Sam Cam, Jools Oliver etc - how do they fit exercise and beauty stuff in

[Luckytohavemybaby]

Do they get lots of help? Wondering if they do their running and work outs at 5am as they seem quite hands on mums.

So do I!

Discipline around diet and 2-3 workouts a week is enough.
They have never let themselves go so they don't need to do much to maintain.

At the risk of making almost everyone on this thread irate...it really is all about priorities.

I don't have kids (now I will get kicked out of MN! ) but for the past ten years I have been waking up at 4:30am to be able to fit a demanding yoga practice six days a week. Why 4:30? Because I work very long hours and I don't want to leave my yoga practice until the evening when it might not happen if I get stuck at work.

On the other hand, I've been knackered during these ten years and my social life...well, there isn't that much of it. But I've maintained my yoga practice, because it is very important to me. So it really is mostly a case of what you want to prioritise.

And before you call me smug, I am rather unhappy about my weight but do bugger all about it. So I can't really complain because I know I am just not making it a priority; I like eating way more than I like being thin, or so it seems .

I really didn't want to see Samantha Cameron in a bikini at all and I don't know why we've been subjected to it

God some of the responses on this thread are so bloody insulting.hmm I have a nanny/housekeeper and a cleaner. I get up at 6am and do 30 mins of exercise before the dcs wake up. My nanny gets downstairs for 7am and has breakfast ready, so that when the dcs are up we eat breakfast together as a family, then have a short play time. She gets them ready for school, while I shower (where every morning I do something different in the bathroom between face mask, body scrubs, nails, defuzzing etc so that I multi task because I don't have any other time), then I take them to school. Yes money buys me help and that makes me fortunate but anyone who thinks that because I have a nanny, that she must be raising my kids can just sod right off. Still getting up at 6am to exercise even when dc2 was up 3 times a night for almost 3 years (for the record, nanny was fast asleep as far as I know!) takes discipline.

Yes agree must take discipline but tou have shitloads of help. Alot of parents me don't even get to poo in peace.

Depth first- a lot of the people here posting about being knackered are ALREADY starting their day at 4.30. At the period I mentined, that's when DS would wake up for his long morning feed. He would finish feeding and DD would be awake and ready to start the day.

Having said that, now that I'm getting enough sleep, nothing would make me voluntarily get up that early on a regular basis again. 7 hours of sleep is as vital to my health as exercise.

My point wasn't "get up at 4:30 then". It was more of "when there is a will, there is a way" with the huge caveat that it must be important enough to you to make some sort of sacrifice.

I've no idea why anyone would find either of these scrawny women attractive, particularly Cameron. Not keen on the horsey look myself.

penguin you misunderstood pinkfrocks first reply to you and I am still none the wiser - why are you doing housework in the evening when the kids are in bed? Why not in the day, fitting it around the baby? Pink wasn't saying do an exercise DVD while the baby plays, she was saying do the laundry/cleaning... Then you'd have time for yourself in the evening.

depth with the greatest respect it is very different finding time/energy/motivation to prioritise formal exercise when you have [young] children.

I don't think SamCam is especially attractive, and agree she is vehr horsey looking - and I wish she would do something about that godawful fringe - but I've just looked at the pics and she does look great, slim and toned. I'm more inspired by someone who isn't naturally beautiful making the most of what they have, like her and also Sarah Jessica Parker, who I don't think is a beauty at all but has consistently worked on her 'look' to make herself beautiful. What's that phrase about there being no such thing as an ugly woman, only a lazy one? I am definitely more attractive (compared to my peers age wise) than I was when I was young and had no confidence, never bothered with hair or makeup and ate crap.

I suppose the envy for most of us on the thread is that it's not our laziness but lack of money (which these women have in abundance) that means they have better bodies than most of us. It's a lot easier to exercise in a gorgeous home gym, with childcare on tap, than it is to squeeze a DVD into an already exhausting and child dominated day.

Bitta - With the greatest respect, I'm not asking for advice on how to fit a DVD into my day, so I'd rather not have my day analysed for flaws in my timekeeping (even if that analysis is well intentioned rather than patronising). I was making a more general point.

I do lots of stuff whilst keeping the baby occupied - cooking/preparing meals, putting on washing and hanging it out. After bedtime tends to be stuff like mopping floors, wiping up after dinner and loading the dishwasher/washing up (by the time he has eaten the baby is a clingon and won't be left without screaming the house down), ironing anything that needs it, part-prepping packed lunches, etc, etc.

Penguins - I'm sorry if this is hurtful, and feel free to ignore me but you do sound a bit martyred! Do you make time for yourself at some point each day? Maybe not for exercise or beauty but for something you enjoy?

There is always a huge housework 'to do' list when my children are in bed, but regardless I sit down and ignore it all. As a sahm it's a never ending chore list, you have to just ignore it or have lower standards for your house than your own appearance like me

I was suggesting Penguin that you tried to find a bit of time for YOU. I had 2 DCs under 4 yrs at one point so I know what it's like but if you can't get any cleaning done during the day and spend it making a meal and putting washing on/ out then maybe you need to have a re-think? eg batch cooking at weekends, or one evening, take away ready meal one night, there are loads of things you could do to give yourself an hour when you can spend it on something other than drudgery.

It's all about priorities as has aleeady been said. If you'r priority is yogs st 4.30 in the morning than go for it. If your priority is other stuff during the day and housework in the evening then go for it. No-one sounds like a martyr - just different people with different lifes. There's no right or wrong (although slagging off another woman's appearance is a pretty shitty thing to do) - just different.

Excuse crap grammar - on phone

Oh Jesus. I am not martyred. I do plenty of things I enjoy.

This simply started out as a general point that childcare opens up lots of little non-interrupted windows of the day and makes it far easier to say 'Yes, I'll get up at 5am and go to Insanity'.

I do not have those windows of time. Unless I want to park the three year old in front of the telly whilst the baby (hopefully) naps and start running up and down stairs. Which I don't. So I don't. As I've said, I've pretty physically active and I'm perfectly happy with that.

Childcare makes the degree of effort and priority needed to do these things lesser. That's all I'm saying. If someone else is getting the kids dressed and preparing breakfast Ta-dah, a window. If someone else is mopping the floor and doing the hovering, ta-dah, a window. My windows would be shaved off other things I value more. Which is true for lots of mums of tiny children.

DP takes the DSSs with him to the gym where he has a personal trainer. For a while, when both DSSs were around, DP had two trainers - one for the DSSs and one for him. But with only DSS2 here on a regular basis, they share one trainer.

DD joins me when my yoga teacher comes round.

Be creative with your childcare!

Childcare? Bonsoir - your DD and DSCs are well past the stage of requiring childcare!

penguin has a three year old!

... and a moving but not walking one year old....

We're not going to leave them on their own doing nothing at the weekend or in the evenings while we exercise!

I didn't need any form of additional exercise when there were small DC around...

They're what - tweens and teens now?! One is going off to University in the UK this year iirc - I'm sure they could cope with being left while your DH goes to the gym or your yoga teacher comes to you