Anyone else struggling to balance life and fitness?

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tigerblue
tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I love my "new" (not really new since I have been at this for 4 years now, but new as far as percentage of my life span!) lifestyle of fitness. I actually enjoy working out most of the time for the first time in my (46 years) life.

But the problem I have is that fitness is now the only hobby I have time for, outside of attending my kids` swim meets. I used to enjoy reading and scrapbooking, and other things, but now there is no time and I miss those things. In fact there is often not enough time after work and workout to do more than the minimum of cooking and cleaning, plus overseeing homework and taxi service for my kids` school and practices. I can barely keep chaos at bay at home! Throughout all this, I have stayed faithful to my workout schedule, but it is tough, and it is getting old. (BTW, my workouts usually total not more than 1 hour a day, and I base them from home so I dont lose any travel time!)

Is anyone else struggling with this? Anyone have any solutions? I am not wanting to sacrifice my workouts, but sometimes I am feeling that my family is getting shortchanged! And I miss some of my old hobbies.
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Replies

  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
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    I understand. During the week, by the time I get home from work and exercising I have been gone for close to 12 hours. I generally watch one soap opera which I enjoy, while trying to get something to eat at the same time. After that I log my food, and it's almost time to get to bed, since I have to get up at 5:30. I do my shopping one day during the week, and that takes the same amount of time as exercising, or more.

    Weekends are spend trying to get done all the things I don't get done during the week. Plus trying to get in some walking. So, yes. I know what you mean.
  • greenhudler
    greenhudler Posts: 150
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    Honestly, the only thing that has helped me is keeping a datebook where I can keep track of everything and make sure I make time for the things I feel are important. I'm a mom of three (ages 7, 5, and 2), I try to cook most of our meals, I work 40 hours per week at my day job and pull in another 20+ running the grassroots organization that I head. All of that on top of needing to keep the house clean, garden, sew, read, and you know...breathe.

    In my date book I make sure I put in time for everything that I deem important. My husband and I have date nights planned out, for example. If there is something I really want to do, let's say finish a book I'm reading, I make sure that I make time for it. When it comes to fitness, I get up and exercise while everyone is still in bed and then I also usually take a run on my lunch break at work and opt to eat lunch during my work hours as many people at my job do...it's a relaxed atmosphere so I can eat without rushing while also doing my job and doing it well. Sometimes if I really need an extra hour to do some cleaning I will pay the sitter one extra hour after work so that I can go home and clean child-free.

    It's hard, trust me know know...but if it's important you can always find a way. Just give it time and try a few different techniques to find out what works for you :)
  • Guinivere
    Guinivere Posts: 357 Member
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    Could try fewer minutes but ramp up the intensity or split your training into two halves.
    For extra intensity you'll really be challenged but in just 20 mins leaving you an extra 40 mins a day.
    Splitting your workouts into two parts could mean a morning session and after work, or after work, then before bed but would give more time earlier in the evening. Or do you have any time at lunchtime perhaps?

    I'd go with increasing intensity myself. Good luck :-)
  • Marcia315
    Marcia315 Posts: 460 Member
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    Yes, I struggle too. I'm a partner in a lawfirm and have 2 kids, 6 and 7, who are in a bunch of activities. I'm also in some volunteer organizations. I walk around the rink while my daughter is skating, I walk around the soccer and lax fields during practice, I use my lunch hour to go to exercise classes. I do the best I can.
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
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    Good suggestions.

    I already do a short workout on my strength days (about 30 mins), but it is hard to get in a warmup, cool down, and a decent run done in less than 45 minutes!

    I may have to try some mornings somehow, but my husband has "claimed" those times as his workout times, and I dont like leaving my kids alone and asleep (I have no problem leaving them when they are awake, in the afternoons or evenings). Perhaps on my strength days (which I do at home) I could do some mornings. . . . But then either the cooked breakfast would have to go, or I would have to get in bed earlier (in order to get up earlier), which again, shortchanges my family! It seems like someone or something is the loser any way you go when you are a working Mom!
  • greenhudler
    greenhudler Posts: 150
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    Good suggestions.

    I already do a short workout on my strength days (about 30 mins), but it is hard to get in a warmup, cool down, and a decent run done in less than 45 minutes!

