Break down my excuses

Hi! As a fulltime working mom of 2 boys, I get it. It's tough to do it all and find time for you. Here are my immediate thoughts:

#1. Make the time you spend with your kids more active and healthy. We go for walks, play wii fit video games on nasty days, crank up the tunes and dance around the living room like lunatics, bounce on the trampoline, go to the Y swimming etc...

#2. Check out skinnymom.com. It's a great site that has ideas for healthier versions of foods we all love. She even has a crock pot section that's aweseome.

#3. I have rheumatoid arthritis and some days can barely get out of bed, as well as the busy life described above. I've managed to stick to my 1200 calories, work out daily in some form or another and lose 20 pounds in 3 months. It can be done, we Moms just have to be creative.

Best of luck to you.

#1- I don't feel like I have time to exercise. I work in an office fulltime. I picked up my kids at 4:30pm and go home to make dinner. Feed everyone dinner, spend time with kids, give baths, put kids down at around 8:30, spend time with husband, and then go to bed around 10. So what should I cut out? Should I make myself get up earlier or stay up later?

#2- I can't afford/don't have time to cook seperate meals for myself. This is a tough one for me. Is there a website somewhere that has kid friendly "diet" meals? I don't want them to suffer!

#3- I can't do it. I really feel like I'm wasting my time. I have always wanted to get down to 130lbs but I haven't ever made it. And now I'm so much heavier than I was! I'd have to lose 60lbs!

You've already made a step in the right direction by acknowledging that you want to make changes in your life! So kudos for that! The first steps are always the hardest but it comes down to this: you're never going to see change without effort.

So here's my breakdown

#1 - If you have 30 minutes out of the day to watch television, you have 30 minutes that you can work out. It can be something as simple as walking up the street and back. Do you have stairs in your building at the office? If you have any down time, go climb a flight or two. Spend time with your hubby and the kids at the local park. Just get outside and be active Talk to your hubby and see if he'd be willing to work out with you. That way you can spend time together and get in your exercise too, so two birds, one stone!

#2 - Make changes slowly. Introduce a new food or two here and there. My kids love potatoes, so one evening for dinner I took a chance and swapped out the mashed potatoes for boiled baby red potatoes tossed with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. They LOVED it, and now they ask for them that way instead. Unless your kids are super picky eaters, you'll probably be surprised at the healthy dishes they'll like. Pinterest is my best friend for finding new recipes. If you don't have an account there it would be worth it to set one up.

#3 - You can do absolutely anything you set your mind to and every day that you put it off is one more day that you're not getting healthier and happier. If anything, the time that's being wasted is the time that you're procrastinating in getting started. You just have to make up your mind that you're going to do it and do it!

Good luck! And feel free to add me if you like!

What?? You ONLY have 3 excuses? I spent a whole year breaking down excuses before I finally started and now I am within a pound of goal. I cannot help too much with the excuses where you use your kids as a reason. You can still eat the same foods you feed your kids - as I assume you are feeding your kids healthy food. It is about portions. My motto was ...everything that passes these lips gets recorded. So if you clean up their plates - record that.

Do you think exercise MUST be in the gym, it must be hours long and it must be what someone else tells you to do? Uh, uh. It can be walking, dancing to a video, lifting bags of flour instead of weights. Due to medical problems I can do very little physically, so I know weight can be lost concentrating on what is eaten.

You do need to ask yourself honestly if you are ready and why you want to do it. Ask yourself like you would ask a friend....without judgement. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run and only then RUN.

Good luck.

Prior to joining this site, I'd lose a few pounds, then gain that back plus some more! So this is definitely a helpful tool. Good luck to you and don't let anyone, not even yourself, tell you that you can't do this. You can! :flowerforyou:

And remember...

There is some great advice here! I agree with the trying to be more active with the kids advice. I see Moms sitting around while their kids play sports or play at the park. I choose to go for a walk/run/pace/ or play with the younger kids while the older siblings are on the field (toss a ball, organize a game of tag,etc.) Taking the kids for a walk is simple and a great way to spend time with them. As far as meals are concerned, you can add a salad to your meal, extra vegetables, cut cukes and celery, and eat less of the entree. You can do this by making a couple of tweeks to start. These things are doable and effective. Have patience as you make small changes.

I agree with some of the replies- it sounds like you have a lot less excuses than I do, and I don't even have any kids to worry about! I think you'll do great once you figure out a way to make it all work.

