You can burn just as many extra calories throughout the day in shorter bursts if you try. Park farther away, spend recess/lunch break walking. Do squats every time you go to the bathroom. Do bicep curls while driving - and butt clenches and some stretches. Every stoplight do something like a floor bridge etc Play outside with the kids in the evening. Prep meals on weekends to make dinner faster - or get hubby and kids to help more. You can even spread your weekend cleaning a bit - spend 15 minutes each evening doing one cleaning chore - i.e. clean the bathroom, vaccuum the living room, sweep the kitchen, etc. Put on some music and dance a bit while at it

Workout Sat/Sun mornings, then only worry about one real workout during the week (wed?). Find a friend with kids and take turns each night watching the kids for 30 minutes while the other does a DVD, or have them come over and do it together while the kids play.

Be creative. Doesnt have to be a "real" hour long workout. Just start working on upping your resting BMR by being more active all day long.

One of the things I realized when I went through this process is that I needed to be more selfish in order to be successful. This is probably harder for Moms than Dads, but in hindsight, I am glad it took me a few years to get around to having the surgery. Doing it when my kids were 13 and 16 was much easier than it would have been at 13 and 10 in terms of having them be less of a daily burden and more able to handle their own business.

Selfishness (in a good way) is also required in terms of eating. There are times when I cooked stuff for the family and then ate something different, but mostly, as the main cook, I cooked stuff I could eat and made minimal changes to what I fed them. "Take it" or "leave it" were their choices, and for the most part it worked out fine.

Exercise is another area where I needed to assert my needs and "exercise time" got priority over "family time" more than it had in the past.

Overall, a lot of us got to where we are (were) weight wise by *not* putting our needs high enough. WLS as a tool (and weight loss in general, I believe) requires major changes in how we prioritize our basic health needs.

Rob

nilklynn wrote: »

ok friends, my schedule is changing next week and I'm terrified of failing on this journey. I'm a teacher and go back to work next week (wah, wah, wah <cue the sad trombone>). This summer I've done so well getting up before the kids and exercising 6:30-7:30ish. But I just don't know where I'm going to fit it in!! How do you working parents fit it in!?!?

I get up at 4 to get everyone up and out of the house by 5:30-5:45. Hour drive to work. Teach til 4. Hour drive home. Make dinner. Get kids fed, bathed and in bed by 8. Pick up, make lunches, etc. in bed by 9, exhausted. Oh and keep my marriage afloat in there too!

Anyone know of a good car workout while driving?

Are there any opportunities at the school that would allow you to get some exercise? I'm thinking like team sports that maybe would need an assistant coach. I've been out of school so long I've forgotten which ones are the fall sports. Or maybe there are some other teachers looking to exercise too.

Your family might need to help pick up some of the slack here too. I had to get myself out of bed in the morning, and make my own lunch for school. If your kids are past pre-school/kindergarten age they're old enough to take on some of those extra responsibilities.

I am also a crock pot fanatic. I think they are a wonderful investment, and a great way to make healthy meals with very little time. You start it up in the morning before you leave and when you get home dinner is done. Then, there's leftovers for the kids lunch the next day. I'll even share my favorite crock pot recipe with you.

Italian Beef
It's a very simple recipe. I get a lean roast usually eye of round works just fine. You can brown it really quickly to seal in the moisture before cooking, but if you don't have time that's not a necessary step. I season it with onion powder, garlic powder, and either Italian seasoning or oregano. I put the roast in the crock pot with one can of beef broth, and one or two red bell peppers depending on how much I'm making. When I'm feeding two, I use one pepper, but two peppers will feed up to six. When you get home the roast should shred apart with a fork. Put it on a sandwich roll, add some mozzarella cheese, and some of the peppers. Or you can eat the meat by itself. (For me bread doesn't really like my stomach anymore) Your prep time on this would literally be less than 10 minutes. From there, you, your husband, or your kids if they are old enough could throw together a quick side.

That is a rough schedule. Can you things like resistance bands during lunch? That way you don't really need space and you might even be able to do some while eating. It's not high cardio but it is better than nothing and will help keep your muscles toned and working.

When I am in a work squeeze, I've found that it is best to not work out on days where it would make me sacrifice sleep or sanity. We need balance, and sleep is as important as exercise. And with 2 toddlers... man! I bet you get a pretty good workout just chasing them around trying to put clothes on them (I do and I only have one toddler).

One thing I have done is just gone balls out on the weekend. 2-a-day workouts. Sometimes 3-a-days. Throw the little one in the stroller if I'm on parent duty and take off. If I can do morning and evening workouts on both sat and sun then I'm at 4 workouts per week already. Can I squeeze one more in? Maybe on Friday when there is less prep to do? Sometimes. It isn't ideal but it keeps me from getting to a place where I feel like I'm just a person who never works out with any consistency. I also take one night a week where I get to go do my thing (in my case, play soccer on Thursdays) in exchange for one night a week my husband gets to go out and hang out with friends. It's a rough night on the other parent, but it is worth it to us.

We are so alike. I am not teaching this year, instead I am subbing since we are moving mid school year. Depending upon your school size, maybe you can walk the halls (like a mall walk) either in the morning or in the afternoon, or split the school in half and do one circuit in the morning and another before heading out. I know a few teachers also get together at my middle school to walk. Unfortunately, I was at a charter school, and it was super small. I would try to walk a lap in the morning before the kids arrived and another before I left for the day. I wasn't always possible, but I tried. Lunch time was a no-go due to teenagers literally everywhere. I understand the early mornings, that is why my surgeon put my surgery off till summer, since I was being ran every which way, plus finishing my masters.

My problem is trying to schedule my workouts while trying to second guess the school district in when the phone calls for me to teach are going to come in. I so wish that they had a better system than waiting around for a phone call or continuously checking the computer.

I had the same idea as pennysteed, to walk the halls at school. Before school, they are typically empty but provide a weather-free location and often long stretches to walk without any obstacles. If you keep moving the other staff will see you as being enroute to someplace important and not bother you to stop and chat. Asking teachers over their lunch time to schedule walking together before or after school would also help to build an accountability group and challenge each other to walk more, further, longer as you build your routines. I worked in one school that opened their building in the evenings to the public to do laps. School hours give you as a teacher the means to enjoy it. I liked not having the weather (too cold, too hot, too rainy too windy) be the reason to not work out.