moms with small kids, when do YOU exercise?

    This is such a problem for me! I sometimes get up really early, like 5:30 and work out (here at home on treadmill & free wieghts), but then I am always tired during the day.
At the end of the day after they go to bed, I have to eat dinner with husband, then we watch tv. I cant exercise after dinner...too full, and too late at night and TOOOOO tired.
Sometimes I just put them in front of tv while i work out.
Sometimes I work out and they kind of "exercise" along with me, but they are a big distraction.
They are 5 and 3

Basically, I'm tired all the time!

Oy.

I have 3 kids (9, 6 and 19mths) and I found that before I went back to work I would load them up and go to the park and use the jungle gym and the stroller as my workout equipment. The monkey bars are tough and you can use them the regular way or as pull ups. The swing is great for abs if you really pump hard (and use a kid as extra weight) Using the stroller you can do cardio as well as lunges for you rear. And you can use the back of the benches as your stretching bar and to lean on as you do leg raises (back, to the side and at an angle in order to get all butt muscles, just remember to not engage your back muscles only lift as high as you can using only butt muscles). They are entertained and your getting done what you need to get done ;) HTH

I have the same issue. I have all boys and they are 6, 20 months, and 8 months. I get up before they do but I am so tired like around the afternoon. I have to sometimes take the babies in the stroller with me when my husband is tired. That sort of slows me down, and when I do free wieghts, my toddler likes to try to mimic me so I have many distractions. Try to find a fun video or DVD for the children when you workout or change your work out schedule. It is so hard but it will work out. Just remember they will be big enough soon to not distract us as much.lol. Good luck

I have a 4 month and a 3 year old, as well as an 11 and 7.  It gets hectic but sometimes, I just do it.  Before it was baby may be crying in the crib, he won't get hurt, and my 3 year old is begging for something or other and the other two tattling on eachother.  They get it now, once I start, its only 30-40 mins, I don't stop.  Just focus.  Naptimes are best.

I'm a night owl so I do my working out after the kids are in bed.  I have four..12, 8, 5 and 4.

I try to go M/W/F evening when hubs gets home to watch the baby while I go out!

I have a 3 year old, but a very hectic life.  For a long time I was getting up at 4am to do my 4 mile walk (DVD) which is an hour, get in the shower, do hair, dressed which is another hour, get up my daughter, dress, hair, etc thats one more hour, time to walk out of the door.  It is kind of unrealistic at this present time, so now I am doing my 4 mile every other day, then the days that I dont do the DVD, I am doing at least something, whether its grocery store (walking...not as vigorous, but still moving), go to the park, take her in the stroller for walk.  Sometimes I can only do crunches and weights because its not as time consuming.  So be it.  We all have crazy lives, especially while our children are young.  As important as our exercise routines are...so is time with our kiddos while they still are little.  So, try to work around their schedule, or include them!

I used a jogging stroller, also a kid trailer for my bike.  When my daughter was too big for those, I pulled her in a wagon.  Now I'm past that age of 'always tired' and I get up early (between 4 and 5:30) to do an exercise CD while she's still asleep.

When my kids were that age, here's how I'd squeeze in exercise:

1) I'd put them in the day care at the gym. This worked great, because the day care had a glass wall facing the indoor track. So I'd run around the track and wave at them at every lap.

2) Later, I'd drop them off at preschool before heading to the gym, along with two other mom's. Boy, did we relish those two hours while the kids were in preschool!! We even got to take long, hot showers. :-)

3) When their father was home, he was responsible for bath duty after dinner. I'd leave the dinner dishes to soak, and while he plopped them in the tub I'd go walk or run around the block. I'd get back in time to tuck them in. Then I'd finish the dishes.

4) We'd put one kid on the back of each bike, and go for bike rides in the evenings and on the weekends.

I never had any luck walking with them in the stroller, not by that age. They'd keep wanting to get out of the stroller and walk too. I also had no luck exercising to a DVD if they were awake - they'd keep getting in the way and I'd worry I was going to accidentally step on them. Or there were too many toys on the ground to work around!! Forget working out while they were napping... I'd nap too. :-)

I am lucky in that my husband is also into fitness and we have a gym closeby.  We take turns in the morning (before work) going to the gym or I use the daycare on weekends.  I have a 14, 6 and 5 month old.  I am best early in the morning and unfortunately fast asleep by 8pm !

If you're tired all the time, the amount or quality of sleep you are getting could be a factor.  How have you been sleeping lately?

In addition, if you haven't had an exercise routine all that long, your body might just be getting used to it.  Now that I've been doing it for a while, I start getting too tired if I don't exercise.

I have two boys, 6 and 4, and my methods of squeezing workouts in:

1)  Get up early.  If on a weekday where I don't get a whole lot of sleep because of work, I don't dop my kickboxing or anything - but 35 min of power yoga really wakes me up, and doesn't drain me for the rest of the day - in fact, it's quite energizing.

2) During the week, I take a 30 minute walk at lunch (but then I have the luxury of a 1 hour lunch...)

3)  Wait until the kiddies are in bed.  I know it kind of cuts into time with hubby, but he's okay with it since it's only 20-30 minutes, and on days where I"ve already gotten in yoga and a walk, I don't exercise in the evening at all.

And don't discount the exercise you get just from taking care of your kids.  Just walking with them, playing in the park, taking them to the zoo, etc.  Heck, just last weekend I burned about 300 cals(according to the database) just from chasing my boys all over the park for a while.

I have a 16 month old daughter and I work out about 4-5 days per week at the local YMCA.  Maybe you could join the Y in your area. While I work out my daughter is in their child care facility (free) and it works well for me.  I pick her up from daycare and go straight to the Y for an hour.  She plays with other kids, which is important to me because shes an only child, and when we're done at the gym, we eat dinner, and I usually eat less because after I work out, I'm not nearly as hungry as when I dont work out.  

Oh yeah, I can totally relate to this! I have two kids, 4 and 5 years old. When I decided to get back into shape they were 2 and 3 years old. It was soooo hard to find time. I finally had to setup my stepper in the living room so I could see what they were up to. But I would always wear my MP3 so I couldn't hear them! THAT is the key!! LOL. I would always tell them, Mommy is going to do her exercise so you have to behave and let me do my workout. It took awhile of them hanging off the stepper before they got into the routine too. Now when they see me putting on my running shoes they say, Oh Mommy is going to do her exercises! You really need to get support from your family when you are trying to get in shape. My Husband is pretty good about watching the kids, but it's always Mommy they seem to come to! Anyhow, good luck with your fitness schedule! And the tiredness is just being a Mom, once you hit your groove you will feel a lot better! Have fun.

Mine are 5 and 3 too.  My hubby and I made a commitment to get back into shape so we joined Lifetime fitness...if you have one nearby I highly recommend it because of the babysitting services...2 hours "free" a day (well, it's included with membership fee.)  The "child-care center" is amazing....it's like a McDonalds play area / computer lab / mini movie theater with a basketball court just for kids.  My kids literally beg me to take them there, which makes it easy to go to the gym!