1. I have never been one to get really active in the morning. I just hate it. A lot of people find that it works best for them to do it that way, though, so by all means try it, especially if you feel like by the end of the day, you're way too wiped to even think about exercise. Just make sure that if you do, you're going to bed earlier to compensate! But what struck me is that you said between around 8:30 and 10, you're spending time with your husband--which is awesome! And that's a whole relatively untapped 1.5 hours. Try taking half an hour or an hour of that time to be active together, whatever your style is. You could do some Wii Fit games or other fitness games if you're into video games like that, or if you'd rather do something a little more "serious" there are plenty of resources online for at-home exercises, even some like stretches and resistance stuff that you can do together. That way, you'll still have some "down time" together, but you're using a portion of it wisely--and it's so much easier when you're not doing it alone!

As for activities with the kids, depending on the safety of the streets in your neighborhood, maybe you could walk/jog alongside your kids while they ride bikes/trikes? Scooters? That might take care of the issue of them not being able to keep up with grownup strides. And what everyone else said about fitness games, playing actively outside with them, etc.

2. As for not wanting your kids to suffer, does that mean you want to suffer yourself? Eating healthy and in good portions shouldn't feel like suffering. Like you, my problem has always been portion sizes, since I love fresh veggies and typically 'healthy' foods. For dinners, I would just take a look at exactly what you are eating on a regular basis. So for a while just log everything (EVERYTHING.) and take a look at it at the end of the day and see if you need to make changes to the type of food you're eating or just the portions. To be accurate, I would recommend getting a cheap kitchen scale--mine has been absolutely invaluable in logging my food every day. Make sure that anything you cook at home is entered as a recipe on MFP (which is very easy if you have not done it yet), so you can look at exactly how many calories/fat/sugar/etc. is in it. What I love about the recipe tool here is that if you enter your recipe and say it's, say, 4 servings, and the amount of calories is just kind of shocking, you can always just go, "oops!" and maybe change it to 6 servings, so you can make the portions smaller and still enjoy it. There is no reason to feel like you have to eat anything you don't like (or even NOT eat anything you do like!) just because you are trying to lose weight.

3. As for feeling hopeless... we've probably all been there. Just focus on the day to day. If you are really stressed out and scared that you won't be able to make it down to 130, just think to yourself that you will do the best that you can, and celebrate every success you have. You'll probably be really surprised with yourself. Try at first just to drop 5 pounds, then another 5, etc. You'll get there!!!

#1- I don't feel like I have time to exercise. I work in an office fulltime. I picked up my kids at 4:30pm and go home to make dinner. Feed everyone dinner, spend time with kids, give baths, put kids down at around 8:30, spend time with husband, and then go to bed around 10. So what should I cut out? Should I make myself get up earlier or stay up later?

Go for a walk with your kids or ask your husband to watch them while you go walking/exercise OR ask your husband to be part of your exercise so you are spending time together while doing something for your health.

#2- I can't afford/don't have time to cook seperate meals for myself. This is a tough one for me. Is there a website somewhere that has kid friendly "diet" meals? I don't want them to suffer!

You don't need to change what you eat, just the portion sizes. I've not stopped eating the things I like and I've still lost weight by making small changes in portion size and making my lunches much more healthy.

#3- I can't do it. I really feel like I'm wasting my time. I have always wanted to get down to 130lbs but I haven't ever made it. And now I'm so much heavier than I was! I'd have to lose 60lbs!

Don't focus on 130 right now. Focus on what you've achieved in the past...getting down to 150-155 sounds like it was doable for you and you were able to keep it off for a period of time. Head for that and see if you can keep it off for a while. And if you feel ready, then try to go down a bit further. BABY STEPS!

I don't even know where to start... Ugh.

Let's see... I come from a mostly overweight family. I don't feel like we really ate unhealthily, just too much. As a child I was a skinny little thing. I started gaining weight as a teenager..nothing too bad but just started getting a little curvy (I'm 5'4). Then I started seeing my future husband and really started gaining. He comes from a very overweight, very unhealthy family. We were young and dating and going out to eat all the time. He loves me and has always wanted to spoil me, sometimes with food. After we got married I started eating more unhealthy and drinking sodas which I never really got at home.
Anyway, I stayed around 165lbs for a few years of not doing anything to lose. Then I got pregnant with our first child and got up to 180lbs...BUT lost it all easily a few months after he was born. I got down to around 150lbs with some exercise and watching what I was eating for the next year. Then my weight started slowly creeping up again and it stopped at the 165lb range again. Got pregnant with my daughter and went up to 190lbs. Once again most of it fell right after I had her and I ended up being at around 170lbs and then exercise and watching what I ate put me back down to 150-155lbs.

And then I don't know what happened. I think I was battling some postpartum depression. I just seemed to develope an "I don't care" attitude about what I ate. So of course the weight started piling on...and this time didn't stop at 165lbs like it always had. Suddenly I'm up to 190lbs!! So I started trying the normal exercise, watching what I eat thing that had always worked...nothing. I had my thyroid checked and rechecked. They say everything's normal.

