Busy People, how do we do this....

I thought I would start a topic I dont see addressed on here. I fit the catagory of alot of other topics, except one thing missing, I have no time to do alot of the suggestions. So here I thought those of you like me can vent on other stressors that make losing weight hard... Here is my story what is yours and your tips...

I am a professional and coordinate a training program, teach 2 college classes in addition to the full time job, work at a church, have 2 young children (1special needs) and my husband is in school full time. I also volunteer on a local association and try to advocate for special needs. With all of this I never ever get to work out, I try to do little things at my desk job, but its hard. I also have just under an hour to prepare dinner and like no time for other meals. I went shopping today and spent money I dont have on lots of low calaorie snacks and quick prep meals...

Ok with all that said anyone else out there want to share?

I know what you mean...I have a similar busy life...working full-time, 3 kids, etc.  I tried getting up early to work out/run but since I dont get to bed until usually 11pm, I need that extra hour until 6am!  So I try to run on Sat & Sun and then sometimes if I can get dinner started, go for a run, then come back and finish dinner (my oldest is 13 so he can watch the house/kids while I run)...that seems to work pretty well.  I try to cook quick, healthy meals...sometimes the kids just have chicken nuggets while I have a salad if I'm really pressed for time.  Pre-made salads are pretty good and then I buy chicken strips from the deli meat section to throw in there...frozen veggies and whole-wheat pasta (they cant tell the difference!) for the hubby/kids.  You just have to make your health a priority...just as important as the other things you mentioned.  I take baby carrotts and almonds to work for in-between meal snacks...that keeps me away from the candy/soda.

'If you want something doing properly, give it to the busy person'....

My life is often the same way (foreign travel, full-time job, voluntary work)  and I think we have to play to our strengths, i.e. we're good organisers.  We have to be to fit everything in!   Make food and exercise a priority part of that organisation process and it actually becomes just another of the tasks to tick off each day. 

My week starts on a Saturday with about a half-hour planning process where I set out all the meals for the week... breakfast, lunch, suppers etc.   The 'menu' turns into a shopping list which I either fetch myself or have delivered.  The weekend meals will be things with longer cooking times that I can then freeze into portions.... bolognese sauces, chillis, casseroles.  The weekday meals reflect the fact that I have less time... quick pasta dishes, salads or stir-fries alternated with defrosted meals made at the weekend.  Packed lunches are made the night before.  (I can't afford ready-meals and processed foods...)

You don't have to work out to get exercise.  With a busy schedule you're active as it is.  But you can find home-exercise solutions... I have a stationary bike and some weights.  If you have room at home to do an exercise DVD that takes 20 minutes.... every little helps.  Weekends are a good time to do activities with the family e.g. swimming or cycling or just kicking a football in the park.

So play to your strengths and add 'healthy lifestyle' to your daily to-do list.  It works for me.... Good luck

 

 

Plan your stratagee. Healthy snacks dont have to be expensive snacks. Avoid buying things off the diet isle and instead look at fruit and veggies. A pack of tuna, a couple skim milk cheese sticks, a 1.5 ounce sleeve of nuts... Hard boil a dozen eggs and shell when you can. There are a lot of cheep ways to eat better and eating better need not take hours a day cooking. I cooked up 4 pounds of chicken breast, 2 pounds of lean hamburger patties, and 6 lean pork chops in under an hour that' most of my meals for a week. The key though is pack a lunch box with any meal you plan to eat and a snack for every 2 hours of your day and eat eat eat.

joe

I have had to deal with a very busy life of late, but I think to myself and often when I read other people's posts about having no time 'If you have time to post long threads in internet forums and read through others, then you have time in your day which could be used for some quick exercise or cooking healthy meals' - it usually motivates me to get off the computer

It is hard. I work a full time job and a part time job. My husband is totally disabled, my son has epilepsy and I help take care of my disabled step-Dad. I workout in the morning. I get up an hour early and get it done.

I have a similar situation, I:

1. Work full time and then some
2. Have 1 daughter and another that will be here very soon
3. Go to college full time nights and weekends
4. Volunteer/Member of two different community organizations (I'm a board member to boot.)