    I may have to try some mornings somehow, but my husband has "claimed" those times as his workout times, and I dont like leaving my kids alone and asleep (I have no problem leaving them when they are awake, in the afternoons or evenings). Perhaps on my strength days (which I do at home) I could do some mornings. . . . But then either the cooked breakfast would have to go, or I would have to get in bed earlier (in order to get up earlier), which again, shortchanges my family! It seems like someone or something is the loser any way you go when you are a working Mom!
    That's why I only do morning workouts if either my husband is home for the kiddos or I will do at-home workouts :)
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    do some HIIT/Tabata style workouts- just bang out something super fast- 2 minutes warm up + 10 minutes HIIT and you are done in 15 minutes.

    Wam Bam thank you ma'am. I can bake a cake and get a workout AND shower in before it's out of the oven. :D Multitask offcenado!

    Sometimes you need to sacrifice A for B and sometimes B for A.

    Somedays I say FUG It and stay home and sew.

    Sometimes I say FUG it I'm not doing ANY MORE cleaning- sewing- stitching reading or music- I'm going to go lift. Period. Plain and simple.

    It happens. life is about ebb and flow- it's not always going to be a fixed path.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    You don't have to work out every day. 3 or 4 times is fine. Do HIIT for time saving cardio. Strong Lifts can be done in about 45minutes.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
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    I was struggling so much with this up! I decided that starting this week, I will do 3 workouts a week and that's it. I am tired of barely seeing my husband during the week, and sick of my workouts getting totally derailed every time I have a show. So, I'm cutting back and focusing on getting consistent, high quality workouts in rather than x minutes per day, 5-6 days a week. We'll see how it goes.
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
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    I was struggling so much with this up! I decided that starting this week, I will do 3 workouts a week and that's it. I am tired of barely seeing my husband during the week, and sick of my workouts getting totally derailed every time I have a show. So, I'm cutting back and focusing on getting consistent, high quality workouts in rather than x minutes per day, 5-6 days a week. We'll see how it goes.

    I know what you mean about the shows! I am a music teacher/drama director at a school, so the weeks I have a production, everything else screeches to a halt!

    But my job keeps me very active, so I am sure that helps!
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
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    You don't have to work out every day. 3 or 4 times is fine. Do HIIT for time saving cardio. Strong Lifts can be done in about 45minutes.

    Maybe I will try HIIT again. The last time I did it, it turned running into a chore for me! In fact, I almost stopped running because I was so focused on speed/intensity. I know that is backwards for many people. I hear of so many people really loving it, but I guess it takes all kinds of things for all kinds of people!

    At least I could shorten some of my run days with HIIT.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    I have really juggle to balance it. I am a homeschooling mom (but they are high school now and I don't do much), work part time ((which I just started so it totally is throwing a wrench into everything until I get used to it) , and have a few different health issues (the BIGGEST of my obstacles.)

    I get my exercise in 10-15 minute segments in between everything else I run around doing like a headless chicken. (and usually just 20-30 minutes a few days a week)

    and I have met my goals of fittness/weight loss so far with my random 10 mminutes here and there.. So it is fine to just do what you can when you can! Eat the right aamount of calories to keep the weght down and enough fats/protein/carbs to eep your energy up.
  • jfauci
    jfauci Posts: 531 Member
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    I just had this very discussion with my husband this past week-end. Between working long hours, dinner prep, lunch prep and helping the kids with their homwork, I was struggling to get any sort of work-out in and it's been making me really cranky. I decided to try a really early morning work-out while everyone is still sleeping. I never thought I would be able to do it, but I was at the gym at 4 AM this morning and had a really good work-out until 5:15. I was home by 5:30 and at work by 7:30.

    Surprisingly, I'm not tired and I am energized. Now, it's only day 1, so I'll have to see what happens as I keep doing this, but it's a start. I'm aiming for 3 days a week for now and we'll see how it goes.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    You don't have to work out every day. 3 or 4 times is fine. Do HIIT for time saving cardio. Strong Lifts can be done in about 45minutes.

    Maybe I will try HIIT again. The last time I did it, it turned running into a chore for me! In fact, I almost stopped running because I was so focused on speed/intensity. I know that is backwards for many people. I hear of so many people really loving it, but I guess it takes all kinds of things for all kinds of people!

