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Original poster

How do you fit exercise around being a mum - if at all?

79 replies

eggybreadandbeans · 12/06/2006 23:18

My ds will be two on Wednesday. I haven't exercised really since cycling to work pre-pregnancy, and I'm missing it. I want to start exercising regularly again.

I'm wondering how to fit in three worthwhile sessions of something a week with a very lively (and at the moment quite clingy) two-year-old to keep amused and out of mischief.

What sort of exercise do any of you do? When? Where? How? Where do your little ones go - or do you exercise with them around?

Grateful to hear what works for any of you. Thanks.

OP posts:
Cod · 13/06/2006 22:32

6 am to run
some mornigns

JonesTheSteam · 13/06/2006 22:34

Yes me - I got up at 6.45 this morning to go for a run, and it nearly killed me. Grin

handlemecarefully · 13/06/2006 22:34

Barmy as hell!

beansontoast · 13/06/2006 22:34

i do it in my head

brimfull · 13/06/2006 22:40

another david lloyd non straightener attendee here,go when ds at preschool as it's better than housework.

melbob · 14/06/2006 01:03

Hi
I have ds 23 mths and work full time. get up at 6.30 spend time with him and get ready for work then he,dh and I all have breakfast together then I leave for work about 7.45. sit in car drive to work (no public transport option) suit at desk get back in car drie home arrive at 6.30 ish play with ds and do bedtime have chat and dinner with Dh who is SAHD and needs adult inut by then. tine then 8.30-9 and cannot muster energy for exercie but lord knows I need to!

clairemow · 14/06/2006 08:44

Another david lloyd person - DS goes into the creche every tuesday pm with two of his friends and the three mums do a work out. Two of us heavily pregnant at the moment, so do quite a bit of chatting as well.. Also go swimming on Sat am, which is my time, while DH has DS. Before I was pregnant, I used to do pilates one evening as well and run 5 km fairly regularly once DH was home in the early evening! I think if you have a DH who's supportive of your efforts it really helps.

Also have no motivation whatsoever to do exercise videos at home. Very impressed by meowmix - I wouldn't get up at 5 am for anything except going on holiday... thank god DS doesn't wake up that early or I'd be in a fix.

speedymama · 14/06/2006 08:46

Weekends, I do between 3-5 miles around the park (pavements bad for my knees)first thing in the morning.

I have also joined the gym at work and endeavour to do one session a week.

Also, I'm really into Davina McCall's DVD plus I really like my old Jane Fonda Video. When the mood takes me, I also use my exercise bike.

Plus I always try to do crunches, press ups and dips whenever I have a spare moment.

On the days I don't work, I always go for walks with the twins and play with them a lotSmile

I do weigh less than when I had the twins 2 years ago but my tummy is resisting to revert back to its original stateGrin

h23 · 14/06/2006 08:48

do you have a PS2? i got an exercise 'video' for xmas (it's called itoy kinetic) - but you play it through the playstation with an itoy camera, so that it's more interactive than just a video. therefore you can't cheat! if you take a break then the camera sees you aren't moving and you don't score points!
you can use it as and when you like or there is the choice of a 12 week programme. i did that and lost weight and loads of centimeters off my body.
DD goes to bed at 6pm though, so there's time once she's in bed to use it.

SSSandy · 14/06/2006 08:51

Nowadays, I'm getting back into it after a two year break...
Thursdays Tennis
Sundays Aerobics

What I am trying to do is go for a half hour run every second evening when dd is in bed around 9pm but I can't run for more than 5 minutes at a time at the moment, so I run, walk, run, walk for about 20 minutes.

Walk where I can. I would like to play tennis ideally 3-4 x a week and go swimming twice a week too but real life looks different somehow

Patttsy · 14/06/2006 08:56

I get up an hour early 3 times a week, and do a tape or run/jog. Which is dead easy in the spring/summer, but oh so difficult in the autumn and winter!

But it reaps dividends as I have more energy and have dropped 2 dress sizes without too much effort.

Means that I can eat chocolate in the evenings...Grin

lazycow · 14/06/2006 09:08

Ha Ha - get up early - ha ha. Ds wakes up between 5 and 5.30am so exercise in the morning is out of the question unless I get up at 4am !!

Since ds also won't go to sleep until around 8/8.30pm now the summer has arrived I find myself just too exhausted to do any exercise in the evenings either as I tend to be in bed by 9.30pm most nights in order to deal with the early mornings.

I work three days a week so on the two days I'm home I really don't like to put ds in a creche/childcare as this means I am cutting even more the time I spend with him. On the days I am at work I am so busy trying to do all the work I have to do in 3 days that I can rarely take enough time at lunchtime to exercise. After work is no good as I have to pick up ds.

This pretty much leaves the weekend and as we are in the process of looking for a new house to buy these are incredibly busy at the moment with looking at properties etc.

