How do you motivate yourself to work out when you're too tired and you have little time?

I see it as a challenge to my will and push harder than ever before!

quick question on the calorie goal: is 1300-1400 at a goal of losing 2 lbs per week?
If so, maybe change it to a 1 lb or even 0.5 lb per week loss goal. That way you will adjust to counting calories itself as well as helping your stomach adjust to normal portions.

When I started, I remember the first week to 10 days being really hard when it came to food. I felt like I was hungrier than normal and not getting enough food. But honestly, my stomach was probably just used to overly large portions. After that 7-10 days, I adjusted and starting feeling full on smaller (ie: normal) amounts of food. From then on it was very doable. I played around with my weekly loss goal to get to one that felt comfortable and sustainable for me.

Even if you were to only lose 1/2 lb per week, that is still making progress and learning some healthier habits!

As far as workouts at home, I started as a SAHM with 3 kids under 4. The oldest stopped napping, so I would do videos at home in my living room while it was just her awake. I found the website www.hasfit.com and it changed my view of fitness. Totally free and there are beginner calendars. I started with 10 minute videos - all I could handle at the time. Even if you can only get in 10 minutes, it can help - plus potentially motivate you not to eat that extra cookie/cake/soda since you won't want to undo that hard work.

Best of luck!

Do you have a backyard? Buy yourself a sprinkler and let the kids run through that when you get home. It's a fun way to play in the heat. Let them eat Popsicles. You keep drinking water to keep yourself hydrated. Then hand off the kids to your husband to watch, and go take a walk. Fifteen to thirty minutes at whatever pace you want. It'll not only get you out doing something physical, but will help clear your head.

But sorry about science: you have to eat fewer calories than you burn.

Loads of good ideas already, but I'm going to throw in a few more...

- Don't drastically reduce your calories all in one go. You CAN do it if you want to. It's hard, but it's totally possible if you want the weight loss more than you want a muffin or cookie or whatever. It sounds like you've done some honest logging already and know where you are (2,000+) and that soda bumps that up. I'd suggest creating mini-goals than aren't necessarily about calories to get started. Maybe the first one could be switching to diet soda (or water) and sticking to that for a week. Then when you've conquered that, pick the next target. Aim to take about 200 calories out with each step, but it might be easier to think of it in terms of food swaps rather than numbers.

- Remember that the key to wanting (slightly) less food, is eating less food! It really does seem to be true that suddenly going from massive portions to small ones will leave you and your husband with an empty-tummy feeling, as your stomachs have got used to the larger amount of food. You have to be willing to make the change, and do it slowly to make it less hard.

- Volume of food doesn't have to be hugely calorific. There are lots of ways to feel like you've eaten a lot, without huge calories. Lean protein, eggs, I find aubergine particularly good as it almost feels like a carb but isn't, shredded cabbage/carrot/pepper salads which are huge and take ages to eat but are super low cal... I'm not a fan, but cauliflower rice is a thing too. Have a think about what you might be able to change about your meals at home to keep the volume and feelings of satiety but take some of the calories out.

- Eat slowly, sitting at the table. Chat as you eat. Have a glass of water on the go. It really can help you eat less without feeling deprived!

- When you drive to other schools, can you leave the bus and go for a walk/hike/use the school's gym or whatever while you wait? If you want it badly enough, you could take a set of dumbbells and some resistance bands in the bus with you, and find the nearest park and crack on. If you find exercise totally boring, try podcasts or audio books so your brain is engaged in something else while your body's doing its thing.

The biggest thing is WANTING to make a change. I found that if I asked myself the question every time I picked up a chocolate bar - do I want this chocolate more than I want to look the way I want to - then 99% of the time I put the chocolate down again.

Also, I have an app called "Life Cycle" which basically uses the GPS on your phone to draw a pie chart of how you spend your day. I never felt like I had time to do the things I wanted to, but it made me much more accountable for my time, and how I choose to spend it. It's kind of the time logging equivalent of MFP! Now I know where my spare time is (and really isn't) and I can make more informed choices about how to structure my day.

Penthesilea514 wrote: »

CoachJen71 wrote: »

Penthesilea514 wrote: »

My DH ignored all my attempts- until he saw me losing weight and getting fitter. Now, without me bugging him, he has lost 30lbs.

It was like that in our home, too. Hubby got a Fitbit after I did, and one day surprised the heck outta me when he joined MFP. We have lost over 175lbs together since then!

That's amazing! Congratulations!

Thanks!

To get more movement in, make part of your play-time with your kids about movement. Play music that everyone can dance around to, include your kids. I know you don't want them bouncing around after bath time right before bed, but what about after supper at the beginning of your play time. Even if they are little, start their healthy lifestyles early and you will all benefit from it.

This isn't meant to be rude, mean, etc etc. But it may come off that way. It really boils down to how badly you want to lose weight. You mentioned wanting to see your kids grow up, and being there for them, being healthy, etc etc. If you want all those things, then you gotta MAKE it work. What's that saying? If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way. If not, then you'll find an excuse.

As we say in French bon courage, you are doing good

ninerbuff wrote: »

If weight loss is the deal, you DON'T have to exercise. You just make sure you don't over consume.

If health is your goal as well, then exercise can be just finding ways to be physical in your home. IMO, 4 hours is PLENTY of time to do 10 minutes here and there for a total of 30 minutes. And suspensions systems take up no room and give you plenty of exercises to do.

MJDuley wrote: »

I do want to improve my overall health, not just lose weight. I'm tired of having no stamina and no energy and I want to improve my chances of living a long, healthy, active life. I used to exercise when I was younger (aerobics and weightlifting) and I felt so much better and had so much more energy, even when all 3 of my adult kids were little. I want to be able to do things with my youngest two kids that I was able to do with the oldest three, but find I have so much less energy now. I know some of that is just age-related, but most of it is just due to the fact that I'm badly out of shape. I want to change that.

There's a significant amount of research that shows that simply losing weight WILL improve your overall health. Additionally, it takes less stamina/energy to move around when you have less of you to move! I would strongly suggest that your first step be tracking your calories diligently and looking for ways to make gentle, sustainable reductions. By the time you've gotten the hang of that, temperatures will likely have dropped at least a little!

There are so many great suggestions here. Personally, I would concentrate on the food, logging, and calorie deficit. I have been at this 3 years; I found that exercising almost always increased my hunger level to beyond the calories burned. I wasn't able to lose weight, until I found the level of activity that made eating lower cals work. Adding more fiber-- like kellog's bran buds & adding more protein helps immensely. You have got to cut out the soda. I recommend adding soda water to the pepsi-- start cutting the soda down to half to start. Because soda is addicting- you probably need to taper. And like @clicketykeys and another posted-- weight loss in and of itself will give you more energy. Best wishes to you and your family. You have made a real positive step by posting your struggles here!

If you really want results try your best to make time for a workout, once you start going consistently you will have way more energy!

I have 2 kids under 4 and full time job too - don't have the extra hurdle of school in there too but i can relate to you not wanting to get up any earlier and how night time is crazy. I started with the 30 day shred videos at night after I got the kids down its only 20 minutes. my husband would clean up from dinner and pack lunches for the next day and I'd be done, then a night he wanted to work out we'd switch. You think you are tired at 8/8:30 at night but once you get started you won't feel as tired. Another option was to meal prep on weekends so putting dinner together was easy and I could get a workout in while the kids and husband were eating. just some ideas that worked for me!!