Stay at home mom success?

I'm a SAHM to our 2 year old. I utilize naptime and bedtime for exercise; usually jog in place while catching up on my shows on Netflix, or do one of Jillian Michaels' workouts (30 Day Shred is the current one). My daughter also likes to snack off whatever I'm eating, so it helps with portion control! I just try to buy her snacks that I don't like (such as grapes), so I'm not tempted to return the favor. When my husband is home he will watch her so I can work out as well. I also use a Fitbit to help motivate me to get up and move when I can. She loves walks, so I bought a toddler carrier (Tula) and wear her on my back around the neighborhood or when I do a 5k.

I have also discovered a local indoor 3 story playground that lets adults climb all over it with their kids, so I'm looking forward to chasing her up and down all over it some more!

I got pregnant at 165 lbs, gave birth to her at 179 lbs, and now 2 years later I'm 121 lbs. I've just taken it one day (and one naptime) at a time!



Find something you enjoy doing, so it feels less like a chore, and more like a "relief". It makes a difference! Good luck

I just started working part time (hardly even that) but anyway, I have an almost 3 yo and a 5 month old. Pre babies I was 120. Post second baby 175. I started doing the 21 day fix workouts and a 1200 calorie diet on April 1. I've lose 14 lbs and 14 inches so far and loooooving it.
You just need to find something that you're really interested in and try and do it at the same time every day. That's what works for me anyway. I usually workout at nap time and/or bedtime. Personally I love the workout videos because they keep me from stopping whenever I choose (need to finish the vid!) and with 21df videos they're different everyday so that's a nice change.
Whatever you decide to do, videos or a plan of your own just stick with it. You can do it! Mfp is also a great motivation tool. Add friends, track calories in and out and read the forums.:) good luck!

Bravo!!! I waited until mine were in high school. That was a bad choice. When you take care of yourself you are teaching them good habits, self respect and that you are so much more than their Mom.

fitnessblender.com also have great exercise at home videos. They come in all formats, target specific areas or give all over results and come in varying lengths of time and intensities.

I have 3 kids - 5, 3, 1. I dropped the weight quickly after my first two with lots of cardio and really light weight training - like within two months. With my third, it hasn't been easy and I'm really having to monitor my calories. She's almost 17 months and I have 10 pounds I want to lose. That happened because even though I ate healthy, I let sleep deprivation and just exhaustion turn me to food a bit too much.
You just have to make up your mind and do it. It's not easy. My oldest son is wild. I seriously have to watch him every second or he destroys something. My boys also play off of each other and it can be super hectic. If my kids don't nap, I still make them do quiet time in their room and I do my hour work-out. If I don't do it, I get real crabby. Eating healthy and exercising make me a much better wife and mother. On the weekends when my husband is home, I go to the gym during their naps for longer, more intense workouts. Also, the kids and I stay busy throughout the day - gardening, riding bikes in the yard, building, cooking together, dancing, etc. We cook all our meals at home even though it's difficult and just eat lots and lots of veggies. You just do it a little at a time adding small positive changes a little at a time. It also helps to track everything you eat. It's so easy to underestimate calories consumed. You're not alone. There's lots like you out there. Just keep on keepin on.

I'm a working (40 hours per week) SAHM. I have a 4 year old and 15 month old at home all day and a 7 and 17 year old at school then home. It's a real challenge just working while the toddlers are going nuts all day but meal times are simple as we are on a pretty good schedule. I plan and so on Sunday for the whole week so have everything in the house to be successful.

We have breakfast at 9 a snack at around 1130 lunch at 1 another snack at 4 (with the big kids) and we eat late dinner usually around 8. I have to get up around 5 in order to get half my workday in before the littles get up, I'm very lucky they sleep until 9. We do activities out go to the play ground after getting dressed and before lunch. Then I'm usually able to work another 2 hours during their nap (130-330). After snack I usually get the big kids to look after the littles while I work another hour. At 530 I prep dinner.

My husband and I have an arrangement that as soon as he hits the door at 6 I leave out for the gym, I take a water aerobics class 4 days a week for an hour, then I spend time in the jacuzzi and sauna as a treat. 1 day a week I take a Zumba class and 1 day a week I just do cardio on the treadmill and a weight training circuit. Those 2 hours a day I spend away from the house and kids keeps me sane! I've made friends/accountability partners in my classes and not only do I look forward to the work out I make sure to go so I don't let them down. I also love showering at the gym with no children busting in, standing outside the door talking or sticking little hands under the crack lol.

My husband finishes the dinner I prepped and we eat when I get home from the gym. The bigs (17 and 7) get themselves ready for bed, my husband and I each take a little kid and bathe and get them ready for bed. At 9 the house is finally quiet. I usually have a Jack and Pepsi (because I love it like others love wine and it fits in my calories) and finish my last hour of work then go to bed. Wash, rinse and repeat the next day.

