People who work full time how do you find time to work out

It took me about 4 months into my weight loss journey to feel like I had the time and motivation to do purposeful exercise. (As others have said, you don't have to exercise for weight loss or maintenance, but it is very good for overall health and longevity). I have always defined myself as a person who hates exercise, so I didn't even want to get started.

On encouragement from my therapist, I took a look at my daily routine and tried to find a place where I could fit in 15 min of easy exercise 3 days a week. I decided on before work, Monday Wednesday and Friday. I basically wrote out what triggers I needed to get into this habit.

1. Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursday nights, I set the next's days work-outfit out on the bed, and bring workout clothes with my to BF's house that evening (I spend nights there).
2. On waking up Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, I get dressed directly into workout clothes.
3. Drive to my apartment, put my stuff down, pour a glass of water, and go into the front room, taking out the weights I need, and put on a cooking show or comedy show on youtube (I hate listening to music while exercising).
4. Do a little warm-up, 8 min. of strength training, and a little warm-down (in 15 min).

The key to keeping up my habit is making it as easy on myself as possible. I set out all my clothes and equipment the day before, I use heavier weights very very VERY gradually, I don't wake up too prohibitively early (usually 6:30 am), I don't make the workout longer than 15 min, and I change it up every so often.

My goal is to keep a habit of exercise, so it makes sense for me to fit in an enjoyable workout that's not ridiculously grueling or discouraging. I'm not trying to build heavy muscle, I'm not training for a marathon, and I'm not trying to get rock-hard abs. I'm just trying to build a habit of activity.

It's been much easier and much more enjoyable for me to fit in NEAT activities during the rest of my day. I walk much more during my commute, I go on weekend walks very often now, I will hike for fun as well. I think the non-exercise activity has been more crucial to my weight loss success than the purposeful exercise.

I get home from work, walk the puppy, change into my gym togs, drive to the gym, take care of business, drive home, shower, change and get dinner, either get it or make it depending on wife's mood and energy. Easy.

I have an hour lunch at work so I go the the gym across the street and workout for about 35-45 minutes or just walk around outside for an hour. I work 7-5 so I have no motivation at all to workout in the mornings and 5pm is just too crowded at the gym and all I want to do is go home haha.

I have the same problem!! When I worked at a desk down in the city I would go walking on my lunch break and pack a gym bag. I'd go straight to the gym after work because if I went home first it was game over, I wouldn't go to the gym at all. But now I work from home and the struggle is insanely harder. I started doing little 10 minutes, low impact work out videos found on YouTube and try to do it at least once a day when i am feeling pretty good (usually mid morning). It does help build up energy to do more if you do it regularly. .. just start small and go from there!! It doesn't matter its just a little bit, a little bit is better than nothing!

I work 9-6:30 and workout after work. But hubby cooks during the week while I am at the gym. I do help him out by batch cooking things like braised dishes and stews and curries, or meatloaf on the weekend so that half the time he just needs to warm up something from the freezer while he boils or microwaves some rice or potatoes.

I wake up at 4:30, get the kids to daycare and myself to work by 6:30, and I'm home around 4pm. I take two 15 minute walks at work when I have time to, and I also work out at home. I'll do yoga or Zumba videos mostly. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so finding time can be tight, plus if they're in a clingy mood it's even harder. Before kids I used to go to the gym straight after work for an hour. I don't do that now because I want to spend as much time with them as I can.

5:15am wake up
By 5:40am at the gym
By 6:40am finished
By 7am home for shower and get dressed.
Leave for work 7:40am

I eat breakfast at work.

I hate exercising in the evenings which is why I gym before work.

I squeeze it in at 5:30 a.m. Home by 6:45 to get my toddler ready/eat/shower and head to work at 8. I'm definitely not a morning person, but I just make myself go to bed at 9:30, asleep by 10, and it works. After a couple weeks it feels OK. I used to go after I put the kid to bed at 8 p.m., but I found myself too tired and full from dinner.

