to not understand how the fuck people manage it

[gymwhentheduck]

Full time worker, toddler at home, husband who works late... how the hell do people manage to keep fit and go to the gym?! 😭

I want to lose about a stone, maybe stone and a half max.

I've joined a gym and I've managed to go once in 2 months.

Work Mon - Friday, self employed but in a very very busy environment so literally don't stop from the minute I get in at 8am to rhe minute I leave at 5pm. Nursery closes at 6pm, husband not home until approx 6-6:30 each evening.

After collecting toddler it's tea, bath and in pjs and me and DH tackle bed time together. After that it's our tea at about 7:30, finally sitting down to wind down at about 8:30pm.

I am so exhausted and just feel so deflated that it feels absolutely impossible to fit any meaningful form of exercise into my day to day life.

Could potentially ask family to pick up from nursery a few times a week but then get the awful mum guilt of "am I not spending any time with DC though if I do that?!"

How do people do it 😭

And yes I'm aware I guess I could go off to the gym at 9pm so partly me being lazy, but quite honestly by that point I'm a zombie.

I feel so deflated and like I'll never lose anything.

Gym is likely too time consuming for you now.
You could try running/jogging. Or instead of paying the gym every month you could invest in a treadmill. I used to live in the country and it was too dark and therefore dangerous to go running in the evenings but I put my earphones in and ran on my treadmill a few times a week and it was a saviour for me.

Eat dinner early and head out to gym twice a week as your DH gets home from work.

fold out exercise bike once DC asleep, and a walking board. I walk on my lunch as well, sometimes only 20 mins but it all helps. Only have 1 DC but they are late to bed.

The only way I've found that works (I have 3 dc and work full time from 8am-5pm) is to go at 6am for 30 minutes before breakfast/ shower/ even before waking up!

You don't need a gym to lose weight. 90% of weight loss is a sensible diet, 10% is exercise. Walking is great, just speed up a little, increasing distance when ready. YouTube step classes, yoga etc. Gardening, jogging, and so much more. Good luck.

Everyone I know who work full-time and are really fit get up obscenely early and go to bed pretty early too 90% of the time. If you can afford it, I would also second Peloton. I love their tread and their classes. You can also buy a cheaper tread/bike/row and just use their online classes too. This is why I wasn't super fit when my kids were little. I am NOT a morning person. 😀

You don't need to join a gym, though this seems the case now for most fitness regimes. Home streaming (in my case dvds), cycling, walking etc.

I do feel the same though, getting prepared for gym is different to self motivation at home.

Back in the day our parents went jogging, climbed hills, something I still like to do. X

Oh so sorry. Yes we've had these years but found they do settle which ever parent does it. Sorry darling but this is what we have to do, and this with a very ND child. When Mummy is away, when Daddy is away. DC had no choice, shifts and working away for us both, DC got used to it.

Just keep going and have boundaries. X

I hated the gym and wouldn't go if the opportunity presented itself but by the time i got myself in a routine, DH decided he wanted to join aswell and it got such a PIA trying to sort out who was going when, i gave up.

Got myself a smart watch to monitor my steps, walked as much as possible and got a walking pad. Took away any excuses i had if DH was out as i could do it at home regardless and no excuses not to do my steps. I got the 1.5st off i wanted to by squeezing in 40 mins at least once the kids had gone to bed, lunchbreak etc and calorie reduction as well obviously.

When the kids were little I got up and ran for 30 mins most mornings before the kids were awake ( so v v v early) and if they had a weird morning and woke up early then their dad could wake up and get them - he used to stop on the way home from work occasionally for the gym - but it gets easier as they get older - you can do a peloton workout ( for eg) while they play when you trust them to play in the same room as you for 30 mins

The answer is they don't. Like - no-one can achieve these ridiculous things we ask of ourselves.

Save the money on membership and spend it on wegovy. Seriously. The gym won't help you lose weight. Weight is 99% an appetite problem, loaded against you, and it was coca-cola who planted the notion that exercise was implicated in weight. It's not.

Then incorporate more movement rather than "exercise" although you're likely doing enough with a toddler. Housework, walking, lifting the toddler, all exercise.

Joe wicks in the morning or at night and look at food tbh but with a toddler and working ft I’d be kind to yourself and focus on even getting an hour a week of some hobby you’d love (fitness related or not) away from the house

You've just got a child so your life has changed and so have all of your priorities. For a few years your old life is on hold unless you have immediate family who live nearby and have endless free time, have a super-supportive partnet, or are disciplined enough to get up at the crack of sparrow fart, you'll just have to wait til your child hits about 12-14 when you can start reconnecting with your old life again...

For DH and I, we agree to fill up during the day and stop eating by mid-afternoon, so we don’t worry about dinner or tea. We fit walks in with toddler either on our own or as a family depending on the day. It is definitely not easy fitting it all in though! I think don’t be too hard on yourself.

Losing weight is diet related, as people say. But for workouts I use Apple Fitness Plus, on demand vids designed to use at home. You can choose from 10 mins to 45, so fit them in when needed. There is HITT so just need a mat, I do Strength as have done weights, there is also yoga, Pilates, dance.

Afraid I don’t know how much it costs as all part of Apple subscription and ties up with Apple Music etc. But it’s really easy to fit in, no need to go out, use your own shower etc. I’ve used at least 3x a week since lockdown

I know what you mean about not enjoying the gym - I've never enjoyed it either!

But you can do things like park a distance from the nursery and walk - 20 minutes each way in the evening is doable and your ds is still young enough to use a pushchair so you can walk at a decent speed.

Perhaps swap gym membership for slimming world? Would you be more motivated to go out at 7pm to meet a group of other adults?

It's so hard when you want to have the motivation but don't! I think it's more common than people let on!

I have a 4 year old and either go gym in my lunch break (WFH), on the weekend, before I start work or in the evening at around 6. Me and my husband share out our evenings so we both get a chance to exercise and both tend to be there for bedtime after we have exercised

Losing weight is diet related, but if you don't exercise the muscles, you get saggy skin which doesn't support anything, especially if you diet too fast.