Working Moms Help Me Out!!

[mabdoo]

I just went back to work full time 2 weeks ago. Since then I have done just 4 workouts. I get up at 5:15 to get ready before my kids get up at 6. Sometimes they wake up even earlier! We leave at 7. I get home at 3:30 and unpack their stuff and repack as much as I can of the diaper bag. I play with them until 5. Then I make dinner while my DH watches them. We eat, clean up and play with them until bed at 7:30. When we come down from putting them to bed we make lunches and get the rest of the stuff we need ready for the morning. By now it is 8:30 and I am wiped out. I have done my w/o then but it has been just a segment or two of GS or PUB. I still have to grade papers at night too. My kids are too little to leave unsupervised at all. Any suggestions? I am really getting depressed by this, especially since one of the women I work with is in FANTASTIC shape and I have to see her all the time. My picture was taken for the yearbook the other day and I didn't realize how chubby my face still looks which only made me feel worse. Help!

 

[pressju]

Working Moms help

So let's be realistic. On your schedule, with little ones, you are already burning serious calories just keeping up with this life of yours. So, if you can get up at 4:30 2 days during the week to put in 30 minutes (love the 4DS cardio workouts! IMAX 2 #1 5 one day, 6 - 10 the next day) then put in 1 or 2 workouts on the weekend, that should do it. If you can manage a workout at the end of that long day of yours also great, but I am stuck to my couch snoring after work and kids so cannot imagine! One day a week how about hubby watches the kids for 30 minutes and handles dinner while you work out at 5pm?

The other thing I did when my two DDs were babies was to make dinner ahead on the weekend and freeze it (little turkey meatballs, turkey meatloaf, pureed the organic steamed veggies into ice cubes for baby food, chopped up veggies to steam during the week). Into tupperwares labled with the days to nuke them. And we live on Amy's Pizzas in this house with a bowl of edamamme (or whatever veg you can get the kids to eat). Those 2 or so hours I put in Sundays set me up for the week. Then my hubby wasn't so intimidated by making dinner. Eventually he got sick of what I made and started making stuff himself. Now my kids can hang in the family room while I exercise. They're 8 and 6 so it took awhile!

But when they are little babies until I found 5 or so, they just want Mommy. Scale back your expectations big time and do what you can. Eat well, take your vitamins, especially Bs, and drink plenty of water. I am a full time working mom and pro-equal partners and all that but I really believe that Mommy is the main focus of the family. And when Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy. Exercise makes you happy, so get hubby and family involved to support your ability to get it done.

Good luck. It gets better!

Julie

 

[mabdoo]

I think I am going to have to try and get up at 4:30. I don't see any other option at this point. I am like you, Julie. I fall asleep as soon as I sit down.

 

[coloradomama]

I went back to work a few months ago and it was a shocker! I still am learning how to manage my time, but one of the biggest things that helps is that I will prepare most of the week's meals on the weekend and then freeze them. We make our menu ahead of time so we know what we're having, go grocery shopping on Saturday, then prep meals on Saturday and Sunday. We also schedule super easy meals (BLT's with turkey bacon...YUM!), cheese tortellini and salad, etc, for nights that are a bit hectic.

I now wake up at 4:45 and work out at 5:30 as DD gets up at 7am and we leave at 8am. How old are your kids? Stroller age? Older? They can always ride in a stroller or ride their bike while you go walking together in the evenings. Make sure DH is helping you out wherever possible and like Julie said, do two workouts on the weekend and two during the week. That's 4 days a week of exercise yet not too overwhelming. If I don't work out in the morning, it doesn't happen as once my butt hits the couch, it's over for me

 

[DeborahG]

Everyone's different, but I find that if I don't workout before the kids get up, I don't do it at all. I am just too tired after work/dinner/packing lunches for the next day, etc. to workout. So I get up at 4:00 a.m, have a cup of coffee, and get going on my workout by 4:45. (Sometimes I even use the time between getting up and starting my workout to make the kid's lunches, if I didn't do it the night before.) Let me tell you, it takes a while to get used to exercising early if you're not doing it all ready, so you have to give it some time (and give yourself slack if there are mornings you're just too tired). There are still many mornings that I can't imagine getting up and "jumping around" when my alarm goes off. That being said, it is really the ONLY way it gets done for me, and when it's 6:00 a.m. and I'm already done with my workout, I am SO glad I did it. Just in time before the kids start waking up.

I hope you find something that works for you. This is my way, but not everyone's. Most importantly, don't worry about your adjustment period. You have enough things to think about! And you'll figure something out, I'm sure.

Good Luck!

Deborah