Exercise no motivation or time with 8 month old baby single mom

[LD233]

Hi so I'm a single mom to an 8 month old baby. I used to be proper into my fitness, cardio and weightlifting and before I had my son I was in the best shape of my life. Super toned and fit and healthy. However since I've had my son I've put a ton of weight on and I have no motivation or energy or time to exercise anymore. I'm a single mom and rarely get help from his dad once a week or less at the moment. I'm with my baby day in day out and I am absolutely exhausted all the time. I try to go on longer walks. Just wish I had the energy to exercise. How do parents fit it in? How do you have the energy?! It makes me feel crap as I was so motivated before and now I hate my body again! Being a mom especially on your own with little to no help is absolutely exhausting. I love my baby but its hard and draining. But I stay strong for him - I just wish I had some motivation to workout and eat better!

I'm more motivated post-baby, I want to be healthy, active and well to be the best parent I can. I do fast walks with the buggy including plenty of hills, almost treating it like a run. When they're napping can you do a quick YouTube weights workout? Now they'll be eating, that should be a good motivation to prepare healthy meals you can share with baby.

I do walking with pram, walking with sling (telling myself it's like walking with weights😎) and 10 mins Joe Wicks on YouTube on stairs landing when baby is sleeping as he has a few quiet/ low impact workout 😁 also eating what baby is eating when weaning saves time and money and it's pretty healthy too

I think the key is to set your goals ridiculously low to start with, so instead of saying, I'm going to walk 5 miles every day with the buggy and then do a 40 minute HIIT workout after DS has gone to bed every evening, start with, I'll walk for half an hour twice a week and do the 10 minute Joe Wicks on Tuesday and Sunday.

Or are there any Mum and Baby exercise groups nearby? I see them in local parks sometimes.

It is somehow worse when you have been super fit and strong in the past because you do tiddly little bits of exercise and wonder why you are bothering.

It does get better!

Investing in a running buggy (definitely look second hand) is really helpful because you can do a run and get baby to sleep in the buggy at the same time. I know running isn't for everyone but it's a good starting workout where you can take your baby with you! They're normally suitable for 6m+ as long as baby isn't small.
Definitely start small and work your way back up.

At his age and your stage of “recovery” lots of walks sound fine. Eat well, drink lots of water and try to sleep as much as you can in your circumstances. Plenty of time for a more structured routine as baby gets older.

It is exhausting being a mum of an 8 month old, mine is 11 months now and it’s only been the past couple of months I’ve managed to get into a good routine with exercise and even then it’s hard! I started off by joining two groups. One is a buggy fitness class which is at a park which is really fun and the other is a circuit class, both I take baby with me to and both are at a good pace where it’s fine to stop and look after baby whenever they need your attention. I have joined park run on Saturday mornings which I take baby to aswel. I’m struggling motivation wise to do home workouts but I find committing to these groups helps me to keep that routine x

Join the “eatburnsleep” platform and get a peloton if possible then you can cycle/do a million classes at home