to ask if you're a working mum of a toddler...

[Twinklestar2]

Do you manage to stay slim or diet or get to the gym?

I'm working full time, leave house at 7.45, get in at 6.30. Feel like I don't have time to go to the gym - I take half hour for lunch so I can leave early.

I have half a stone to shift. Should I just accept I'm gonna be this weight for a while whilst I'm juggling things?

No and no.

No and no here too. I'm at least a stone over weight

I did Davina DVDs in the evenings. It's easier when the weather gets better so you can go for a run / walk in the evening or at lunchtime.

Though every time twice I lost a bit of weight the inevitable happened and I got pregnant again.

Diet = 5:2. No planning, no special foods. Just don't eat til you get home on 2 days. Then it's a low cal ready meal.

Exercise: really hard in the winter, easier in summer when you can run after work. I found short HIIT routines on YouTube to be the best option, and I got the Insanity DVDs which I enjoy as well.

Basically it's bloody hard and I only cracked it when I went part time. Mind you, I did manage to keep up the exercise when working full time.

I did 5:2. One day when I did have the toddler and made sure we had loads planned and one day at work.

I started running at the weekends and cutting down on food.

I ate an Activia yoghurt for breakfast, a banana for lunch and a very small dinner portion in the evening.

No and no here too. I do one yoga class a week and have recently stopped drinking on weekdays, which I hope will help, but not putting pressure on myself

I used to get up at 5am to go to the gym, come home and shower and get ready. Then take the kids to school/nursery.

Tbh I wouldn't recommend it. I was knackered. I work for myself now, so when I can. Rather than killing myself to fit it in.

I would suggest eating well, rather than worrying about exercise and try to find something to do at home when the toddler is asleep.

I work full time with a 3 year old and an 8 month old. I still have half a stone to go too. I don't have time or energy to get to the gym although I am a member. By the time the kids are in bed and I've finished tidying, washing, getting things ready for the next day then the only thing I'm fit for is bed. It all feels a bit relentless. How do others fit it in?

My kids are older, but I work full time in a sedentary job and then spend time driving the kids to clubs etc. In January I realised I was the biggest I've ever been snd needed to sort myself out. So I've discovered HIIT exercise. Lots on YouTube : Fitness Blender, Joe Wicks the Bodycoach and Millionaire Hoy are a few I use. It's 20-30 mins of giving it 100%, then I jump in the shower and have something to eat. I try to do 3x a week, or get out for a run (Max 30 mins). I think I deserve 30 mins a day to invest in myself.

Yes and no, but I cycle to work

No to exercise. Mine are rubbish sleepers so even if I found the time to exercise, I don't have the energy.

Slim ish. I find it easier to keep weight down when working than on mat leave where the fridge is readily available. I'm towards the end of mat leave number 2 at the moment and hoping to lose some weight once I go back to work.

My youngest has just turned 8 and it's only in the last 6 months I've found the time for the gym and that's only because my eldest is in a swim club so I go to the gym while she trains.

No and no. its so annoying isn't it? I walk 40 mins each way to work via nursery. If i plan my days brilliantly I can sometimes get for a run at lunch time. But I have no solutions...

I have 3 under 6 and travel for work a Lot.

I'm fat.

I love the "go for a run do a DVD" who exactly has the DCs while I'm out jogging? It goes work tea bedtime more work in between running up and down stairs to settle one or another sleep.

I'm going to be a siren after the youngest goes to school.

I managed to train for a marathon when DS1 was a year, I've no idea how I did it. Mostly ran after he was in bed at 7pm and did my long runs at 3.30am (tropics here, have to run when it's cool).

Now that DS2 is here and coming up 2 years old, I go through fits and starts of exercising - haven't been for a run in ages but trying to find the energy to run at 8pm is hard, especially working full time. I know once I get out there I'll be fine, albeit slow. But as the kids are getting older too, I'm finding myself wanting to join team sports so I've just signed up for gaelic football and joining the tennis team at work. That way I figure I'll be getting fit whilst socializing.

I'm not overweight or anything, but I miss that feeling of strength that I got when I was training hard. Now I just find I feel flabby.

Diet and planning. I meal plan every week, only buy food that is for those meals. If the bad stuff is in the house I eat it! Strict during the week and relax and enjoy the weekend. Have recently lost 3 stone and am now keeping it off

I do watch my weight having lost weight after having DS. So my goal is to maintain that.

I do no exercise but then I did none before him so I am probably not your target answerer.

I cannot honestly imagine that I will ever willingly exercise.

I was able to lose a fair amount of weight, maybe a stone and a half when my twins were toddlers. I'd get up early and do 10-15 minutes before anyone woke up. I used wifi fit and other wii exercise games, then did a variety of DVDs. I think theres a lot more choice now with streaming. Diet wise I went for portion control.

I then went for doing C25k in the mornings, over more summer months. I run a lot now, usually with the children and do exercise classes a couple of times a week. It's easier now they're older but a starting small got me moving in the right direction. I do 5:2 now as well, very effective and wish I'd known about it when they were smaller.

2 yo and 5yo. Full time teacher, so after getting in at 6pm, I have marking to do when they're in bed. I tend to do a fitness class on Sat am, and a run on Sun am or early evening. I try to muster a 20 minute DVD or speed work run on a couple of weekday mornings. This is more successful in the lighter months.

Since upping from PT to FT work, my weight has stayed the same. It is harder to fit in now, and I am more tired.

Yes.

Well my toddlers are now 4+ but been the same since birth. I basically excercise with them.

We swim 3 evenings a week. Usually 6.30-7.30pm straight from work. Dh comes also and we take turns fast swimming. Although now both kids can swim well I can also swim with them alongside me.

When babies/ toddlers I would put them in pjs and in pram in evening and Dh and I jogged together. Or alone with them. Now they ride bikes alongside. Usually now I just run with them at the weekends.
I also run one morning early 6-7am. Dh does a different day.

I try and walk miles with the children also as wears them out also! We eat super healthily tbh as I'm slightly ocd about Children getting good food so we all eat the same

I am smaller now than before I go try pregnant. Largely because I had a boob mad sleep refuser. I had to wean DS off milk in the day before he started nursery and this meant spending the last weeks of my maternity leave walking up to 4 hours a day with the pram to try and get him to sleep without being fed to sleep.

I never go to the gym but never did either. I find it a struggle to juggle normal family life, commuting and a 15 month old without adding exercise into the mix.

I just turned my garage into a home gym with the help of MN and Ebay, ostensibly for DS2 who has been ill and needs to exercise but obviously I am supposed to set a good example. In fact I should be in there right now.

Same as Confusedandemployed. 5:2 and HIIT in morning before anyone gets up. I do get to the gym one night a week and once on the weekend; in between I do 10 mins a day of HIIT exercise of my own invention.