What I've done though is realize that my health is one of my highest priorities.  It's the one thing that you'll suffer the most for neglecting.  You'll actually die sooner than if you take care of yourself.

Here's what I do specifically to fit it in.  I get up an hour early and run.  My wife and I make a meal list every two weeks.  By doing this we save time and money grocery shopping.  It also allows me to know ahead of time what we're having for dinner so I can plan the rest of my meals for the day easier.

I try to make a meal plan each week.  The kids an hubby love the concept.  I even add a note that there are no subsitutions,  this is moms kitchen take it or leave it. 

I find that adding soups to the menu plan I keep calories down and the prices down.  Fresh fruits and veggies are a must.  This is where it gets expensive.  I spend time on the weekends doing coupons. This is my "quiet time" at home.  The kids (13 and 6) think it is funny.  I sit on Sunday morning with a cup of tea and the newspaper.  I also try to pre-cook things so I don't have to pay for pre-packaged.  Chicken breast, ground turkey, etc.  These can be easily added to a recipe.  I do splurge on pre-packaged salad. It makes life much easier. 

I have quite a ways to go on my weight loss journey and find that my evenings can be quite busy.  I am not a busy as most of you though.  Just a few suggestions.  I also walk in the parking deck at work.  I can usually sneak out for 35 minutes.  I park my car on the bottom deck in the morning so that I am forced to walk up three flights of stairs, I also turned down moving to a new parking deck so I take the extra 3 block walk in the morning and the afternoon. Sometimes I walk up an extra block then walk back down.

Good luck! 

I felt a lot like you, stressed, overly busy as a mom, more than full time nursing manager, school and church volunteer, trying to fit it all in led me to a health crisis that has changed my perspectives.  Like the others, planning is important and I use my weekend morning time to plan the week's meals and activities, cook ahead and freeze when ever possible.  I also plan and pack my lunches and have a snack drawer in my desk with high protein bars, almonds, 100 cal packs of popcorn or whatever else I find at the store to have for a healthy snack.

I also made time for exercise by sneaking in little bits at a time.  I wear a pedometer and aim for 10000 steps every day.  I park as far from the hospital, mall, store as I can, I always take the stairs, I sneak in a 10 to 15 minute walk at lunch time.  I also use a book called Strong Women Stay Young to fit in some strength training 3 times a week.  She includes exercises that require minimum equipment and can be done in about 20 minutes in the family room or wearever the kids are playing.  I'm not sure how old your children are, but a double stroller and a good walk is good for all of you.  Fresh air really helps kids sleep and helps to reduce stress.  I feel so much better when I can be outside to walk!

Last, but not least, you may have to look at your obligations and step back from something for at least a little while to take care of you.  Your children and husband need a healthy and happy mom and wife.  I know that saying "no" can be hard for many of us, but only you can decide where you want your prioroties to be. 

Good luck to you and my best wishes for your success

i personally wake up early just so i can fit a workout into my day. it sucks getting up extra early but i know i am going to have ZERO energy/motivation to work out when i get home from work. So this routine works best for me.

 

Also i prepare quick healthy meals bc the last thing i wanna do is cook when i get home.

stuff like steamfresh veggies, perdue short cuts, bags of pre-chopped salads have been so helpful..

i also prepare a sandwich for myself every morning to bring to work for lunch. it saves me calories and money!

I understand where you're coming from.  I work 7am-4pm with an hour commute... so that means I'm gone from 6am-5pm.  I can't get up any earlier than 5am and still function and once I get home, I'm am not interested in going to the gym.  The weekends are my prize for working, so I also don't want to waste the little time I have between going to the grocrey store and doing laundry on working out.  Anyways, I have just a few tricks:

1) My lunch is a lean cuisine meal, which I stock up on when they're on sale.  I can usually get them for $2 or less with coupons.

2) Bananas are a cheap, easy and healthy breakfast and snack.

3) I always try to make two nights worth of dinners at a time.  For example, last night I cooked chicken tenders and I baked twice as much as we needed.  That way, tonight I don't have to cook an entire meal.  Yeah!  I feel so much more relaxed on the nights I don't cook dinner. 

