To ask what you do 'around' work?

[BlackBean2023]

If you work full time and have a good/great work-life balance what do you do around working hours?

I work in the office most of the time though could work from home more with better planning. I have a cleaner once a week which is a godsend.

I walk the dog early every morning but otherwise my non-working time is spent ferrying various kids to various places or wasted watching crappy TV. My self care is shocking. I don't eat well and have started putting weight on- could really do with losing a stone.

Tomorrow feels a bit like a fresh start so I'm keen to start a new routine/new little habits... help me MNetters!?

@ditzzy I have to start at 8.30 instead of 9 to allow me half an hour to pop out to school (conveniently school is 5 doors down from my house!) - it’s all diarised and agreed with HR!

great thing about exercise is that you can't eat during it

in adfition for strenuous exercise you better not eat for a little beforehand and you will not feel hungry until properly cooled down.

Kids activities, 2x a week I do amdrams, 1x a week hubby does Boardgames.
During show week, we tend to “forget” we have kids.
I take half days that week, hubby goes earlier and has his charity days. We arrange to have our children cared for by grandparents and so on, but basically don’t see them, because every single day, they come in, we go out, they go to bed just as I’m stepping onstage, and Dad is secreting himself in a corner with a headset ready to call action.
it’s two weeks a year, and our family thrives on it.

Can't say I agree with this. Walking has never helped me with weight loss and I do plenty of it as a non car owner. To lose weight you need to do high intensity or weights. And of course eat well.

walking, overall, is fantastic.
it's proven to improve mental health which in turn enables you to be more mindful of other health aspects.

but unless you walk fast, get out of breath, squeeze you tummy and bum, will not burn much calories.

Regarding weight / food.

I find it helps enormously if I have a proper ‘weekly shop’ with healthy options. If they’re in the fridge, that’s what I eat.

If I don’t, I make bad impulse choices.

Weekdays:
usually get home around 6. By the time I've had tea and done a bit of work, or ferried kids,it's around 9. I like to be in bed by 930ish, so I get some reading time before I fall asleep.

I do hit the gym once a Week and do a run after work on another night. Never do anything fun on a school night though.

Weekends: home improvements (not through choice!)
Big run.
Occasionally make kids come somewhere.
Occasionally out with friends if any are about.

Not really sure what you mean by "around work". The days i work from home, the working hours are full, work wise. I save time not having to commute of course, but that time saved just means shorter hours in childcare for the children rather than spare time for me for hobbies. I usually manage to put on washing early in the morning & take it out at lunch.

In summer if i get a quieter day I try to go for a 45 min walk at lunch time.

But other than that, working from home is very similar to working in the office its just the office is inside my house & the coffee is cheaper.

I work at home a lot and it's very busy and completely full on. I can't do anything around work really because I'm working all the time. Tbh I'm exhausted just reading these posts. Feeling exhausted is a feature if my day to day. Some days I'm too knackered to walk to the recycling bin. If I get chance I do various mundane domestic tasks because DP is too lazy to do them, stuff my face with chocolate digestives and Google houses I would buy if I ever won more than £2.90 on the lottery. My idea of meaningful exercise is to dance round the kitchen to the radio whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. Weekends I generally loll about thinking how tired I am and how, given the shit state this country is in, I will probably have to work forever. However I do read many many books, and I am writing a PhD proposal so I'm not a completely lost cause. I love a walk but the weather is awful here, the lighter nights just means I'm more able to see the torrential rain as it turns my garden into a swamp.

I used to work out before work. This means getting up extra early or having a partner who does the kids - my friend and her husband used to do alternate days in the mornings.
Tricky when kids are little but a strict bedtime should give you a few hours in the evening too (when older the kids don't need minding as such). I do craft projects. My husband also played bridge regularly and they'd alternate houses to host.
It's a matter of priority. Think to yourself I want an hour each day just for me then see where you can get it. Then use it - whether it's a long bath, a workout, reading a book. If your child is 16 how about if they cook dinner once a week too?

5 years ago I was fitter and would get up at 6 and do an hour's walk every morning or cycle to allotment and do an hour then go to walk. Then I started lying in bed reading mumsnet instead.

I've got fat and high blood pressure so I've reclaimed my mornings before work and have lost a stone. 2 more to go.

I try and go to the gym 3 mornings a week - wake up at 6 - out to gym by 6.30 and back at 7.30 after a class.

Other mornings I'll either do an hours walk - with a hill and back along by the sea. Or potter around the green house for an hour with a cup of tea.

I like that the exercise so if I go out for an hour with the dog in the evening that's a bonus extra and not my main exercise. As watching a small black dog leap in and out of rivers for an hour isn't great exercise.

we had a training at work regarding project management and dealing with the stress of deadlines etc.
the trainer said that even on the worst day do not drop an activity that gives you pleasure.

@thenewaveragebear1983 it just made me laugh when I read it. You’ve obviously got an HR team that believes in common sense!