oversleeps! the kids are to shower before bed, tidy their rooms & bathroom clean (before bed) so they only have to make the beds in the morning, brush their teeth & put on their clothes.
It's not a perfect system, but it seems to work for us (MOST DAYS) but life happens, depending on the age of the kids you can adjust accordingly.
the #1 rule is make your workouts a priority, if you don't the family won't think your serious & they won't either... As mom's we tend to consider everyone elses time as priority & ours as flexible... HOWEVER, just like their practices or lessons, our workouts should be placed on the calendar... Life Happens, so when things don't go according to plan, don't panic.:flowerforyou:
the BEST TO YOU! Super-MOM ~ We all have to stick TOGETHER!
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As far as meals... I try to bake everything (usually putting it in the oven while I work out) & while we are watching the news for the weather, i am also planning the meals for hte week - that way everyone can pitch in to help... my class nights either my husband will cook or i bake something that morning for that nights dinner. Everyone eats pretty much the same. I use to do 1 meal & the only alternate was pb & j - like my mom did us, to avoid running myself crazy trying to fix 3 different meals ... My hubby knows if he doesn't like whats on the menu - they can all agree & change it AND MAKE WHATEVER else they wanted. That's my rules. I'm eating healthier, so Mom Rules!0
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I work full time outside the home and have two kids, 12 & 4. My husband and I work in the same building, so we carpool most days. He goes to the gym in the mornings, I workout at home while the kids are still sleeping. (It is this way because he was going to the gm at 5am long before we started dating, and I'm the one that decided am workouts worked best for me, too. He would gladly watch the kids if I wanted pm workouts, and has for me in the past, but I digress.) He gets up at 4, I get up between 4:15 and 4:30. He's out the door about 4:45, that's about when I head to the basement to workout. I like to be done and have everything logged by 6. Sometimes th LO wakes up and she'll watch a show or play while I finish. I hit the shower, I flick on the light in my 12 year olds room. If the LO's not up, her light gets flipped on. I get dressed. I might eat, I might makes a breakfast to make at work, I might make lunch for me and/or my husband (12 year old packs her own if she wants it taht day). I cater to the whims of the 4 year old. I get the 4 year old dressed. I make sure the 12 year old is actually up. Husabnd comes home around 4:45, we try to leave for daycare and work by 7. We get home around 5:15, Big Kid might need to be picked up if she had an after school thing that day. I make dinner, typically the same things each week, hubby usually does the dishes, sometimes I do. He does the laundry on the weekends, I do the grocery shopping on the weekends. I do the shuttling to gymnastics (which is fine with me because I get in an extra workout that day at their girls' gym!) I usually do bathtime for LO, I usually put her to bed after her insane bedtime routine that includes hugs and kisses and glasses of water, but hubby would take turns with me if she'd let him, it's always, "I want moimmy to put me to bed!" We make sure 12 year old has homework done and clarinet practiced. We all hang out or hubby and I hang out and she watches TV in the basement or messes around in her room. I'm usually in bed around 9 or 9:30. We all just hang out on the weekends.
This is what works for us. We have a fairly split division of labor, and we have a 12 year old that can help with her sister or the dog or whatever as well. Our house is never spotless, but usually picked up. Working out in the morning is what works for me because there's too many excuses in the evenings and on the weekends. Having a supportive partner who helps around the house is huge, imho.0 -
Bumping and adding myself to this discussion. I work full-time and have a 12 year old son who has after-school things 4 out of the 5 days of the work week, and then always a soccer game or 2 on weekends. My husband is very busy as well--he also works full time, and is a race director (on a volunteer basis) for a regional auto racing association.
5:30 a.m. is my workout time. I gather all of my workout gear and put it in either the hall or the guest bedroom the night before. I am finishing up a 60 day DVD program that varies from 30 minutes to 60 minutes in length. I would not be able to fit it in if I didn't do it in the morning, and it gives me energy for the rest of the day.0 -
I take my son with me when I do my C25K. And every Wednesday, I leave work about 20 minutes early and meet with a trainer while he's still at daycare. He ends up being there about 40 minutes longer that day, but it gives me some time to myself!0
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You can definitely do it. I have been a working mom for 18 years now. I didn't do it for a long time, and I've come to realize the excuses about no time were MY excuses -- my kids would have been fine if I were happier. They are 9, 13, and 17 now and have crazy busy schedules. I work fill time as a manager of a construction company and I work part time (two nights a week) as a karate instructor. My kids attend the classes I teach at.
