Working mom of 3, need time/energy to exercise

Don't know how old your kids are, but when my kids were little I used to make them part of my exercise by sitting on the couch and holding their hands, I would have them sit on my feet and then pick them up to where my legs were straight and do that as many times as I could. You can do the same thing with push ups having them on your back. They really enjoyed it.

Edited by: IWILLBEWELLTOO at: 2/2/2015 (20:00)

This topic has really hit home for me. Over the past year I have made little changes that have made a big difference. Like, we now have theme nights for dinner. Monday is Italian, Taco Tuesday, Wake-up Wednesday (breakfast for dinner), Anything Thursday and Fun food Friday. This has really helped in meal planning.

My kids are now both school age and have responsibilities to help with dishes and cleaning. If they bring a toy downstairs, they must take it back to their room when they are done.

My house will be messy. I will not clean it until cleaning day on the weekend. There's only so much time in a day and I just can't worry about it.

I had to evaluate my life, and find what can I do to change the "no time for exercise." I had to give up evening time with my husband. We normally would spend an hour together each night and talk and watch TV. This was "our time." For now we've given that up to try and each walk on the treadmill. As my kids are putting on their PJs, I'm putting on work-out clothes and when the last one is tucked in, I'm downstairs hopping on the treadmill. It sucks, but this last hour of the day is it. It's the only time I have to either spend on me (working out) or us (spending time with my husband). The hardest part is finding the energy after the entire day. I'm really hoping that I'll see results and will have motivation to continue.

When my oldest girls were young and I was a single mother without child support, the thing that always came to my rescue was a supportive family. I spent my off hours going to the park and walking with my girls (both preschool at that time), camping with my sister and her two girls, spending the day at the lake playing in the water, taking them to the library. Even now I still have four boys at home but am married to their father and we still do a lot of family together fun. Whenever my husband and I really need time to ourselves my family is still there for a day or more. We actually took a second honeymoon a few years ago and my sister stayed with the little darlings. Fresh air, sunshine and something as little as a stroll around the block recharges me and them too making everyone's night go smoother.

I am also a working women and mom of two little daughters. I completely understand your problem and yes from my experience, I must say, it,s very difficult to handle work, kids, family. There is hardly any time left for myself.

working mom of 3: stay organized and ask for help...those are my go to's...when that's not enough, I need to realize that this is a phase in life when kids MAY actually come first...when there is time for me, then praise the Lord. I had to put my workout routine on hold because I was never home, had 2 part time jobs...but now I'm down to one...and NOW I can work out a little. don't worry, you'll have time when it is the RIGHT time. you're such a blessing to your fam!

working mom of 4: same goes for you...it's hard to do the split-parenting and a lot of families do it today to keep up with bills. I always say I'm like a single mom, it's so hard...you HAVE to ask for help when you can.
I was lacking energy for months, and so I quit one of my jobs. what can you do to regain energy.
If you don't have your health, what do you have?

help me please?!?!?!? i am a mommmy of 4 girls amber age 7 rebecca age 6 taylor age 4 and rylee thats 10mons.... my husband works constantly to make the bills so it's like i am a single mom having to be both mom and dad at home as well as the maid and the cook. my 10month old is teething and then my husband gets home like crazy hours like 2am - 4am and its like having a second baby waking me when i just went back to sleep from the first baby waking me up. we were doing soccer amber, rebecca and taylor was going 2 days of practice and then games on saturdays. i was working 60 hours a week but as of the last 3wks i've become a stay at home mom because my mother in law was helping us out with watching the girls and now she can't so i had to quit my job so now my husband works extreme hours he's working like 80-90 hours a week. i feel like i am drugged i'm so sleepy i want to go workout but i don't have the energy to move and when the baby sleeps i just want to sleep too.... what can i do ??

I think when you have young kids, things always tend to be crazy! It gets better! Cheering you and all the other moms out there on!

I would find some healthy recipes that the entire family enjoys. The Biggest Loser cookbooks are pretty good, although I no longer like their website. I would just try to sneak in one or two "healthy" meals a week without saying anything, and keep track of the ones your family enjoys. Healthy food doesn't have to taste bad. In fact, the better it tastes, the more likely you are to keep eating it once the weight is lost.

Good luck!! :) We're all rooting for you!

Thank you all so much for your tips and ideas. I didn't outline every single detail of my life, this is only a quick summary, but while I can't do everything that everyone suggested, some of your ideas I CAN do, and I will try my very hardest!

SDSWTP - The last part of your post really touched my heart! Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond! I feel a little revived, so I'll see where it takes me! :)

Thanks Again!

Aww sweetie, I just want to run over there and help give you a break! It sounds like you are running on your last bit of energy!

I'm a mommy to three little ones also, work full time, and feel your pain!! (My husband and I actually work for the same company, so at least our hours are the same - I imagine it's hard to have any real time with your husband when you both are operating at such a fast pace all week.)

I think it's wonderful that you are even asking how to work in exercise (it means you are thinking about it!) and it sounds like you also want to get a handle on everything else.

