Shuffling work and chores to create time for workout

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gothchiq
gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
in Motivation and Support
I work one full time and two part time jobs. One of the part times is from home. The other is sporadic so not really an obstacle.

The second job involves proofreading and editing books from home on a tight deadline. When one of these books lands on my doorstep and they give me only a week or two to finish it, it's easy to skip workouts because once I get home from the nine to five, do the dishes and laundry, and make dinner, I'm editing until I go to bed. I delegate vacuuming, kitty pan cleaning, and garbage duties to hubby. Basically something has to give so that I don't let workouts fall by the wayside on busy days.

So I'm trying to come up with a way to carve out the time to work out every other day even when I have one of these crazy deadlines. Punt the dishes and laundry to non-workout days and just let them sit on workout days? Eat a sandwich and piece of fruit for dinner on workout days to eliminate time and mess of food prep, let hubby prepare his own, and save the time for working out instead?

Has anybody got a stable kind of routine that works for these jam packed days?

Replies

  • samthepanda
    samthepanda Posts: 569 Member
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    Slow cooker meals - prep before work and leave on so meal sorted, or batch cook and freeze.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I can pretty much find 30 - 60 minutes in a day, even when I'm slammed.

    Maybe on a slammin' day I only get in a 30 minute ride instead of a 60 or 90 minute ride...or maybe I skip some or all accessory work in the weight room and just do the basics to cut back on time certain days...stuff like that. I'm doing something, and that's what matters.
  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
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    Can you workout before your 9-5 job? Then it's done for the day, and the rest of the evening is yours for your other major priorities.
  • Ellaskat
    Ellaskat Posts: 386 Member
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    can you work out during your job at lunch? On tough days, I try to go for a walk at a good pace for at least 15 minutes, and I can usually find a way to do squats in the ladies restroom too - that gives me at least a 20 min. work out. it may not seem like much, but I always feel so proud for keeping my commitment to my body, no matter how little time i have.
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
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    prioritize. If you want working out at the top, put it there. Put dusting at the bottom. If preparing a meal and cleaning up is really taking so long then invest in paper plates and throw away baking pans. 20 to 60 minutes a day isn't hard to find if you look for it, save all the household chores for your rest days, instead of putting off the proof reading do a little every day so that at the end of the week you're not doing a marathon reading session with time for nothing else. I work and am in school, and I have four kids, two of them are under two. I had to schedule my life, now that I've taken control over all my obligations and stopped letting them control me I have time for everything. My house is clean, my kids are happy, my food is prepped and we eat a from scratch meal every night, and I never miss a work out. seriously, write it all down and put it in order of importance and then allocate your hours accordingly, just like you do your calories.
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    One of the best things I ever did was invest in a really nice elliptical machine. (I got it with 0% financing and made small monthly payments, so it wasn't really a financial burden.) When there's no time for anything else, there's no one to watch the kids, I only have a few minutes here or there, the weather's bad, etc., I just jump on it. If I can only do 30 minutes now, 15 later and so on, it's always there and the small increments add up. Plus, I DVR all of my favorite shows and watch them while I'm exercising, so the time seems to pass much faster.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    I like the paper plates idea. I should get some for the busiest days, so that I don't create extra mess and can use the time to work out instead.
  • shadowloss
    shadowloss Posts: 293 Member
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    Simply set a schedule! It's just like working on your goals, if you don't have a plan to get there they will never happen. So plan your work outs.

    I have 2 days a week I have set specific to hitting the gym, but I have a goal of 3 times a week so that third day I have to be flexible and just make it happen, even if it's going at 9:00 at night and only staying for an hour. Make it a priority and make a plan.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    As for the lunch time workout, yes if the weather is decent. In the winter usually not but spring, most of summer, and fall, I walk every day from noon to one. that's about 3 miles. Sometimes when the boss is gone to lunch I do planks and pushups over here in my cube.
  • jozerrr
    jozerrr Posts: 11 Member
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    I can relate to you... This is also my problem area... Working hard on it!!!

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