So i have to do something different. I know that I need to get serious. I just don't know where to start. I also have a TON of excuses keeping me from starting. I feel like I know deep down that they are just excuses but I can't shake them.

So can you help me? Just tell me I'm dumb and what I should be doing?

#1- I don't feel like I have time to exercise. I work in an office fulltime. I picked up my kids at 4:30pm and go home to make dinner. Feed everyone dinner, spend time with kids, give baths, put kids down at around 8:30, spend time with husband, and then go to bed around 10. So what should I cut out? Should I make myself get up earlier or stay up later?

#2- I can't afford/don't have time to cook seperate meals for myself. This is a tough one for me. Is there a website somewhere that has kid friendly "diet" meals? I don't want them to suffer!

#3- I can't do it. I really feel like I'm wasting my time. I have always wanted to get down to 130lbs but I haven't ever made it. And now I'm so much heavier than I was! I'd have to lose 60lbs!

I wake up at 4:30 to care for livestock, usually get my first cup of coffee around 8:30-9. I bake all our bread, make soap, grow and raise our food, sell produce and live animals, and still manage a workout. I do all the cooking , cleaning, and care.

To hell with kid friendly. Cook what they need, not what they want.

You

1. For me I get up at 4:00am This gives me time a. too myself before my special needs son gets up at 5 am. I try to have a coffee (while watching a tv show) I then grab my headphones and exercise on my eliptical for 20-30 minutes.

2. i eat regular everyday meals based on what I feel is good for me and my family. I have learned. 1 sausage, 4 perogies, and lots of carrots is great ( but weigh and measure, stick to portion size) its amazing how full a person feels on what seems like such a small amount. . HAve chicken fingers and fries, again stick to portions. try potatoe fries for you/ regular for everyone else if the dont like. its really easy to add an extra little something if you need to. sometimes i make 3 different foods for a meal 1 healthy, 1 unhealthy, and vegetables. Just cause everyone else is having a baked potatoe smothered in butter doesnt mean you need the butter or sour cream, replace the fat with something else that works. portions, portions, portions. I eat the foods i like whenever and have lost 157lbs in a year and ahalf. i watch my portions but dont diet. its all about lifestyle choices.

Sometimes life can get complicated and we fill our lives with clutter get rid of some of the day to day issues. make more time to breathe.....

My two cents is if something is important to you, you will find the time.

I hear ya with being a mother. It is a full time job. I have 4 kids and i am 24. My husband was blown up in Iraq and sustained some major injuries to his brain. I am taking care of my kids and my husband full time. But I wasn't taking care of myself. I was totally neglecting my health and my weight.

I finally had enough and decided to get together with my neighbor who has a self made gym in her barn. We made a promise we would workout together for a 6 week challenge who ever lost the most weight won the money we each put up for the prize. I found the time. The time was at the crack of dawn but I found the time.

I think you are wonderful to ask others to critique your excuses. It shows a massive change in your attitude to just evaluate that maybe your excuses are not good enough. I saw a photograph of a man's before and after. Before working out and after. It showed the top portion of him. from his waist up. He looked amazing. Then the next photograph was a full body photograph. Turns out he only has one leg. The caption that followed was "What is your excuse again?"

This photo to me was so powerful. I can say from experience in my own hectic life that my life has felt more in order since focusing a small portion of time on myself. I am awake before my kids which is so helpful to have breakfast ready for when they wake. I feel accomplished because my exercise was intense. My children and husband are eating healthier because I am as well.

I hope this helps. I didn't so much pick apart your excuses like you asked but I hope the information I did supply you with helped.
Good Luck!!
~Jeneka

no. break them yourself.

Wow, this thread is so wonderful and helpful, I'm going to go back and read some of the ideas again-inspirational!

I'm a single mom, 2 young kids so I get it. I totally remember when my oldest out grew the Kelty back pack and I couldn't take hikes any more. That was when I got a pedometer, just like an old granny one, really simple and tried as hard as I could to get to 10,000 steps a day.
The other thing I'm going to encourage you to do is instead of worrying about getting up earlier or going to sleep later to get exercise in is to SLEEP. Try to go to bed earlier. For me when I really started to get more sleep I could control my appetite a little better.
and like others have said, log everything and look back often. I'm still very much on my journey and some days I really feel like I'm holding on by my fingernails...add me as a friend if you like
Don't give up mama!

Hi, there is not much left to add, the above posts have included everything!!
The best advice I had when I started to be serious about losing weight was to change 1 thing at a time. Dont try to change your eating habits, activity level and life style all at once. Pick one thing, like drink more water, or cut out bread or soft drinks etc. Just do that one thing until its not work anymore, its a habit. Then add one more thing etc. Sooner than you think you will have made changes and will be losing weight!!
Good luck!!