Right now I’m simply focusing on diet and small changes. If I get exercise in outside of daily routine, great! but ultimately I’m not in a position mentally to commit to deliberate exercise. The last time I lost a bunch of weight I didn’t enjoy exercise until I’d lost about 30lbs, and even then the majority of my exercise came from water jogging (easier on joints, more sustainable for me, and worked great with my compulsive counting).

I take the stairs down when I’m going out (except for work, since it’s twelve floors and I work 10h standing as a general labourer). On the weekends I go out for my morning coffee so that I get at least an extra half hour walk (15 minutes one way, and I tend to stroll while drinking the coffee so I end up with about an hour long walk). When doing chores, especially dishes, I put on music that makes me bob and dance in place.

If you’re still in school, try taking walks while listening to audiobooks/podcasts/etc about your field of study. That way you won’t be sacrificing a bunch of time (personally I find I retain more information with the walk/listen approach, so possible bonus benefit there).

Agreed with others though. 2-3 hours of forced exercise isn’t going to get you anywhere.

dmwh142 wrote: »

I came across a statement a couple of weeks ago that sums it up for me. It is not lack of motivation it not being disciplined. Each of us has to make up our minds to do what is important and then find what works.

100%. Motivation is fleeting, willpower is a limited resource. Habit and discipline drive success...

8-5 desk job here and I am not a morning workout person at all...it's really important for me to do all of my A.M. routine before work and I'm not one to wake up earlier than 6 AM, I have much more energy P.M. So I exercise in the evening instead of watching TV, usually between 7-9:30 (not the whole 2.5 hours, but 30-90 minutes generally). And I try to make my weekends really full of physical activity, too, planning long Saturday hikes any time the weather is good.

Nothing against TV...I waste a lot of time on the internet and shopping or spend evenings reading, etc. But I find that for me, if I get into a series on Netflix or whatever, I can easily watch shows 4-5 nights per week instead of exercising so I just don't.

Also...I know a lot of people have serious commutes. Mine is about 10 minutes each way. I understand that having a long commute can make a really big difference in your free time and extra energy for working out!

I have a full time job & a 2 hour round trip commute...I go straight from work...if I went home and "got comfortable" I would struggle to get going again! I am pretty tired sometimes, but have never regretted going! I know that I sleep better & am better rested to tackle the job again come morning!

I don't get enough sleep. So, I'm not sure what's worse - not exercising or not getting enough sleep. So, I choose the gym because I need to lose weight. At least when I die from a sleep-deprived stroke, I'll look good.

Well, I'm much the same as you. Getting up early stinks, and after work I want to veg. Fortunately I have the option to work out during my lunch block. But if I'm too slammed to bother with that, I care not for any weird looks I get - I do incline pushups against my desk! I also have one of those mini-stair steppers under my desk so I can keep my feet moving while I'm sitting there doing nothing. And for abs, I lift and maintain my feet off the stepper and the floor for up to a minute at a time, keeping my spine straight and using my abs to keep my legs from drooping while I type. Doing a mini-circuit (5 mins of leg lifts, 10 incline pushups and the rest of the time using the stair stepper) once and hour is a nice little workout over the course of the day, and it doesn't require me to get up early, work out late, or make any effort to do anything other than be productive at my desk.

Of course, on days when I /can/ actually squeeze in a ride on my bike, I do. And if I have energy? I have my weights at home. One of these days I'll replace the serpentine belt on my treadmill and use that as well lol

You make the time, you make a habit out of doing it to the point that if you don't do it, you feel like something's wrong LOL! I get up at 5 am - no time in the morning - so I workout when I get home from work. First thing I do when I get home is change into my workout clothes, fill up my water bottle, get the tunes ready - then I do it. Honestly, I think right now in my life it's pretty easy to get my workout in. It was difficult when my daughter was young - now that she's grown and gone from our house, I can make 'me time' a priority.