To think it’s so hard to be healthy working full time?

[Strawbales]

Probably I’ll be flamed here but what the hell.

So when I was at home FT I could go to the gym and use the crèche for childcare for an hour or so. I went on massive long walks with the children, easily doing 20,000 steps some days.

Now … well. I am tired, all the time, I don’t get to go to the gym, I don’t get to go on long walks and because I’m so tired I’m eating rubbish

Please help me before I gain shedloads of weight.

It's difficult to offer advice because you haven't given much information. What type of job do you do? What hours do you work? How do you travel to work?

I drive to work - no option of changing that as I do nursery drop offs and pick ups. I teach so it’s quite full on.

@Strawbales yanbu teaching isn't normal full time though. It's 60 hours a week in term time.

Most people who work full time will probably be done for day at 6pm and then can focus on having food sorting kids and house and squeezing in some exercise.
Most evenings I still have an hour or two of work to do once the kids are sorted and we've eaten.

I finish before 6, but DP finishes at around 5. But then it’s stressful managing the children until bath and bed time. I could leave DP to it but seems a bit unfair!

Leave Dh to it

It's not unfair it's sensible and what most people do

Agree time each

I had this and ended up buying some gym equipment so that if I had 20 mins then I could workout a bit. This evolved into getting an Apple Watch and apple fitness+, pricy but still quids in compared to the gym. I have a spin bike, a rower and a set of dumbbells but there’s loads of no equipment stuff on AF+ so I could get away with just the dumbbells and still have great workouts. Mostly I do HIIT, weights, dance, yoga with the odd bit of spin and rowing mixed in. Just having 10 mins sessions available means it’s easier to say yes to and exercising gives you that energy boost to do better elsewhere.

I could be healthier but I work p/t & have a small commute so yes I agree with you. If you're out of the house 7-7 & have kids fitting in exercise must be tough & I know when I'm tired I don't eat so well.

I also think some people are better are prioritising or have different priorities. I socialise quite a bit with friends & family so exercise is below that.

I'm home no later than 4.30 on the days I work but then I'm making dinner or might be at a play date. Need to fit in homework & reading & bath, it's full on.

Do you have a step counter watch? I teach year R and do about 8000 steps a day without trying just moving about. I'm lucky to live a 15 min walk from school so walk there and back a few times a week.

If you're primary you could join in with PE whilst teaching it, sounds silly but the children love it and it's part of the working day. Try to do more steps if on break duty etc, it all adds up.

Can your DH help out more at home so you can do a youtube exercise session once or twice a week? Big family walk at the weekend?

Food wise, keep it simple. Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch in a flask?

I find the exercise side of things tough when working full time. It's easier in the summer as evening walks are nice, but at this time of year.. no thanks.

The diet is easier to fix, though. There are so many slow cooker recipes that are healthy. Batch cook those, and others, at the weekend, and freeze portions so you can just grab one out of the freezer in the evening. Have lots of healthy snacks available, and get rid of unhealthy ones. If you're having a chocolate bar for a treat at the weekend or something like that, don't buy it in advance - walk to the shop to go and get it.

It can be tough, but there are ways around it.

I'm out of the house 7-5.30 and very sedentary. The only way I can deal with eating is to eat relatively little during the day (around 400 cals) so that I don't need to be so strict when I get home.

I suppose I'm quite lucky to have such an active job. I'm a nurse and I run around like crazy and eat salads, fruit and porridge at work.
At home is another story though. I have three young children so by the time I've sorted them out I either don't eat or get a takeaway. There is no in between .

strawbales I'm not sure I have any solutions but just wanted to offer some solidarity and to let you know you are definitely not the only one feeling this. I am a single parent to 3 who has just gone up to 0.8 from 0.6 and I am also struggling to balance being healthy with the teaching workload. I think it is possibly even harder this academic year when there is so much pressure to fill the gaps caused by the pandemic. The only solution I have come up with for healthier eating is batch cooking and pulling out the slow cooker so dinner is quick when I walk through the door with the kids just before 6.

Definitely tough - i'm a secondary English teacher and have young children. My husband works 3pm-1am.

5.30am up
6.00am drive to work
7am - 4pm work. 30 mins for lunch.
5pm collect 4 & 1 year old from my mum's
5.10 home, do spellings and make tea
6.00 have tea, do bathtime
7.15 story and bedtime
7.30 tidy up, sort washing
8.00 planning, marking, washing hair etc.
10.30 bed

I'm usually on about 7000 steps per day but i don't know where I would squeeze in another 5k.