 

gi-jane - you always inspire me, you're quote is so true.

I don't know that I am as busy as you - but here is how I do it.  As a result of "streamlining" the process for awhile, I have been able to fit back in a lot of my favorite hobbies ect that went by the wayside.

1. I make a weekly menu of 6 healthy dinners which I scribble down on the back of my grocery list each week
2. Every dinner I make 2 servings for myself and I pack one away for my lunch before I even serve dinner
3. I've been eating a lot of frozen veggies recently because I can add them to dinners without chopping or washing
4. The core of my exercise program is a 3x week spinning class which I go to on the way home and before dinner.  For 3 hours a week, I get quite a bit of energy and exercise.
5. I'm trying to pick up active hobbies vs. inactive ones and active social situations vs. inactive.  This way I can fit more exercise into my "fun" time, "social" time and "me" time.

Have you ever heard the quote - I think it is "exercise doesn't take time out of your life, it puts life into your time".

You can do it!

You just do it!!! You make health a priority! It's just as easy to eat good food as it is to eat junky stuff, IMHO. 

I work full time, sometimes up to 60 hours a week certain times of the year.

I'm taking 10 credits.

I workout every night.

I have a boyfriend, friends, and my family to keep in touch with too.

 

Another tip for busy people is to run/cycle/walk to your activities and commitments during the day to get your exercise in. If it is a feasible distance, running to or from work everyday is a great way to work out, during the time that you'd normally be using to commute anyway.

Leave the car at home whenever you can and use your body

Original Post by trixster:

Healthy snacks dont have to be expensive snacks. Avoid buying things off the diet isle and instead look at fruit and veggies.

I can't comment on the uber-busy lifestyle, because I definitely do not have the amount of obligations that you have...but I do know spending money I don't have.  Eating healthy can be cheaper than eating crap.  Not buying coffees and take out can buy you A LOT of carrots and bananas.  Local/seasonal veg is cheap.  And for a lot of 'diet' items, it's all in the single serve packaging, if you look, sometimes they aren't any better for you than the big regular box, their just half the portion size.  So if you can trust yourself to portion things as soon as they enter your kitchen, then get the regular, cheaper box of crackers, pretzles, rice cakes....etc, and portion them out when you're putting your groceries away.

Good luck!

This thread has been pretty motiviational.   When I was doing well at calorie counting and getting regular exercise it wasn't because I was somehow less busy... it was that I made it a priority and found creative ways to keep within my calorie alotment for meals and put in exercise where there wasn't much.

I'm not 100% on board with the parking further away.   I used to do that but I find now that I'd rather have that extra time so I can lump it in with other time savings to get a more solid chunk of time to work out.

One thing anyone married with kids needs to find that extra time... a partner willing to take up the slack while an hour is used for exercise.   If my wife didn't allow for my getting away for an hour to run (45 running, 5 getting ready, 5 getting there and 5 to get home) it would make things so much harder.

My last job was 8 to 5 with a mandatory 1 hour lunch (off the clock).   Taking my running cloths to work I did the "learn to run" thread over on the fitness forum and turned my lunch break into the time needed to complete that program and go from a non-runner (someone who just couldn't run long distance) to being able to run over 3 miles without stopping.

Whatever difficulties you face in finding the time ... you have to make the time.  I had to give up much of my videogame time.  Ok it was that one thing I loved to do for just unwinding... but it helped.   I sometimes gave up trying a new TV show as that would keep me off my Layzboy and available to jump on the trampoline with my kids.

It's sad that it's easier to make the decision to get married, to take on a more challenging job, to take on community service, to go into massive debt buying a house, and to do so many other serious things but find it so hard to put ourselves and our own health first.  The world certainly is not a welcoming place for anyone trying to get everything done... wether it's fattening foods in my sunday school bible study or my boss wanting everyone to come to a christmas party where the only foods will be highly fattening (and he and his wife will be offended if I don't eat).... it just isn't a welcoming world for being healthy.

It's a war... and the terrorists being aimed at don't care about you.   So it's up to you and hopefully those that do care about you to make the right decisions.  Maybe you have to give up a charity your involved in ... or take less of a leadership role in something... or cut out certain tv programs... whatever it is it's fully up to you to make the commitment.

