to think that not that many mothers have time to 30-60 minute workouts every morning?

[showtunesgirl]

Apparently that's what Maria Kang does.

Now I only have one almost two year old and just can't figure out how you would fit that in with even with one child let alone the three that Maria Kang has.

If anyone out there also does this, can you please let me know your secret?

Well I did go through a phase of getting up early to exercise, but DS2 has developed a tendency to wake up a 5.30, and DH leaves the house for work at 6am so mornings are out.

DS2 doesn't nap during the day, and won't let me exercise if he is awake because he just climbs on me.

He starts preschool in a fortnight and I will have two precious mornings a week when I will try and shoehorn in exercise, haircuts, clearing out cupboards and anything else that requires being childfree.

overmydeadbody exactly!

I get that some people don't have a partner to watch the kids so fitting in exercise can be difficult. However most people can find time to slouch around in the evening, I'd love to do this but force myself to shred / gym for an hour instead.

Don't moan about it if you can't be bothered to sacrifice things!

I got a good sports bra from sainsburys for £8. I wear leggings from Primark, any old vest or t shirt and trainers from sports direct. I also have a swimsuit for £7 from sports direct.

In terms of food - I love food! That is why I was in this position to start with. I just amended my diet to have no butter, used a 100% olive oil spray so used hardly any oil. Didn't really eat much bread, pasta or potato and very small amounts of rice.

A typical day would be a vegetable broth made from chopped celery, carrots , onion and courgette, fried in 2 sprays of oil with herbs and seasoning. Then simmered in vegetable stock for 15 mins. I would then put a piece of salmon or white fish or chicken in this and poach it. For dinner a salad of chopped tomatoes, put lentils, cucumber, spinach, peppers, a few cubes of salad cheese, a few sun dried tomatoes, beetroot, pickled onions, capers, a few slices of griddled pollenta cake and a protein source: either a griddled thin-cut sirloin steak or chicken breast of piece of tuna, tin of crab. For breakfast half a grapefruit and a small bowl of porridge. I love all of these ingredients so to me this was just as delicious as pizza.

And butternut squash soup is like drinking cream and honey and is so good for weight loss!

And miso soup with tofu and spring onions and just plain old tomato soup is wonderfully filling yet low fat and tasty too. It just takes a little getting used to not having bread with it - but you can easily have a simple salad of rocket and tomatoes on the side instead!

I love food so much I'm making myself hungry just typing this. Now to make some dinner!

I like food, but I'm not so enthusiastic about it that I'd say I love it and I only really think about it when I'm hungry.

I'd imagine most people could make some food substitutions without feeling too deprived if they wanted to improve their diets?

I love food but I also love exercise
Low carb/primal works for me

Exactly lazysuzanne.

The spray olive oil was such a simple game changer for me. One spray was around 5calories and a few sprays was enough with a good pan to cook anything I needed. To have cut it out altogether would have psychologically made me feel like I wasn't able to make any of the types of meals I made before I started being more conscious. But it cut so many calories out of every meal just to make this change.

Using lots of capers and drained sun dried tomatoes and beetroot in salads removed the need for salad dressing.

Pollenta substituted for chips/ mash very easily.

And I found that when I changed both eating habits and started exercise they complemented each other so made me more committed to each aspect of getting fit and healthy.

I don't mind what anyone else eats but this has made such a positive impact to my life I can only say if you want to do it just start eating a little better and doing some exercise. It doesn't have to be going from inactivity and bad diet to 5 days a week complex gym regime and vegan diet...its a gradual thing. Find what time you have and start something and it will spiral from there. I can dead lift most women's body weight after a few months and do push ups and chin ups and I feel invincible!

"Prefer to slouch"!

Ooh that pisses me off!

My working day runs from 6am to 8.30pm with me doing absolutely everything involved in working full time, looking after a toddler (nursery runs etc as well) and running a household by myself. When I finally sit down at 8.30pm, it's to eat my dinner. Can't exercise immediately after food and 9pm is far too late to eat dinner regularly. I then do another hour of ad hoc chores (sewing, tidying etc) and fall into bed at 10pm.

I get up 2/3 times during the night to settle my son, who is not the best sleeper.

At weekends, I do plenty of running around exercise in the park or out and about, but I would love to go to the gym or swim one or two nights in the week. It's just not possible financially or in terms of childcare needs.

So, I'm not fucking slouching or a lazy arse that can't be bothered. I'm a 100% single parent who has had less than ten evenings out in 3 years.

What exactly should I sacrifice?

Theincidental, I find it tricky to fit in exercising around meals, I like to leave several hours in between eating and any exertion or I just feel sick and horrid :(

YY Lazy I live on a big circular housing estate on a hill. I go round the estate as fast as i can TWICE which takes an hour each day. The fact that im losing weight and my mood is a lot brighter makes me feel better.

I NEVER lose off my boobs though 11 years ago i lost ten stone but ONE cup size. my big boobs are more to do with genetics My paternal grandmother"s were the same.