What works for me is pre-planning my meals on Sunday and making sure I have the ingredients on hand and maybe cooking some things in advance. I prep things to take to work for salads and stuff like chicken breast, tuna, salmon and veggies. I make sure I have a plan in place for dinner on busy nights. I don't buy ANYTHING that is a temptation for me including ice cream, cookies, etc. My kids don't need it either. They get it "out" often enough....I do not feel guilty about not keeping crap food on hand.
For exercise, I get up at 4:30 every morning and I am at the gym by 5:00, and back at my house by 6:10 to wake up kids and get people moving. I have to be at work by 7:30 everyday. If I miss my morning workout, I go across the street to a different gym at lunch time. Typically, though, I do better all day long if I work out first thing in the morning. I pay more attention to my food, I get more water in. If I miss a weekday workout, I will do an extra workout at the gym on Saturday or Sunday. I wear a bodymedia fit and if I don't have enough activity in for the day, I'll make myself go for a walk or run in the evening as well.
This! I doubt there is anyone on here who hasn't had an excuse to not get in shape. Its your choice, your life. If its important, you will find the time. You CAN do it. Yeah, its hard...its hard work for everyone, not just working moms. You definitely have other, different challenges than I do, for instance. But I have had to overcome MY challenges to make it work. 4 am, 5 days a week to get in the gym...sucks...but its worth it.0 -
I work full time and have an 11-month old. I prepare mine (sometimes my husband's) and my daughter's breakfast, lunch, and snack every evening before I go to bed, I go the gym at 5am so that I can shower and get back in time to get her up and fed and ready for the day so we can leave by 7:15 and have a few minutes to be together in the morning. I usually have to grocery shop on e a week because I get a lot of fruit and it would spoil otherwise - I usually do this on Fridays when I leave work a little earlier.
I try to make a lot of things ahead of time so I'm not cooking every night - like I will grill 4-6 chicken breasts at a go so I can use them for whatever I need. A big pot of spaghetti, stir fry, etc. I put our little girl to bed at 7:30 so that my hubby and I have at least a couple hours alone together and hopefully keep our sanity a little longer
I am not trying to say I've got it figured out - for example, our house is a total wreck because I would rather take any extra time to hang out with my husband than clean, but I'm trying to get better at this, I am not a neat person
But preparing meals and exercising in the mornings has worked the best for me.
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I am not trying to say I've got it figured out - for example, our house is a total wreck because I would rather take any extra time to hang out with my husband than clean, but I'm trying to get better at this, I am not a neat person But preparing meals and exercising in the mornings has worked the best for me.
There is a book called Good Enough is the New Perfect that hits this point--more women are letting go of the notion of being perfect (perfectly clean house, square meals for everyone, etc.) according to other people's standard and looking more at what you want for yourself. I work VERY hard at not letting the mess on my kitchen table or the tires from last weekend's race sitting in my hallway bother me!0 -
I am a full time working mom of a 3.5 year old, a 10.5 month old and I consider my mind completely lost. My husband actually has to be responsible for cooking dinners because my hours are crazy and I normally don't get home before 6:30 or 7... and he is not a very talented cook... but I have to appreciate it. As far as working out, its all about forcing the time into your day and making it a priority. Sometimes that means less sleep or less downtime, but it's worth it in the end. I haven't been able to work out for a while because I had hip surgery the end of February (6 weeks on crutches was BRUTAL), but I'm looking forward to getting back to it soon. I was able to squeeze a half an hour in on the weekdays in the mornings after my husband left to drop the kids off at daycare if I wanted to sleep in until 6:40 and get into work by 9. If I needed to get to work earlier, I need to get up by 5:30 so I could be home in time to get the kids ready. Its hard... but it does pay off.0
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If you want to find time you will.