We've learned in our house to let some of those obligations go. My 8 year old was doing cub scouts every Wednesday (and loved it), he and his 10 year old sister both doing karate, and the 3 year old wanted to do it all. We were working 12+ hour days, commuting 2 hrs, and then doing all of that. We were WORN OUT!

We ended up eliminating the karate and cub scouts (and you know what? None of the kids really seemed to mind that much). We joined a gym and have been going before work (which is hard sometimes because we're getting up at 3:30 to get our workout in before we have to be at work at 6:30. We are only going 4 days a week, which still gives us days to sleep in. We moved bed time up and my kids know they have to be in bed by 7:30pm.

I do not do laundry (unless the world is coming to an end - ex: my 3 year old spills juice on her favorite sleep pants and HAS to have them RIGHT NOW) during the week. If I do, it's only one load. I save it for the weekend and just run it over the 2 weekend days as I have time.

I'm not a rock star meal planner, but I try to make a grocery list based on the meals I will cook each week. Sometimes my kids have frozen pizza or ramen noodles for dinner. Sometimes they have it two nights in a row. I won't win Healthy Mommy of the Year, but that's ok. They get fed and I get to keep my sanity.

I'm not going to pretend that we have it all together (in fact, last night I thought I was going to pass out, I was so tired), but I can say that more often than not, we find the time to cook dinner together, I sneak in a work out video at night while my husband hangs out with the kids, and we make playing in the yard together something we aim for a few times a week.

Trying to find the time to make it ALL happen is so hard! Sometimes, I guess we just need to realize that taking the time to take care of ourselves is really important.

Picture this: How would Kendal, Kara and Jake like a mommy with a lot more energy? How about a mommy that wasn't tired a lot? Or a mommy that could just have fun with them?

A mommy that allows herself the time to exercise (steal 20-30 minutes a few days a week...seriously, do it) is a mommy that will find herself more relaxed, stronger, healthier, and more equip to deal with all that comes with being mommy.

We have to make time for ourselves! At this point, just try to steal a few minutes for yourself without feeling guilty about it. The laundry can wait. All of your "chores" can too. The most important chore you have is taking care of you so that you can take care of all of them.

Good luck and don't give up!!

Keep laundry to weekends only. The older children should most certainly not only be cleaning up after themselves, but helping with other chores as well.

make time to exercise. make healthy meals. make anything you want, but DO NOT make excuses!!!


I'm rooting for you. You CAN do this!!!

I am most definitely in the same boat as you. I have three children, 10, 9, & 6 and I work full time and I am a full time grad student. I am so exhausted the thought of working out stresses me out, but I found that I know our puppy will sleep better at night if I walk him so we go for a mile long walk and I take the kids. This became a priority so I could sleep better. Maybe use your crockpot in the morning so when you get home at night you have a little free time to throw in a work out video. Do exercises at your desk at work. You tube ideas for that.

some ideas - you can go for a walk around the field while your daughter is at softball. As a piano teacher, consider having in home lessons to free up 30 min. You should never be cooking separate meals for yourself, everyone needs to be eating the same healthy food. If you have a set menu for the days of the week (pasta night, chicken night, etc) it makes meal planning a snap..once you have the basic menu in the rotation, choose meals based on the sales, it literally takes me 5-10 minutes once I figure out what to eat. I also assume that you have a break sometime at work, go for a walk then.

I am SO discouraged! I am a working mom of three, Kendal- 7, Kara- 5, Jake- 7mos. I do not get home until 5:30 in the evenings, and I don't ever sit down until I put my head on the pillow at night, most nights that is between 10:30 and midnight. My husband helps as much as he can, but he works crazy hours where he gets up at 3 a.m. for work and I sometimes have no clue what time he will get home, could be 2 p.m., could be 5 or 6. When he does get home, he is exhausted, and he goes to bed at 9 p.m. to get back up and do it all over again. Anyway, when I get home, I have to fix supper and tend to the kids, clean up, and try to fit any cleaning, laundry etc. in between there. Both of which I am never caught up on and completely overwhelmed with. Everyone is usually tucked in bed by 9:30 p.m. and then I go back to cleaning and laundry, and packing the kids up for the next day, until I'm exhausted and can't physically do it anymore. My alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m. to start my day all over again. My oldest daughter plays softball, and usually has games 2 nights per week and my other daughter takes piano lessons once per week. I really struggle finding any kind of balance in my life, and then trying to add working out in on top of it just seems unfathomable. I don't know how to do it. I've tried to set my alarm to get up at 6 a.m., but after going to bed at midnight, I just can't drag myself out of bed to do it. I've also tried getting my workout in after all my chores at night once everyone goes to bed, and I can feel my body shutting down as I'm trying to workout. I'm so disgusted. I've tried every pill, diet plan, shake, etc. out there on the market. Phentermine I have found to work wonders, but my doc is hesitant to give it to me anymore because she doesn't like the effects it can have, although I've never had any. Most recently I've tried the 21 day fix and I LOVED it, but again, I struggled with finding the time for the meal planning, and then getting my workout in on top of it. Plus, it's so difficult to make meals for myself and then make something else for everyone else. :-(

What can I do??? I'm so frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!! Please help!