Darkest, your walking sounds like just the job! Keep up the good work:o

polenta can easily be substituted for chips

Not in this house it can't, polenta is grim as hell.

I often use a treadmill whilst wearing a heart rate monitor.
I find that walking up a steep-ish incline puts my heart rate up as much as jogging does, so I think we can say that, in many respects, uphill walking is as good as jogging (?)

Maria Kang can fuck right off. My excuses are as follows:

• Fibromyalgia, on my off days I can't walk without excruciating pain

• The drowsiness from my medication, getting up early means waking up at 4:30am to get out the door for 6am.

• Of the low impact exercises I can do, swimming and yoga mostly, one is expensive and both are miles away from where I live and I don't have a car.

• I have a 2 hour commute and a 12 hour workday which leaves me exhausted in the evening

I think I'm in pretty good shape considering, but I'll never look like Maria Kang and frankly I don't want to dedicate so much time to something so self defeating. Once you've achieved the body you want, you're engaged in a struggle to keep it like that until you hit a wall like an unexpected pregnancy, a mental health issue, a financial crisis or sudden illness and then you're back to square one. Life is too fucking short and no-one should feel bad for having other priorities.

Hang on! I did say that it isnt easy to fit in everything if you don't have a partner to help out in the mornings / evenings. Also, 'prefer to slouch' maybe wasnt the best choice of words.

I was thinking of a few friends I have who regularly moan about how unfit they are and how they'd like to be a few pounds lighter. They then eat a massive meal every night and sit watching telly for an hour or two. When OH is on nights, I sometimes don't start exercising til 9pm when I really can't be arsed but I do it so I can feel fit(ter!) and eat more at the weekend.

Miles of walking with pram when they were little. Pilates whilst watching telly. Exercise DVDs at night. My dh works evenings so doesn't hog the telly. I do stretches whilst cooking. I drink lots of water, 3 litres a day. I don't snack or drink fizzy drinks.

At weekends, I go running. If dh has an evening off, I go to the gym, pay as you go. Or run, depending on the weather/ light.

I follow lc boot camp and feel better for it.

tartymctart

But you directed your comments to everyone and judged people you don't know, and worse your friends.

I'm sure they'd be extremely hurt to know you thought them fat and lazy.

If I was your friend I certainly would be.

The phrase "never judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes" springs to mind.

I find walking much harder with DS2 than I did first time round. I'm accompanied by DS1 (2y) who either walks tediously at toddler pace, or needs some kind of buggy or carrier combination to transport the pair of them which is tiring , especially as my PGP hasn't fucked off to the far side of fuck after six months, and wears my joints out quickly.

I fit in an aquafit class once a week, and go to Buggyfit. Buggyfit is a much bigger challenge as again I'm transporting two. I try to fit in DVDs if DS1 is co-operative with naps, and have a good collection of workouts in 15-20 min installments so I can extend if necessary, but stand a good chance of getting through one.

Fitness is a priority to me, and before pregnancy with DS2 I'd managed to get myself very fit, but the logistics of two young children and the PGP being slow to go away is making it much tougher this time round.

Errr since when can you get running shoes, sports bras and the correct trousers for free

Marketing hypey rubbish. You don't need some special pair of trousers for running, I manage it in a pair of £3 Tesco jogging bottoms I bought in the sale. Or a pair of jogging bottoms that are so old and well used that they have well covered the £16 I paid for them about 10 years ago.

I doubt Roger Black ran in a fancy pair of custom designed Nike trainers and a decent sports bra can be picked up with change from a twenty Since you have to wear a bra anyway, why not just make one of them a sports bra ?

To be honest, it's all just good excuses not to do it. I know that because I have been there, done that and used every excuse in the book not to exercise. The actual truth was I just can't be fucked

I get up around 6am (not for exercise as I do this in the evening, but to do the things I used to do in what is now gym time). I don't usually go to bed before 11.30/midnight.

I'm hoping to get back into exercise again. been on placement from uni so getting up at 5.30 as it is for a 13 hour shift. then the days I'm not getting up dh is as he works away a lot so I can't get out for a run . back in uni and more sensible hours for a couple of months soon though!

Can anyone recommend any good short workouts on YouTube (around 20 minutes) for doing in the morning?

I'm fat.

It's time to stop being fat.

Hard what im doing already is working. It shows on the scales and in my clothes. Im a 38K bra possibly a 36 back size now but i never lose off my cup size Sports bras in bigger sizes are fucking hard to find. Even in stores like Yours and Evans ive seen 50C bras The big back size but small cup size And they are NOT sports bras.Well im vice versa.
In my case its not "i cant be fucked" because that 10 and a half pounds didnt come off by me casting an early Halloween spell!

Its NOT a fucking excuse. Im trying to work around it and do what i can.

decent sports bra can be picked up with change from a twenty

not one that will support a K cup bust