    At least I could shorten some of my run days with HIIT.

    you can do HIIT with other activities, not just running. stationary bike, jumping jacks, running up and down the stairs in your house... that might help on days you don't run.
  • bananafoxzep
    bananafoxzep Posts: 7
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    A little something everyday, with the right intent, and u will continue to grow :)
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    you know, as far as hobbies go, it's not the worst one to have. and it can lead to other things. if your friends ask you to come on a hike with them, or rock climbing, or a bike ride, you can say yes with confidence.

    and you can combine fitness and scrapbooking. you can create a scrapbook of your race bibs, and pictures of all your fitness stuff.

    i gave up a lot of hobbies as i started to make room for fitness, and i'm okay with it.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    Squats and deadlifts.
  • fannyfrost
    fannyfrost Posts: 756 Member
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    Ok it isn't fitness taking over as the only hobby. Think of it as prioritizing what is important. You said you have children and work, well you could easily let that stuff overtake all the hobbies. Balancing life with anything else isn't just about making time, it is prioritizing what you need or want to do with your time. I told my mom for years, no one ever died because a dirty dish was left in the sink.

    I didn't have the time and energy to read for a lot of years. Now daughter is 19 and away at college, I have time to read, watch my shows and exercise. So it is a cycle. I still have to balance demands of life and what I want to do, but its easier.

    Right now work is insane, but I again I prioritize what is important, sometimes the house isn't cleaned as well as I would like. The laundry doesn't always get put away after its done, but I prioritize as needed and fitness is a main priority. I could die from not being healthy, but I won't die because my laundry isn't put away.

    FYI, there are days I should be keeping chaos at bay and instead I just read because I want to. There are other times I don't get to do anything I want because of the life demands. Balance isn't about everything, balance is about what makes you happy in the end
  • run_shayna_run
    run_shayna_run Posts: 13
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    I struggle with this as well. My husband works over 80 hours a week most weeks, which leaves me doing 99% of the parenting work, along with my full-time work schedule. I've had to drop some activities that I don't have time for like reading and cutting down on the shows that I watch. Neither I consider huge sacrifices.

    What has also worked for me is outsourcing some activities that take up a lot of my time and aren't really a value-add to the family. Such as, I pay a cleaning service to come once a month and clean the house. It's not that expensive and it saves my sanity because during the rest of the month I know that I can surface clean and the pressure is off to deep clean everything.

    I also spend most of the afternoon on Sunday batch cooking for setting up meals for the upcoming week. If I'm cooking chicken for dinner, I'll cook twice as much and then have leftovers so that I don't have to cook from scratch the next couple days.

    It's so easy to say No to fitness when everything is asking for your time. However, I've realized that I'm happier when I say Yes, which makes me a better parent, coworker, and all around person.
  • kiekokay
    kiekokay Posts: 101 Member
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    Honestly, the only thing that has helped me is keeping a datebook where I can keep track of everything and make sure I make time for the things I feel are important. I'm a mom of three (ages 7, 5, and 2), I try to cook most of our meals, I work 40 hours per week at my day job and pull in another 20+ running the grassroots organization that I head. All of that on top of needing to keep the house clean, garden, sew, read, and you know...breathe.

    In my date book I make sure I put in time for everything that I deem important. My husband and I have date nights planned out, for example. If there is something I really want to do, let's say finish a book I'm reading, I make sure that I make time for it. When it comes to fitness, I get up and exercise while everyone is still in bed and then I also usually take a run on my lunch break at work and opt to eat lunch during my work hours as many people at my job do...it's a relaxed atmosphere so I can eat without rushing while also doing my job and doing it well. Sometimes if I really need an extra hour to do some cleaning I will pay the sitter one extra hour after work so that I can go home and clean child-free.

    It's hard, trust me know know...but if it's important you can always find a way. Just give it time and try a few different techniques to find out what works for you :)

    This! I use google calendar. It takes a bit of time to set it up the way you like (I have color coded categories. ie: work, fun, appointment, etc.) but is super easy and user friendly once you get it together. I then put everything in it. I mean, everything! My partner makes fun of me because I schedule time to read and for other fun things. It has helped me so much though, if I see it laid out on my calendar I know that I can realistically make time for it. I highly suggest this! Good luch!! :)

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