have zero time to get a work out in, but need exercise need help

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  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
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    What are you doing on the weekends? If it were me I'd try to squeeze in a short workout or two during the week, and then plan for a longer period of time on the weekends.
  • MommyMeggo
    MommyMeggo Posts: 1,222 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I feel you! xoxoxo

    I have 3 kids. 8,6,6mo.
    Up at 4:30 - Home at 5:45-hour+ commute each way. And dont really stop til they go to bed at 8 and by then Im tired and still have my own stuff to do. So I started walking the entire lunch hour. I kid you not I walk laps around my building lobby or the parking garage if its a nice day. Then drinking a shake. I get 6 smalls meals a day so eating WHILE working isnt a problem. I know its exhausting. Lean on your man. Mine leaves before me and gets home after me so I am carrying most of the load. But I tell you what, when he gets home he gets to work. Eventually our goal is working out after we put to bed the brood. And after dropping some LBS we might have some energy reserves left to get in some exercise after 8pm. But thats why I take my lunch hour to do it because its truly the ONLY time to myself and I have energy at that time. Granted, the house is a mess, dinners are often fly-by and laundry doesnt take priority during the week. I dont care. I spend time with them and worry about the non-essentials on the weekend. Different strokes.
    Even if its a short amount of time, get it in! You sounds like you are always on the GO already. Just eat at a deficit and you will lose some weight. For many busy moms working out time is a luxury that we have to CARVE out of our day with blood sweat and tears. YOU and YOUR LIFE is important too and your kids and fiance will respect that.
    GOOD LUCK!!
  • Nuke_64
    Nuke_64 Posts: 406 Member
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    Plenty of good advice already. Most important is that you do not need exercise to lose weight.

    I'd question whether or not you really need to work 60-80 hrs a week. If you are a salary worker, then I'm guessing it's not for the money. I'd used to use work as an excuse as well. Now I use exercise as an excuse to leave work. Getting regular exercise makes more productive, less stressed, and an overall better employee.

    Now if you are hourly, it comes down to a cost/benefit issue.

    And I'll pile on to the comments that it sounds like your fiance needs to help out more.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
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    You can lose weight without exercise. Eat less calories than you burn.
    One of my favorite quotes is "you can't exercise enough to overcome a poor diet. Diet comes first".
    I can imagine how hard it is with children. I don't think I could have done it when my daughter was growing up and I only had one child. Whatever you can do, will be beneficial. Parking farther away from the door at work. Walking on your lunch break. Taking the stairs. While waiting for your children walk around, even it is only in circles.

    If you want this bad enough, there is a way to get exercise in, find a way, you are worth it.

    Remember, weight loss is mostly about eating less calories than you burn.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,716 Member
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    I do not want to get into who is busier and with how many kids, etc., but I believe part of that is how much are you willing to delegate and let others do, even if it's not to your liking? IME some moms / parents ARE overly busy simply because they insist on doing everything themselves. The fiance should be helping more (or maybe he is but from the limited info given it's hard to tell) but do you let him do things his way or insist it is done your way only? I'm not picking on you specifically, OP. Just making note that sometimes we have to realize we cannot and should not control everything. A family is a shared unit. Kids should be helping with household chores. You should have more time for yourself, but you have to MAKE it happen.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    As a father of 4, I repeat the question: Where is the father? Even when we were our absolute busiest I made sure to give my wife a little time to herself pretty much every day.
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    edited January 2016
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    tiffanySpeiser29 wrote: »
    6:45 take kids to practice and tutoring.
    What about this time slot? Do you need to be there with your kids for this? Could be a good time to get exercise in, even if a half an hour as you cut calories.
  • JessicaBenson1
    JessicaBenson1 Posts: 16 Member
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    tiffanySpeiser29 wrote: »
    Mother of four and I work 60-80hrs. A week. I wake up at 4am get dressed drive fiance to work in pack kids get them feed, dressed for school off to school and day care head straight to work. Hey home about 6:45 take kids to practice and tutoring. Come home make dinner clean do laundry get kids then help get ready for bed take my shower set up everything for in the morning and go to bed at 11:00. It's all non stop but I physically, emotionally, and health wise need the exercise. I have a goal of losing 70-80lbs. That's not going to happen with put exercise... I need advice on what I can do to sneak something in or how to get the extra support from my loved ones in the house for mommy to get some of her own time to do something.