I guess I said all of that to say that planning and a schedule is what is keeping me successful. Make the time to take care of you! If you have a partner/spouse or other family that can help you make time for you definitely ask for their help.

Best wishes on your journey.

I am so HAPPY that I stumbled on this post! My twins are 7.5 months old and I am 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. Since I am staying home now, we really can't afford a gym membership so I have really been struggling. Also, with the exhaustion and working part-time (from home) I have turned to soda, chips, or candy for little 'treats/rewards' during the day. I know that is bad and definitely not helping, but I struggle. All of your posts have given me a little inspiration. I have been getting ready for the day and working while the babies nap. Maybe it would help if I somehow adjusted my schedule to include exercise during one of those naps. Before the babies I lost almost 50 pounds and kept it off easily so I am not sure why it is so hard now. Anyways ... I just wanted to say thank you all for posting. I can do this.

That is awesome!!! I weighed this morning and I'm down a few pounds from the weekend which is good! I am 5 foot 10 and I feel like my best weight is around 180-185. That's the size I was 2 years ago and I felt great! When I had my girls I was around 250 (190 when I got pregnant) and now I'm 205. I have been this weight (plus or a minus a few pounds) for 6 months. I don't eat a lot of meat so I really go overboard on carbs. It is so good to hear you have success!

I am working mom, with two kids. I don't have time to go to the Gym. What has worked for me is adding workouts to my tablet and completing them during my lunch break at work, at 4am when the kids are still sleeping or right before going to bed, when the kids are in bed. My profile pic shows my T25 results(I didn't follow the nutritional guide, but ate pretty healthy for the most part. I am on week 3 of P90X. I've also used this site for my workouts, it has tons of free full length videos you can use: https://www.fitnessblender.com/. Staying motivated is all mental, set your mind on your goal and enjoy the journey.
Hope this helps!

I have six kids. I wake up and workout while my hubby gets ready for work. Some days I go to the Y, where there's free childcare for two hours. Good luck!

I've lost about 50 lbs twice as a SAHM. Find acitivities you like and that you can do with your kids. I've done a lot of running with a double jogger, gyms with childcare, weights and cardio at home, and workouts at playgrounds. You can do it! It took me a long time to lose weight after my second, I understand about no sleep/naps. You'll get there if you want it!

Most of the challenge of staying home with kids was more with my diet than exercise- eating the kids leftover lunch, boredom, constantly being in the kitchen it seemed preparing yet another snack for the toddler and idly eating chips. But with exercise- YMCA with childcare, which I loved just for the hour of "me" time. On my Mat leave a group of friends put together a fitness challenge- each person contributed $10 to the pot, track # of minutes of exercise for a month, and highest # of exercise minutes won the pot. That was me!! (granted I had more time...! But was a great motivator) I walked a lot with the baby in the stroller. As they got older, chase them on bikes, playground workouts, fitness videos at home. I built up lots of variety for the exercise so I could be flexible about how to fit it in my day

AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »

I'm a SAHM with a 3 year old, and am 37 weeks pregnant with #2.

It also helps to pre-prepare healthy meals for myself throughout the week, so when I get hungry, I have something to grab out of the fridge really quick, instead of raiding my son's chocolate graham crackers.

THIS. I'm currently a SAHM with a VERY busy almost 3 year old. I started buying a small box of snack size zip bags on my grocery trips. As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I wash all of my produce and then spend an hour or so at my kitchen table with my food scale, dividing up healthy food (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, grapes, celery, cherries, sliced cucumber, grilled cubed chicken, etc.) into snack baggies. My toddler even helps me I measure how much I want in each snack baggie and then hand it off to her so she can fill the baggy while I'm measuring the next batch. I freeze the chicken and put all of the rest in a large container in my fridge. That way, when I get hungry during the day but am too busy to prepare an actual meal, I can just grab a snack baggie and munch away. I already know how many grams of each fruit equals how many calories, so it's all pre-measured. This alone has helped me to stop grabbing a bowl of cereal or snacking on chips.

As far as working out, fortunately, my toddler still takes a nap most days. Nap time is my main workout time. If I can't fit in a workout during nap time or if she doesn't take a nap, I try to get one in after her bedtime. And if all else fails, I pop in a workout video and do my best to workout on a yoga mat in front of the TV while she plays around me. Sometimes she demands my attention or has an epic toddler meltdown and I don't get through the whole workout video. It used to frustrate me, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I've finally accepted that 5 minutes of a 30 minute workout video is better than nothing. Oh, and I have a fitbit zip that helps me to monitor when I need to add a little more activity into my day. If I've had a slow day and didn't get a chance to workout during nap time, I know that I really need to prioritize and workout after her bedtime. It's a slow process but I'd rather lose a half a pound a week than weigh the same, or more, a year from now.