work out vs baby time

I know I need to find time to exercise - i am obese to begin with and now with the " baby weight " really too heavy. i want to have another baby but want to loose weight first. baby is now 1 years old +. I work 10 hour days. I am exhausted. How am I supposed to do this? Is it really okay to leave my baby for another 45 minutes (half hour work out plus driving time) ? I tried walking with him but its not working. either i am not walking often enough or not walking fast enough. its cold out and its too late at night to take him to the mall and once he is sleeping i am exhausted plus have chores. I am eating whenever i can. paying a gym may be motivation to eat better. The only gym i am comfortable trying is Curves that may be silly but i have never exercised before and this one just seems newbie-lady friendly. but they are closed on sundays.
any advise?

work out vs baby time

I feel your pain, I similarly have had a hard time finding the opportunity to work out.. .maybe you can invest in some videos that you can do at home , jilian michaels has some 30 minute videos.. it may be easier to motivate to work out if you dont need to leave the house and travel!

Re: work out vs baby time

When i was working, i was out of the house for almost 12 hours a day... when i got home, the last thing i wanted was to go to a gym. I was exhausted and felt guilty leaving my dogs again. I started alternating between using an elliptical we bought for the house, and jillian michaels' dvd - 30 day shred. Its less than a half hour long so even when i was so tired, i just told myself "its 30min of your life and you'll feel so much better". I lost 30lbs and kept it off for close to 3 years, til i got pregnant.
now dd is almost 10 weeks old, and the last 2 weeks ive been really trying to get back into an exercise routine. Some days i put dd in her bouncy seat and she plays next to me, where we can see each other, while i do the dvd. Other days i do it after i put her to bed.

work out vs baby time

I would focus on healthy eating. You can lose weight with diet alone and then when the weather changes add in walks with the baby.

Losing weight is 90% diet so it's completely possible to lose lots without exercise.

work out vs baby time

Before getting pregnant, i'd work out at home every day before work. Usually i'd just do half an hour each workday of either a workout dvd, or cablevision's free on demand workouts, or even Wii or PlayStation workout "games".

Only thing that stunk is that it meant waking up really early but I found that mornings were the only time i'd actually be motivated enough to do anything and stick to it (when i was working out after work, i always had an excuse or other plans or whatnot).

Next week, I'm going to start again - my plan is to work out while DS is still sleeping.

ps: i've never met anybody who said "paying for a gym will motivate me to go" and actually continued going after a month or two so don't waste your money.

good luck!

Re: work out vs baby time

No advice but I feel your pain! I just dont have 30 minutes to spare and on the weekends I would rather spend time with my kids. Just wished I had the motivation to workout at 10 pm but it's not going to happen!

Re: work out vs baby time

For me, what really helped was tracking every single thing I are. There are 2 great apps for this-my fitness pal and lose it. They are both free. Even if you don't have a smartphone they can be done online too. DH and I started with lose it and then found out about my fitness pal. I lost
15 lbs (and then got pregnant again) and he has lost over 20 lbs. it was a lot of work in the beginning to retrain ourselves on eating but so worth it. After I have this baby, I'm doing it again. GL!

work out vs baby time

Where do you work? Go for walks during lunch. Any little bit of movement helps. You don't need to sweat, just move for 30 minutes. Losing weight is 85% diet, 15% exercise.

Re: work out vs baby time

Thanks for all your feedback :)

Re: work out vs baby time

I know how u feel. I leave for work at 8 & get home at 6 there is no way I would leave the baby to go to the gym and not feel guilty. This is why I go during my lunch hour. It works out perfectly for me. Maybe u could try that. I work in the city and I go to Lucille Roberts for one hour everyday. I lost 30lbs in 1 year.

Re: work out vs baby time

Message edited 1/14/2013 9:35:30 PM.

Re: work out vs baby time

I am in the same boat as you. I need to lose a lot of weight, and work very long hours (well I work one full time job and then I work a part time job). I get to the gym at 5 am when it opens, go until 6, and then come home and take a shower. I have my lunch done and my clothes laid out. I am done by 6:30 and I get ds up at 6:30, get him dressed for DH and then I leave at 6:45. I get home around 4 or so, make dinner, and then go back out to my second job from 5:30- 7:30/8. I tell myself that taking care of myself is better that I will be around for him later! Honestly, it is exhausting. I was into a good swing for Sept and Oct. and then Sandy came and I haven't gotten into the swing again! This week I started being good again! Hopefully I can keep it up!

Re: work out vs baby time

If you can workout at lunch. That would maximize your time. Also healthy eating habits have a snack in your bag so youre not starving and make poor eating choices because it's fast. If you cannot get to a gym now healthy eating is a good start. My dr recommended weight watchers because it teaches you portion controL. Hth good luck!! You gotta take care of yourself before you take care if others and moms always forget that

Re: work out vs baby time

I feel the same way. Before I got pregnant, I had lost 40 pounds and was in the best shape of my life. I had wanted to be in the best shape for getting pregnant and be able to work out good while I was pregnant. But since my heart rate was too high while I worked out, I couldn't do so.

DH is now 6 months and I am finally getting back into the gym. DH doesn't get home until 10pm so the only time I can get to the gym is before work. Some days I start at 7am, so I am at the gym when they open at 5am. I work out til about 6, go home, shower, prepare his DS's stuff for the day and leave for work.

IT IS EXHAUSTING! But I want to be a good role model for DS since I have struggled with weight since I was a child.

work out vs baby time

When I started commuting to the city in 2011, I found the only way to get in a workout was to do it on my lunch hour; I was leaving home too early and getting home too late at night to workout at home. Now that I have DD, I know that once I go back to work, that will literally be the only free time I have, so again, I'll be working out on my lunch hour. DH and I also trade off on weekends, he will run Saturday morning and I'll watch DD and I'll run Sunday morning and he will watch DD. I can't go for the long runs I used to since I'm EBF, but even just getting out for 30 minutes makes a huge difference in how I feel! I'd definitely recommend lunch time/wkd workouts. It's still kind if exhausting but it's mentally refreshing!