  • deeasimacopoulos
    deeasimacopoulos Posts: 16 Member
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    60-80 hours of work per week ??? my issue wouldnt be excercise !! I have three Under 10 and i couldnt even think of working like that, even if i needed to.
  • JessicaBenson1
    JessicaBenson1 Posts: 16 Member
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    tiffanySpeiser29 wrote: »
    Mother of four and I work 60-80hrs. A week. I wake up at 4am get dressed drive fiance to work in pack kids get them feed, dressed for school off to school and day care head straight to work. Hey home about 6:45 take kids to practice and tutoring. Come home make dinner clean do laundry get kids then help get ready for bed take my shower set up everything for in the morning and go to bed at 11:00. It's all non stop but I physically, emotionally, and health wise need the exercise. I have a goal of losing 70-80lbs. That's not going to happen with put exercise... I need advice on what I can do to sneak something in or how to get the extra support from my loved ones in the house for mommy to get some of her own time to do something.

    I have 6 kids and work about 80 hours a week as well. I work 6:30 pm to 7 am. Even if it's with the kids and only 20 or 30 minutes I'll turn on music and we'll dance together and act goofy or I'll turn on a Zumba dvd and kids sometimes do that with me.
  • sheermomentum
    sheermomentum Posts: 827 Member
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    How old are the kids? Can they help with the chores? They may not like it but it could be good for everyone in the long run.

    Can you walk or climb steps at lunch time? And, yes, how can you recruit your fiance to help out more?
  • fiddletime
    fiddletime Posts: 1,862 Member
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    There are so many possibilities to squeeze in 3 ten minute sets of something every day. Walking while waiting for kids is a good one. Get a Fitbit and see what your average daily steps are. Make a goal to increase that. Look at some of the fitnessblender free ap workouts. When you do those non-video workouts you do sets with reps of different exercises and can chase kids in between sets.

    I have an old photo of me walking on my stair master with a two year old in front of me and my youngest, an infant, in a Ugandan sling. It represented how I managed to squeeze in my workouts. You can do it, when you make it a priority. Once it becomes an ingrained habit you'll wonder what took you so long, and how you survived without some "you" time.
  • greentart
    greentart Posts: 411 Member
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    Yeah... I have to repeat the question, WHERE IS THE HUSBAND? Why can he not carpool or take public transit to work 3x a week so you can workout? Why can he not cook dinner 3x a week and take care of the kids while you go to the gym, or go for a walk, or lock yourself in a room and do yoga? Can you do a family walk after dinner (depends on location and season)? How old are the kids? Can the oldest not watch the others for 30 minutes while you take care of yourself?
  • kmg3614
    kmg3614 Posts: 83 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I'm doing my own squat challenge at work.. On my calendar at work I started with 20 squats and by the end of this month I will be up to 120.. Our restrooms at work are private 1 stall and large enough.. So, when I go potty.. I wash my hands, then I do squats.. I'm up to 45, so 1 time I did 20,, the next 25.. You could do them while brushing your teeth.. Etc.. Finding little times to do things will add up.. I do Jazzercise also, but every little bit helps... :)
  • emars4
    emars4 Posts: 24 Member
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    My life isn't quite as busy as you but it's pretty close. You're going to have to find little things to cut out time.

    - Make the kids help! If they are old enough to be in school, they are old enough to help.
    - Freeze ahead crockpot meals. You can even have one of the kids be responsible for dumping it in the crockpot in the AM.
    - A lot of the YMCA's near us have tutoring services on site
    - Bag portions of cereal. Put milk in a ziploc type bowl in the fridge. Kids can open ziploc containers, dump in cereal, and grab a piece of fruit in the morning without your help (even my 4yo does this). (And they better be putting up their own dirty dishes!)
    - Give your kids a list of things that have to be set out each night before the go to bed. If the kids setout clothes, locate shoes, put bookbags by the front door, etc., you'll save a bunch of time.
    - If you have younger kids, make a game out of it. I turn on music (usually the dreaded Frozen songs!) and give them a task to get done before I turn it off. It works great with younger kids to get them to clean up. It's amazing what little kids will do for a sticker. Turn the music on, if all the toys in the living room are put up before the music goes off you get a sticker :)
    - Any way your husband can carpool with someone else to work?

    Remember: Exercise does not have to be a huge time commitment! A lot of people think they have to change clothes, drive to a gym, workout at least an hour, drive home, take a shower and change clothes. That can take a lot of time! Squeezing in a 20 min workout before you take your morning shower will literally take 20 mins out of your day. 20 mins is better than nothing :)
  • OyGeeBiv
    OyGeeBiv Posts: 733 Member
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    emars4 wrote: »

    Remember: Exercise does not have to be a huge time commitment! A lot of people think they have to change clothes, drive to a gym, workout at least an hour, drive home, take a shower and change clothes. That can take a lot of time! Squeezing in a 20 min workout before you take your morning shower will literally take 20 mins out of your day. 20 mins is better than nothing :)

    THIS^^ took me way too long to figure out.

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