I have a crazy schedule that prohibits a traditional gym membership. I know - a lot of people use that as an excuse, but I really do have a crazy life. My day starts at 5:00 a.m. I'm home from work at 5:00 p.m. and immediately pick up my son. He is 2 years old and goes to bed at 7:30 p.m. After 7:30 is when I make dinner, lunch for the following day and maybe throw in a load of laundry. I'm in bed by 9:30 p.m. so that I get enough rest to do it all again the next day.

My point is - I rarely have an hour to myself to escape to the gym. PLEASE - does anyone have suggestions on how I could boost my activity level during the day? I would really appreciate it. I know I would accelerate my weight loss if I could burn more calories.

Ali, I know exactly how that is. Working parents of small children have it particularly hard, and I don't think you should beat yourself up about it.

Just think about moving more than not moving during the day. I have a desk job, so that's really hard to do, but if nothing else I will stand up when I'm on the phone if possible. I got a 25' phone cord specifically so I could move around more when I'm on the phone.

Also, get small barbells or a resistance band and use them when you're home at night. Even if you can't get the cardio workouts in that we all think we need, you can really have a positive impact on your metabolism by building muscle. And that doesn't take time away from home. I know that I can't do really active exercise after about 7:00 p.m. or I can't sleep for hours, but working with weights doesn't have the same effect. And it's really beneficial on lots of levels.

Don't worry too much. You'll have more freedom some day. In the meantime, just try to stand if you're sitting, walk if you're standing, and move around as much as possible in your daily life.

I had a similar situation when my son was two. I tried to play out side with him more, playing ball, go to the park, walking around to smell flowers, finding bugs, take him for a ride in the stroller, rode him on the bike. Sometimes it was hard and i only got a 10-20 minute walk because he was not in the mood after a long day. We would play head sholder knees and toes. I tired to think of thing that he would be interested in and that I could get some exercise as well. It is not the same as the gym but it felt better than nothing to me. Try jumping rope, great cardio even if for only a few minutes at first. Put some music on and dance around while you are doing laundry. I just try to get more movement in when i am at home doing chores. Best of luck to you!

That does sound like a hard schedule. I have a couple of friends who organized a walking lunch break at their office. They eat then go for a power walk outside when it's nice and indoors up stairwells and through halls then downstairs again when it's nasty out. It's not as good as a gym workout, but it's something! I believe that studies have shown 10 bursts of exercise three times a day is actually more beneficial at keeping your metabolism revved than just one 30 minute session!

Hope that helps

I can totally relate to your crazy schedule, Allison. I also have a 2 year old and work a full time job. I work for a 24hour/day call center so my work schedule is always different from day to day, and week to week. One day I might work 8am-5pm, but the next day 5pm-2am. And different days off each week, too. On the plus side, I get to work from home. Most days I get to spend most of the day with my son, and he only has to spend a couple hours a day at the babysitters. I alsob have more control over what I eat being at home, and don't have to spend money on the hour long commute to work.

The downside is that with such a crazy, hectic schedule I have no routine.It's hard for me to create a new habit of exercising daily, without having a routine to stick to. Now that I've had a few fills, and have gotten the hang of bandster eating, I'm going to try and work harder on the exercise part of it. Since it's not feasible to change jobs/careers in order to work a regular mon-fri 9-5 job, I'll really have to get creative with ways to squeeze in exercise. I like the idea of 10 short bursts of exercise throughout the day. That actually sounds do-able. Maybe dancing along with my son when he watches The Wiggles? That ought to burn a few calories, and make him laugh too When he's in a co-operative mood, we sometimes stoll around the mall, since it will soon be too hot to go for a walk outside. (We live in Houston, TX) And doing more housework (with the music cranked up) wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!

Allison - while you are in the kitchen fixing dinner and lunches - try using canned food as weights - such as arm lifts - bicep curls - etc. Also if your child watches any of the Blues Clues - Jo Jo's Circus, that kind of thing....often they have interactive things for the kids to do with them. Join in! Good luck. You are doing the right thing for your child in the long run. he will have you around for a lot longer! CJ

Thank you all for the great suggestions! I knew that when I made the decision to get banded that the exercise was going to be the hardest part. It's great to have so many people to draw ideas from. Good luck to all of you!

I take a three mile walk on my lunch hour. It makes me feel good to know by the time I have gotten home I have my exercising in.

I run because its time efficient, I dont have time for a gym, but I also dont have a schedule as busy as yours. But having a treadmill at home provides a fantastic back up for me, I wouldnt get half the exercise I do because sometimes its 9.30 at night before I have the time, and I cant go out alone then.

I hate getting on the treadmill at 9.30 but I make myself do it.

But I also think you have to be realistic about what you can fit in and realise that it wont always be this way. Your son will get older and you'll be able to exercise around him more easily. But I do think that banding has been successful for me becuase I did it at a time when I could afford to devote some time and energy to myself, had I done this 5 years ago when I had 3 small children it would have been a helluva lot harder.

Allison, buy some of the 2 lbs ankle and wrist weights. After your son is in bed, wear them. Just by adding a couple of pounds to your wrists and ankles, you'll burn more calories when you're fixing dinner, putting in that load of laundry, etc. But do NOT get heavy weights...too hard on your joints.