For food, i never have breakfast, i have salad or leftovers for lunch and pretty varied evening meal. But i'm prone to snacking far too much which affects my weightloss.

YANBU, on my working days I'm either working or with DC from 6.30am (sometimes earlier) to around 9pm and by then I'm exhausted. Lunch break I have 30 mins - but also need to make and eat lunch in that time. I'm lucky to get a 10 min walk.

I have a folding exercise bike I haul out once Dd asleep around 8.30 or so. I do this while watching Netflix as much as I can squeeze in during the week depending on how I’m feeling. I try and exercise at weekends when DH is home but I’m constantly sick at the moment so it’s taken a back burner this month

The only way I can do it (2 kids and an academic so long hours) is to get up at 5am. I have some kit at home and there are some super early gym classes by me.

It’s not for everyone and did take a lot of getting used to for me but I need exercise for my mental health and this is literally the only way I can do it! I am in bed by 9 Sun-Thu to accommodate it, which is. Sacrifice many people don’t want to make. I find it worth it though.

Of course it’s harder to find time to exercise.

But this is what you need to focus on: “I’m so tired I’m eating crap”

That’s a choice, part time or full time.

You know the phrase, “you can’t put run a bad diet?” Well - that!

You don’t need time to exercise to avoid weight gain. You need to cut whatever link you have between “tired” and “crap food”. Because I am certain that’s psychological, not time. It takes LESS time to microwave a fresh shop bought tub of chicken soup at 200 calories, than it does to have an 800 calorie pizza.

If you eat healthily, you’ll feel better and not gain weight, and you’ll then have more energy to exercise in the moments where you do realise that you have a bit of time.

I only just started exercising (SAHM with a toddler who has just started nursery PT) and tbh I thought the same. How the hell does anyone do this on a regular basis with a fulltime job and kids. I don’t feel like i have enough hours in the day sometimes and my DD is out of the house for a few hours.

I started the beginner shred by jillian michaels. Its 20 minutes and not as crippling as 30DS. I do it 5 days a week.

I feel the same. I'm a single mum working full time in a very busy job with a commute. I don't have time or the opportunity to exercise or even the money to pay for a gym. If I don't eat with DC (because they have eaten in childcare) I eat whatever I can find that's easy.

Are you doing all the nursery runs? If so, that's your problem - leave DH to it once or twice a week and use that slot for exercise

This is how I usually managed to stay on top of it. Get up earlier and run / do yoga or whatever. Use a slow cooker and batch cook at the weekend. But it is hard, and sometimes you just have to accept that it’s not going to happen

Weight gain and loss is almost entirely diet driven, not exercise.

So if you are worried about that, what you eat should be the focus, not trying to fit in the gym.

Prepping food at the weekend for the week ahead helps some people - meals planned out so you know what you have having for dinner. Making sure you take chopped fruit etc to have easy snack at work breaks etc.

Can you and DH take it in turns with the kids bedtime? I know it makes it a bit more work on the night you have them but then you get a night off - for exercise or seeing friends etc.

The best way to get exercise in is for it not be exercise, just part of your daily routine. Could you cycle to nursery and work?

I feel the same, only mine are much older DC and I work compressed hours. Between work which is hellish and takes me away from home for up to 3 days at a time, running house, running a taxi service and finding time for friends I'm on my knees. For me its the work. Its literally taking years off my life......and I only signed up for 2 days! In my experience employers want more and more to exhaust their existing staff whilst others languish on benefits struggling to find work. My other observation is that men seem to still prioritise sport and hobbies, often at the expense of exploiting their partners. But then I'm not keen on work, not my job in particular, just work. I find it suffocating and feel it is an infringement on my time, time I'd rather devote to my family, my interests and looking after myself. And that's all work. Mentally and physically I'm far less healthy when working for an employer.

Oh so much kindness and thank you

For those of you who are single parents or who have a husband working 3-1 am (OMG!) you deserve medals!

I teach secondary and to be fair I do clock up a decent amount of steps during the day but I think a lot of it is pacing the classroom 🤣 not the same as a decent walk in the fresh air pushing a pram.

You’re absolutely right re the unhealthy choices but it just is such an easy and bad habit to sink into. No time for breakfast, often no time for a proper lunch either, result is that by 4 o clock I’m so hungry and then tempting to buy crap!