Maybe in a year or two I'll be able to start exercising again assuming I don't have any more children who sleep as badly as ds Grin

Mind you I have lost 4st anyway just with diet alone- exercise really isn't necessary to lose weight but it definitely helps to keep it off and makes you look and feel better.

FioFio · 14/06/2006 09:26

This reply has been deleted

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puff · 14/06/2006 09:28

gym 3 times a week while ds2 is at playgroup

I have an old knee injury and if I don't excercise regularly, it comes back with a vengeance, so I make the time

lalaa · 14/06/2006 09:36

go when dd is at nursery or cm, and at the weekends, dh and I babysit for one another while the other one exercises.

pinkranger · 14/06/2006 09:39

I go twice a week when i can , DS at nursery have to take the hols off as he dont like the creche at the new gym

meowmix · 14/06/2006 09:40

hmc - the trick to getting up at 5 to exercise is you have to be a) insomniac, b) clinically insane and c) unable to wear any of your clothes due to lardyness

once you have those three things in place its a piece of (low-fat, no-carb) cake

sfxmum · 14/06/2006 09:52

when on maternity leave i used to get up early and go run/jog/walk before dh left for work.

its been impossible since back to work (3weeks) i miss it guess will have to re organise my schedule but it has to be in the morning no time in the evening.
no idea what to do in winter

MadamePlatypus · 14/06/2006 09:54

Have tried to do yoga at home with DS, but he tries to sit on my head when I do 'sun salutation'. I work in an office 3 days a week so try to swim during my lunch hour. You definitely have to carve out time to exercise once you have children. There is always something else important that you could be doing. I feel guilty going to the gym because I could have a shorter lunch hour and pick up DS from nursery half an hour earlier/get through my intray more quickly. However, a few hours a week for your health and happiness really isn't too much to ask for.

EmmyLou · 14/06/2006 10:01

I don't 'do' getting up early Shock Shock Shock. Have done plenty of Lorraine Kelly's exercise video in the past which was good (quips to camera for the nth time excepted) and 'primed' me for local aerobic class at leisure centre where there is a creche. Also do Pilates there which is fantastic. And a dance class at my local village hall on a Sunday morning. Walk dog at weekends too.
But still at least a stone overweight (and I'm being kind to myself here) so must be something to do with chocolate and eating when the kids p*ss me off.

Did buy The Body Doctor book which gives exercises that couold be done at home and recipes (ditto) but as yet am too lazy to put it into action.

EmmyLou · 14/06/2006 10:02

Lol MadamePlatypus - my dd3 comes down from creche to join in last 10 mins of pilates and sits on my head too Grin

Wordsmith · 14/06/2006 10:03

Have just joined a gym which is very close to home - I used to be in david Lloyd but it was a 20 min drive away which means I never used to go. Generally speaking, I go early on Sat or Sun morning (when it opens at 8am) and am back home by 9.30, also I go at teatime once a week and then another day around 7.30pm. Of course the latter two sessions rely on my DH being at home to do the kids' tea/put them to bed. As I am only out of the house for just over an hour it's quite do-able... but I am still in the 'honeymoon period' with the gym so ask me in 6 months.

marathonmum · 14/06/2006 13:00

I run marathons. I train with my younger 2 in a double jogger buggy. Manged to do it in 3 hrs 5 mins this year. Soo It can be done. I think I was the 120 th women to cross the line. Not bad for someone who has a 1, 2, and 6 year old!!

mustrunmore · 14/06/2006 13:11

marathonmum, I'm so impressed. I did half marathons before ds1. He is 2.5, ds2 is 16wks, and I never find time to do anything. We have a treadmill in the front room, but when ds1 has gone to bed, ds2 needs constant feeds still and refuses a bottle. He now goes to bed 9ish, ansd then I'm knackered! Plus I know ds1 will be up 2 or 3 times in the night, and then gets up 5.30am.So I'm tempted to just go to bed when ds2 does!
I got a double jogger 2 weeks ago, and have not used it yet Sad I'm just sooo tired, and I feel like until I get a bit back into training, I'll just look like an idiot.Plus it'd be nice to jog to the park for ds1, but then ds2 would need a feed while we were out, and that'd be tricky in my running bra!

wanderingstar · 14/06/2006 13:21

My 4th is nearly 2.5. Until his 2nd birthday i relied on walking everywhere very briskly and lost the weight very quickly. Huge number of steps per day ! But my tummy didn't respond ! Now he goes to nursery 2 mornings per week; in that time i try to fit in 2 gym sessions, or gym + swim. I've started doing tummy crunches; it's still jelly like but I think there's less of it !
I think an extra session would really make a difference, but i haven't the time. Maybe once he starts daily (morning only) play group in september, I can do an erxtra seeion. But by God it's boring...