How do Mums with young children find the energy to go to the gym?!

[Biosblbay]

By 7pm most nights I am absolutely exhausted, my children are aged 3 and a 7 month old, my husband doesn’t usually get home until 6:30-8pm depending on his day so most of the time the kids are in bed by the time he gets home.
I am currently on maternity leave but I go back to work full time in 2 weeks time, however I work from home and although my mum is going to be here to take over looking after the baby 4 days a week, I will most likely still have to do some things in the background while working at the same time so I feel like It won’t be much more as a break than if I was to get up and go to an office where I can focus, no distraction etc. But currently while I am off I spend all day doing house work, 3 meals a day, of course being Mum to baby and she is teething and the minute so she is extra clingy and crying more than usual, not a day goes by where I get a break unless it’s to sit down and eat when baby is asleep. My 3 year old goes pre school Tuesdays - Fridays so these days aren’t as hectic as a Monday would be, but I still then have to do the school runs daily, I still find myself exhausted regardless!

… another thing that baffles me, I still will have to do most of the housework and cooking and school runs when I go back to work so how will I juggle everything and find time to go gym! 😩

I have gained 2 stone since the pregnancy of my now 7 month old and I am desperate to loose it, I also think gym is a bit of a break for me and also good for how I am feeling, but I am just so tired and the thought of sitting on the sofa with a glass of wine once the kids have gone to bed watching tv or having a bath seems way more appealing than going gym after being on my feet all day. I see Mums on social media all the time going to the gym and I just think “HOW!!?!”. I am so desperate to loose the weight.

I was literally just googling this and stumbled across ur post. So needed to read that I’m not the only one. I have 3 and 18 month old, work 3 days a week in a stressful high pressure professional job and have them by myself 2 days . My days with them alone are INTENSE, I’m so exhausted by the end of the day I just can’t bring myself to go and workout.
we are lucky we have a garage and I have a cheap exercise bike in there and some weights. In the winter I do that 2-3 times per week for 30 minutes and try and get out for a 30 minute walk in lunch break. Used to gym and walk a lot before kids, walked loads in maternity but toddler won’t allow for that now!
don’t underestimate the exercise you do just from everyday living tho- I have not left the house today and I have still done 8000 steps as I haven’t sat down all day!
im just telling myself this is a season! When they are older I can try and get back to it more and prioritise my self more:… I just hope the ageing body will allow that!

Don’t wait until you go back to work. Start now. With just the baby to look after most days you can get out walking. stop spending all your time doing housework. It’s not necessary.
eat with the baby so that when it naps you can rest and you’re not using that time to do jobs or eat.
get husband on board now with doing half the housework. He should be doing some of the drop offs/pick ups and evening routine. He cooks you can exercise then you could clear up. Or vice versa. Definitely eat with the children after work and don’t start a habit of eating separately later in the evening as this will leave you with no time for sport or hobbies. It’s all about priorities. Exercise should be up there near the top so that you can be as healthier mum as possible. Same for husband

OP I too have a 7 month old and a soon to be 3 year old and a 5 year old. It's relentless and I'm on mat leave atm too, but I've been doing home workouts using youtube like grow with jo and lifting weights using fit with stefi. I'm not sure how it's going to work out once I'm back at work but for now I'm making most of it. Are you breastfeeding? I am and have heard how some mothers find it harder to lose weight while breastfeeding which has definitely been the case for me. It's very slow progress atm. Hopefully you find a solution that works for you!

I go first thing in the morning, literally force myself to do so as I know I won’t have any time if I don’t. If one of my DD’s happens to wake up just before I leave (which is almost never!) I put them in bed with DH and they go back to sleep.

Finding time to go TO the gym (what is this go gym thing - kids have started talking like that and I don’t get why) is difficult. Try to stay with walks in the day if you can and try not to do too much. Anyoen going TO the gym on social media presumable has a lot of hep and doesnt have to do much else. Don’t compare yourself to these people as they are all fake.