Exercise?!

[2big4mysize]

Re: Exercise?!

turn baby play time into exercise time and use the baby as your resistance device. your kid will love being lifted as you do curls and presses, hold it out in front and bring it in for some kisses and then return it, bouce the kid on your knee, lie on the floor and let him him "fly" on your feet as you do leg lifts and trunk rotations. you can do situp and lunges holding the kid out in front of you. as your kid gets older put on a kiddie exercise vide like mousercise and you can both exercise as part of your bonding and getting healthy for life.

put some padding down though just in case and as your kid grows your weights increase too.

for the aeobic part get a pedometer and count your steps each day you can march in place whily you are fixing dinner, washing up the dishes, on your lunch hour, break time in the office running erronds at work etc. first just see what an average day for you is and then ramp it up until you get to around 12500 for weight loss or 10,000 a day known as 10K a Day for health.

and you can add some healthy free exercise like doing a lap of the store before you buy something or a lap of the mall before you enter each store.

[Peytonn]

Re: Exercise?!

I don't even WORK and sometimes it's hard for me to find time... well.. to TAKE time to exercise... I guess most of mine comes from yard work.. farm work.. that kind of thing.. and I have started jogging some again... already did a couple of little 5K run/walk things.. and got a t-shirt..

[AJs-mommy]

Re: Exercise?!

The in-home walking with Leslie Sansone is an excellent program.

^^ A friend of mine at work was just telling me about this yesterday. She does it as soon as she gets home from work and said that her 2 little girls do it with her! I'm going to look for it this weekend.

The weekends are good for walks

^^ We are usually pretty active on the weekends. We go to the zoo or the park or the mall. I can usually fit a work out video in on the weekends too. It's just the weekdays that I find a hard time making time to exercise.

If you get yourself stressed and worn out will you have the willpower to stick to your eating plan?

^^ This has been my main problem since my son was born. I usually become overwhelmed and give up all together.

Have you thought about making large batches at once, then freezing dinner sized portions for convenience? Or buying some of your meats frozen and grill-ready (like salmon burgers, beef patties, etc?)

What is it that you are cooking that requires so much preparation? Is it just new recipes for Atkins that is taking more of your time than usual? There must be a way to shave some of your kitchen time down and get you out walking. Do you have a stroller to take baby?

^^ Because we are on a budget we can only buy enough food for the week. What my mom suggested doing is cooking my weekly meals on Sunday and freezing them. That way I just pull it out and put it in the oven. We are rarely home on the weekends though, but I may be able to do a few meals after the baby goes to bed on Saturday.

Really I don't spend that much time cooking. Generally 30 min- 1 hour, depending on what I'm making. Sometimes, if it's something new, it takes me a bit longer to figure out what I'm doing.

turn baby play time into exercise time and use the baby as your resistance device. your kid will love being lifted as you do curls and presses, hold it out in front and bring it in for some kisses and then return it, bouce the kid on your knee, lie on the floor and let him him "fly" on your feet as you do leg lifts and trunk rotations. you can do situp and lunges holding the kid out in front of you. as your kid gets older put on a kiddie exercise vide like mousercise and you can both exercise as part of your bonding and getting healthy for life.

^^ We "fly" a lot. I also dance with him. He gets a kick out of it, but has a short attention span and gets tired of it after a few minutes. We do piggy back, I push him around on his horsey (which about kills me, lol).

for the aeobic part get a pedometer and count your steps each day you can march in place whily you are fixing dinner, washing up the dishes, on your lunch hour, break time in the office running erronds at work etc. first just see what an average day for you is and then ramp it up until you get to around 12500 for weight loss or 10,000 a day known as 10K a Day for health.

^^ This is a GREAT idea!! I'm getting one this weekend!! I like the marching in place while cooking and washing bottles!!

Thanks all. I'm going to make time... I have to. I just needed a little kick in the butt!!

[MarlaSinger]

Re: Exercise?!

Have you thought about making large batches at once, then freezing dinner sized portions for convenience? Or buying some of your meats frozen and grill-ready (like salmon burgers, beef patties, etc?)

What is it that you are cooking that requires so much preparation? Is it just new recipes for Atkins that is taking more of your time than usual? There must be a way to shave some of your kitchen time down and get you out walking. Do you have a stroller to take baby?

^^ Because we are on a budget we can only buy enough food for the week. What my mom suggested doing is cooking my weekly meals on Sunday and freezing them. That way I just pull it out and put it in the oven. We are rarely home on the weekends though, but I may be able to do a few meals after the baby goes to bed on Saturday.

Really I don't spend that much time cooking. Generally 30 min- 1 hour, depending on what I'm making. Sometimes, if it's something new, it takes me a bit longer to figure out what I'm doing.

I think cooking ahead would be beneficial to you - however I don't think that you need to set aside even more time to do it. When you cook dinner tonight, make tomorrow night's dinner at the same time.

I don't know what you typically cook, but when we were on a tight budget I would make a double batch of seasoned ground beef. Taco salad the first night, chili or spaghetti the third night. Baked chicken the first night, stir-fry or chicken salad the third night. (You could also portion enough to make lunches out of these leftovers for yourself!)

You can always take meats that you do buy and freeze individually on cookie sheets/wax paper, then put into freezer bags and make your own convenience type food.

I know it's crazy with a baby in the house; you are always so squeezed for time. It gets easier when they get older, I promise!

[poobears1972]

Re: Exercise?!

We "fly" a lot. I also dance with him. He gets a kick out of it, but has a short attention span and gets tired of it after a few minutes. We do piggy back, I push him around on his horsey (which about kills me, lol).


Sounds like you are already getting in more exercise and cardio than you think you are. It doesn't have to be a set routine to be exercise. I've yet to start officially exercising but between the 4 kids and the dog I get exercise in during the day without trying to.

[canucme]

Re: Exercise?!

With going to be late I wouldn't get up 1/2 an hour early for exercise. Your body needs its sleep. It can't function without proper rest. Also at lunch you NEED to eat. If you only have 30 minutes and walk for most or all of it, when will you eat? While exercise is part of the program many can lose without exercising, especially in the beginning. I think exercise is important but not at the sacrifice of getting needed sleep or spending time with your child when you are gone a lot.

Like mentioned as he gets older it will get easier. Also it's easier to focus on one major lifestyle change at a time IMO If you get yourself stressed and worn out will you have the willpower to stick to your eating plan?

i am just curious how many hours of sleep do you get on average per night? i always try to get in bed by 9 so i get a full 7 hours but i don't usually fall asleep until closer to 10 and sometimes feel maybe i am not getting enough.

[poobears1972]

Re: Exercise?!

I try to be in bed by 10pm and I get up for good at 6:30-7am. But I also get up at 3 or 4am and take the dog out, get Dh's lunch together etc. Usually takes about 30 minutes. Lots of times I don't fall back to sleep after I get back in bed on the 4am days but I find the down time essential for me. I have health problems that are made a lot worse if I don't have actual in bed time at night.

On nights I don't get much sleep I am in pain and can hardly function the next day + lots of swelling. Sleep/rest is good and I try to make sure I get enough of it.