No time to workout

dgmom

dgmom

Member
Hello
I am a sahm who in a previous life without kids worked out an hour to an hour and a half five times a week. Now with kids that don't sleep well ( 6 months and 3.5), I try to fit a workout after they sleep. Mornings are not possible. They wake up 4 or 5 am (5 is lucky days). However, I am tired. I was able to maintain a good schedule when baby was two months until five months. Now baby is more demanding. Toddler very active. Baby is not a great napper. Toddler doesn't nap although is tired. Whole different story. My question is simple. But I wrote this so I don't get responses such as try to fit a workout here or there.
Here is my question. If I watch my diet and do hiit two times ( if I can three) a week... Is that enough for weight loss? I might switch a day here or there to another workout. But they are short and effective. I just want something. When I do other longer ones I get either interrupted with baby waking up. Or it takes my whole night and I get no down time. I love love working out. But its so different at this stage of my life.

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dgmon: been there, done that - it will get better. You do not have to do exercise videos to stay in shape. Put the little ones in a stroller and take a walk or take the kids to a park where you and the toddler can run around freely chasing a ball. It is a lot of physical labor carrying the baby while chasing after a toddler and taking them in/out of a car seat.
 
dgmom...couldn't help spot your post from your question and your profile name! Yes...there are 5 boys, we homeschool and I had the same problem. 15 minutes a day is better than nothing! Do a 15 minute challenge and see how many workouts you can achieve this week. Fit fitness into your whole day!

For the kids I used a playpen. I had one of the older ones that was at least 4x4! The kids fussed at times, but I was there to verbally encourage them and make sure they were ok.

Enjoy this time in your life.

Blessings,

Georgia
 
dgmom said:
Hello
I am a sahm who in a previous life without kids worked out an hour to an hour and a half five times a week. Now with kids that don't sleep well ( 6 months and 3.5), I try to fit a workout after they sleep. Mornings are not possible. They wake up 4 or 5 am (5 is lucky days). However, I am tired. I was able to maintain a good schedule when baby was two months until five months. Now baby is more demanding. Toddler very active. Baby is not a great napper. Toddler doesn't nap although is tired. Whole different story. My question is simple. But I wrote this so I don't get responses such as try to fit a workout here or there.
Here is my question. If I watch my diet and do hiit two times ( if I can three) a week... Is that enough for weight loss? I might switch a day here or there to another workout. But they are short and effective. I just want something. When I do other longer ones I get either interrupted with baby waking up. Or it takes my whole night and I get no down time. I love love working out. But its so different at this stage of my life.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I am not a mom, however, when super busy I recommend no more than 2 Hiit workouts a week, and do one yoga workout. It is even more effective than cardio. And, definitely focus on rest and good nutrition.
 
Hi dgmom. I have 3 very active children and have been there! I agree with the suggestions above - daily walks, short spurts of more intense activity using your Cathe workouts (Tabatacise, X10 and other Hiit workouts), yoga when you can (even 5 min. of stretching before bed can help!)... and I would also suggest mixing in metabolic workouts (e.g. XTrain's Supercuts, LIS's Cardio Supersets and After Burn, CrossFire, To the Max and the new ICE Metabolic). These are great for fat loss but you will also maintain your muscle mass. They work the whole body and so would complement your Hiit training nicely and even once a week would make a difference. When my children were little I would start a dvd and put on a short premix and just be glad if I could do some of it. Sometimes I had to stop it part way through, but doing some is better than nothing! It gave me more energy when I was tired. I didn't have time to change so I got dressed in my workout clothes in the morning and was 'at the ready' and just popped in a dvd if an opportunity arose through the day. I set up my workout space right there where the kids were mostly hanging out, as I didn't have time to drag out lots of equipment or even run down to another floor. Didn't always fit it in of course, but it felt good when I could do 20 mins. here and there. Good luck! It is so good to come up with time efficient strategies and to pull together the energy, as once you can do that, you have those skills through all different stages of life. I still use some of these strategies now - handy when work is busy and when energy lags in menopause!
 
Just would like to second that SuperCuts is a super efficient workout! Also, remember that sleep deprivation for too long can wreck your diet (hungry for not the healthiest food, salty snacks etc.), so I personally wouldn't recommend losing sleep to workout.
Good luck with everything & I hope you can get your little one to nap a bit longer! :)
 
I'm a mom of 3 kids and could have written that same original post :) I too get my workouts in at night when I can, some nights I'm ready to workout and my littlest (3 years) needs some extra mommy time. I does get better with time on all accounts and I agree with everyone to just do what you can. 10-15 min bursts when you can fit them in may be the best solution. I too love the Hiit/Tabatacise/X10 workouts because they get to the point and they will keep your body strong until your kids get to the next stage.

If there is a time the baby is sleeping don't feel guilt about putting your toddler in front of a video while you do a quick workout :)

Cindy
 
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