There are also things you can do while you're doing chores. For example, if you're standing at the kitchen sink, do "kick backs." Just lift your heel to your butt. You can alternate legs or do a set number on each leg. You can then do side raises...lifting your leg out to the side. If those are too easy, then buy some resistance bands and do them with the bands.

The key is to use every opportunity to move more while still getting things done that you need to do. Park further away from your work, take stairs instead of the elevator, etc.

Do you get breaks at work? One of the things I read on a recent study is how 3 10 to 15 minuts walks a day boost the matabolism more thru out the day than one 30 min walk. Perhaps you do 10 min at 10 am, 10 to 15 minutes during lunch and another 10 min at 3.

I was going to suggest getting up early, but I read where you get up already at 5 am, so that doesn't sound feasable. I get up at 5 am myself to get my exercise in (usually), or I do it in the evening - lately its been in the evening. I also have a job where I can take breaks at my leasure, so I sometimes take a break and we have a company gym and I walk on the treadmill for 15 min or so.

Another thing that has helped me out, I use my crockpot to make some easy dishes. you can find many recipes (healthy ones) on the internet, here is one link I sometimes use: Crockpot Slow Cooker Recipes: Thousands of recipes by home cooks like you @ CDKitchen.com This way, when you get home, dinner is already ready, no time needed in the kitchen. Perhaps you can take your child for a walk with you (maybe you could purchase a walker/stroller that the runners use). I used to have one that fit 2 kids in it, and my kids loved our daily walks. They are made with durrable wheels (like on a bicycle) and they go over bumps easily.

I know its hard to fit it in, look for ways to fit in any at all. You deserve some time to yourself, I know its hard, but make yourself a priority, you deserve it.

Alright call me lazy or whatever, but after a day of work etc and dealing with a kid ( i have 2 and although they might have tails they still count!) sometimes you just can't physically muster the strength to get up and workout. I myself sometimes have a hard enough time brushing my teeth. So, heres what I started to do. I bought a little cooler and alot of those ice packs to have my lunch in. THEN I parked in a slot across the lot from my work. At lunch, I would go down the stairs, walk across the parking lot and get my lunch. THEN its a walk back across the lot, up the stairs to go eat. Then as I got more in shape itd b back to the car to put the cooler up. That way I was getting in my exercise without really knowing it and it wasn't in the beginning of the day when I was asleep or at the end of the day when I had to talk myself out of crashin on the couch. Just a thought...

I run because its time efficient, I dont have time for a gym, but I also dont have a schedule as busy as yours. But having a treadmill at home provides a fantastic back up for me, I wouldnt get half the exercise I do because sometimes its 9.30 at night before I have the time, and I cant go out alone then.

I hate getting on the treadmill at 9.30 but I make myself do it.

But I also think you have to be realistic about what you can fit in and realise that it wont always be this way. Your son will get older and you'll be able to exercise around him more easily. But I do think that banding has been successful for me becuase I did it at a time when I could afford to devote some time and energy to myself, had I done this 5 years ago when I had 3 small children it would have been a helluva lot harder.

Hey Jacqui which treadmill have you got? Are you renting yours, or did you buy it? What would you recommend?

I've got a Nordic Track C2050 which is outdated now, I own it. I dont know what its like over there, but in Australia its very expensive to hire a treadmill, it actually cost us less to finance ours over 12 months than hiring would have cost.

I looked for a gym quality machine, big, sturdy and with an orthopaedic deck (its sprung). We paid a few thousand for it, so much more expensive here, but its a great machine. The new Nordic Tracks have little workout chips you can purchase for endless program variety.

Hey Jacqui, Thanks for that. Who fixes the treadmill if the motor breaks down etc? I would look to spend about 1k on a treadmill. Would I be able to get a quality one for that amount? 21 questions ,but how long would you expect it to last?

Susannah

Hi Susannah,

we bought our treadmill at Rebel Sport and they have a guy they use to deliver and install it and he put a sticker on the console so we can call him anytime. Ours was floorstock and did have a blown fuse in the transformer very quickly, he's been out twice, and they recommend a yearly service.

Ours was around $3,000 originally, we got it for $1699 as it was superseded floorstock.

You *might* find a good one for $1,000 though, its just we were going more by the feel and size of them - it had to feel like a gym treadmill if I was going to use it, I didnt want it to rattle, shake, shudder, like the one we'd hired did. You want a fairly strong motor and the orthopaedic sprung deck is fairly important for I think for the sake of your knees.

But I think as far as quality and long lasting-ness (geez, is that a word?) goes, you dont need to spend top dollar necessarily but you may have to to get the speed, incline or program features you may desire.

I'm also tall and long legged and so is Doug, he's 6ft 3 so we wanted a WIDE and big running area, the cheaper machines have a smaller deck which may be just fine by you. We wanted a running machine also, many of them are more suitable for walking with top speeds of 10kms, although I still dont run at faster than that, so it may be ample.

But you really have to try them out, embarassing as it is you have to run and walk on them in the shop.

We paid a bit more too for a machine that could be hooked up to the computer (I need to contact Goanna because her DH was going to make us a cable to run through the house, but she's gone into hiding!) so we have endless programme options.

HTH