I need to start exercising, but my kids are up at 6, and I go nonstop until they’re in bed at 8:30, then all I want to do is curl up and watch TV! How do I motivate myself to carve out some real exercise time? (I used to put them in the stroller and walk, but now that they’re too big, they want to ride trikes/scooters and go SO slow it takes us an hour to get around a few blocks- not a great workout for Mom!) Any great ideas on motivating yourself to get to the gym before the kids wak up/after they’re in bed, or working exercise into your daily routines while maintaining the household stuff? Thanks so much…
Busy moms: how do you motivate (bribe?) yourself to exercise during the day?
Previous post: Midwest Scooter Tour (Part 2 /Day 1, Madison)
Next post: razor e100 eletric to gas conversion (with weedeater motor)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Well the first thing that I do differently is I NEVER watch TV. It is a waste of time. I might have the news on in the morning while I’m running around the house getting ready… but thats it. There is so much more to do with life! If you’re tired – go to bed earlier… and then maybe you can wake up earlier and work out.
My second advice is to ditch the “gym” idea. Just work out at your home… the time you waste in the car driving and “getting dressed” to look decent before leaving is silly. You could have been done working out by then!
My third advice is – haha… don’t worry! I don’t work out.
I know that it is something I should do… but at the end of the day – its just not close enough to the top of my priority list.
I’m the same way, kids are 3 and 6 and they’re up at 6 am and down @ 8:30.And you’re right doing it at the end of the day is hard to do so I make sure I get my ”me time” by getting up @ 5 am and going for a run. It gives me great energy for the day and I really want it so therefore it happens. I always made up excuses as to why I could exercise until I looked at the weight I was still carrying and I had to do something so that’s my motivator, keeping me in shape and getting my ”me time”–I do it early, first thing before the kids waken up.
I found that getting to the gym was impossible!! However, I do get up about 45 – 1 hr before I get the kids up in the morning. It does mean getting up at about 5:00, but after the first 2 weeks of struggling to do so, I started to really enjoy the hour of QUIET in the morning. I invested in an eliptical machine (it cost less then a year membership to the gym) and I upgrader our netflix to 3 dvd’s at a time, and 1 of them is reserved to be my workout video. I rotate doing the eliptical machine and the dvd’s. It is easier to get up and work-out at home then to get up and go to the gym and it saves time. My daughter (4) likes the workout videos. She thinks they are like dancing. She is the one that sometimes wakes up early in the morning, so she will do it with me. And we have a rule that if they do wake up early, then they have to let mommy finish. They can do it with me, but I will not stop to get someone breakfast or anything.
Another thing, is I found a park that I can walk around and still see the whole playground. There wasn’t really a walking path, but I made my own. Now that my kids are old enough to play on their own, I can walk around and watch them while they are playing, but briskly walk.
Good luck! It is really really hard to drag yourself out of bed the first few weeks, but after you get started, you will have mor energy during the day.
Seriously, the only way I was able to get myself to do it consistently was to plan a “warm” vacation with some friends, one of whom is skinny as heck, and know that I would feel awful in a bathingsuit next to her if I didn’t do something about the extra weight I was carrying around. Terrible, I know, but it worked. My second child is due next month and I’m already trying to get her and her kids to come visit this summer. I know I’ll need the motivation again…
I just started today. I told myself I want to be healthy and be around when they get married, have babies, and I want to be here for my Grandbabies lives too! You don’t have anything if you don’t have good health.
Good luck.