I am not as busy as you, wrightg, but I still don't feel like I have as much time as I would like for health and fitness.

I've started keeping a pair of 10 lb weights in the kitchen. While I am waiting for water to boil, food to cook, pans to heat up, or anything else, I can do a set of any number of exercises. In addition to being fine for lifting light weights, the kitchen is a great place (for me) to do chair dips, planks, crunches, etc. I may look a little funny doing lunges with oven mitts on, but who cares? I am building muscle and feeling awesome!

Also, I save money by buying in bulk and making a bunch of my own healthy snack packs. I will get a huge tub of hummus and scoop 2 tbsp portions into those little storage containers, and divide the giant bag of baby carrots into little sandwich bags. Then I can just grab a container of hummus and a bag of carrots without having to measure it out every time.

WOW! You all have such great ideas. I feel good knowing there are other very busy people out there making this work.

I am very new here and very new to dieting, 4 days and going strong right now. For the last 2 days I have had an interesting problem.

I try to be very conserative on my calories during the day so I can somewhat eat what my family is having to eat for dinner. I eat 2 snacks and 3 meals. I have found that after dinner I still have over 200 calories below my daily goal. So I reward myself with diet cookies. But I know I am not supposed to eat after 8pm. Although I still stay within my limit.

How do you budget calories better/ideally? Its really hard for me to do a day in advance since I dont have alot of time. I already cut out a few things to make entering my food a priority. I also really fear being VERY hungry after dinner and eating something I shouldnt. I work hard to never be really hungry thus the 2 snacks..and at my desk job I can sit and work and eat them slowly, also helping my motabolism stay a bit higher.

I know what you mean by busy. I work 10-14 hour shift at night midnight til 8am or longer. I have 3 kids (5, 2, and 1). My oldest goes to school but my two youngest stay home during the day(get no sleep on work days). My husband also has cancer and we have been so busy with doctors appts and chemo.  My days are pretty scheduled and when I had to add dieting and fitness to the routine (40 pounds overweight, woohooo making babies and being lazy got me chunky) I find myself wondering if there is time for losing weight too. Here is what I try to do:

1. prepare meals early, freeze, make extra. Fruits, veggies, no carbs, low calories. Pre made salads, fruit cups, fresh fruit. Also make fruit salad on sundays and usually last until wed if you put citrus in to keep it from browning.

2 turned the gym into a family activity. All 5 of us get in the car 3 days a week and we go to the gym. The hubby watches them for an hour while I cardio and then we all meet back and go swimming or play basketball (little ones run around the court). 

3 If I feel too lazy to go to the gym or I try to skip (often on work days) I make sure I while I am folding clothes or cooking dinner I move around alot.  While I watch tv I don't just sit there I do jumping jacks or dance around the living room with the kids and on commercials I wrestle with the kids (every little bit is suppose to help)

4 take my lunch breaks  and eat a light meal and then jog in place at my desk (it's night so no one else is around except 1 co worker) 

They aren't the most original ideas but they keep me going.

The key is make do with the time you have

 

 

 

It seems like a lot of people today are living a similar busy schedule, I know I am. Don't worry, there are definitely alternatives. I have not ever personally struggled with weight loss, but two of my best friends have lost close to fifty pounds with schedules as busy as yours.

It is very important to eat breakfast to get your metabolism going, so they actually would take a meal replacement shake for breakfast, eat some snacks or a small lunch when there is time, take another healthy shake as a mid-day snack before finishing the day with a healthy dinner. One of my friends that I mentioned before did not work out at all, other than walking to and from class (fulltime student) and his office (fulltime accountant) and had a super busy schedule. He lost 48 pounds doing this.

If you want a recommendation on the shake, let me know because I take it as a healthy snack too. It satisfies my desire for something sweet and actually fills me up, but its very healthy and has no sugar or dangerous fake sweetners either. Hopefully that helps!

Mark 

I just started a company less than a month ago and have lost about 7 pounds.

I think being busy is the best. I would like more time to exercise, but Im eating less because Im not bored at home... so thats a good trade off, yea?