Also, I'm a super hero on the side which helps.0 -
I ignore my kids. No really there is an app I use for that.0
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I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Here's my routine:
M-F - Get up at ~5:45/6:00 and get myself and get the kids ready, get them to daycare, work an ~11 hour day including commutes, get home, make dinner (husband and I actually switch off taking the kids to daycare and making dinner - whoever doesn't take the kids gets in earlier and can leave a few min earlier and therefore makes dinner). Dinner is usually on the table by 6:30 or so. Eat, clean up, get in some precious play time with the kids. Bath time is at 7:45, bedtime for my 1 year old is right after bath (I put her to bed), then bedtime for my 3 year old is 8:30 (husband gets him to bed usually). I usually sneak in a chore or two (husband will do some as well after 3 year old is asleep), then change and head to the gym around 8:45/9:00. Get home at 10:00/10:30, try to get myself unwound, then get to bed around 11:30. Rinse and repeat.
Saturday and Sunday I go to the gym during the kids' naptime, usually, and the rest of the time is split between household work, errands, and hopefully some fun time with the kids.
My life would be a lot harder if I didn't have my husband (and if he wasn't a really helpful guy). I think our household labor is split pretty evenly, but we both do totally different types of things. He does a lot of surface cleaning (dishwasher, etc) and all of the outside stuff. I do the laundry and all of the deep cleaning (organizing closets, etc) and ALL of the errands, shopping, bill paying, appointment making/keeping, etc. If my husband didn't stay on top of the basic house cleaning I would never get to the gym because I'd be doing chores til 10pm every night.0 -
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ThisIf you want to find time you will.
Also, I'm a super hero on the side which helps.0 -
^This. She is AMAZEBALLS!!!0 -
Why is it ALWAYS about working moms and NEVER working Dads..... :grumble: :grumble: :grumble:
Maybe the defeat-us attitude...0 -
Me, at this point, I'm not trying to work in a specific "work out" (I work in a law office full-time, am working on my fourth book for publication, have twin 2 y/o girls and a 7 y/o boy). I'm just upping my activity level. I got the fitbit and I'm going out of my way to climb steps (my goal for May is to be able to climb all eight staircases in the parking garage in one fell swoop at a time) and get at least 10k steps in every day. Yesterday I hit 10k for the first time (just shy of 5 miles walked), today I'll come close to 11k. I got a total of 18 staircases climbed yesterday and hope to hit 20 today (not all at once - I manage 4-5 a shot right now).
So me, no formal workout. Just making myself move more, move constantly. Heck, when I go to the bathroom (which is on the other side of the floor from my office), I walk in circles to pick up 100 additional steps before I actually go to the bathroom.0 -
Commitment to yourself and your health benefits everyone. Planning is a requirement with back up plans. Being ok with it all when it falls apart. When my kids were little I did things with them, biking with a trailer, park trips - I often used that equipment for things like dips and push ups and what ever, swimming - anything that was family fun. Now that my kids are older, I go to the gym and do my fitness and my kids go swimming or play. Sometimes they walk with me. We have a karate class that we do together so we still have family time. The meals are the hardest. I tend to try to cook the main dish on the weekend or a lower activity day so that the more active days have food. The hardest part for me right now is making lunches. I have to start doing that at night and I tend to wait until the next morning. It means making breakfast and lunches at the same time. And we don't eat boxed foods or grain items so it's all cooking and putting things together that are edible finger foods. Its doable though and I just keep getting better. You will too.
And for the guys out there - in my house, it's more about making him accountable for some of it and not letting him skip out on his share of the household chores. Thats an on-going daily negotiation activity.0 -
I'm a full time single working mom of a 3 yearold. My daughter and I commute for an hour + each way to our office/school by subway. Her daycare is in my office building, not as convenient as you might think. There is also a gym in my office building. So I do most of my workouts on my lunch break, or if we get in early enough I can keep her at school an extra half hour and do it then. When the weather is nice I'm likely to cut out one subway ride by running with her in the jogger the 5 miles between home and the office, running takes less time than the subway. Sometimes I'm to busy during the day and I have to resort to a workout dvd at 10pm, rather than skip it, I do it. I do one long run on the weekends, but I have been taking advantage of family help for that so I don't have to push the jogger for 10 miles. I also go to a parent participation ballet class on saturday mornings. If she wants me yo carry her and dance, it's quite a bit of work.
Meals I prepare after bed time and heat up the next day. It's a pain and I have to do a lot of things later thsn I'd like, but it works.0
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