Sometimes You Just Can't Make The Time to Exercise

by Lisa P | More from this Blogger

I always try to be positive about weight loss efforts and, like most people who do exercise, I have the mindset that I need to make time to exercise. I've held this mindset for quite some time and really beaten myself up over it. Now I am finally admitting it. Sometimes you just can't make that time to exercise.

If you regularly read this blog, you know that I had a baby four months ago and you may also know that I have a pre-schooler at home as well.

My plan was to get back to the gym six weeks after DS#2 arrived. That didn't quite work out. We were still doing a couple of feedings during my sleeping hours and, with the adjustment of having a new brother, DS#1 was waking up at least once a night and needing consolation along with a bottle. I wasn't getting any sleep so exercising was pretty far down on my priority list for free-time activities. What can I say? Life happens.

I tried going to the gym as soon as the hubby got home from work. I loved that arrangement because I still had the energy to exercise at that point. The hubby didn't appreciate coming home to babysitting duties after a long day of dealing with other people's children (he's in the military) so that generally led to a very difficult evening and a husband who began to dread returning home after work. That was an unacceptable arrangement.

At three months, DS#2 was sleeping through the night. That was when I decided to go to the gym in the morning, before anyone woke up, and be back in time for the hubby to take the car to work. (Unlike most American families, we have one vehicle.) That worked for a couple of days and boy-o-boy did I feel fantastic throughout those days. Then DS#1 started waking up at 5 am, right after I'd left for the gym, and the hubby was not too happy about handling that solo. Although I was sleeping at least six hours a night (my threshold) and getting in a great workout, I came home to a cranky husband and a little boy who hadn't had nearly enough sleep but insisted on staying up. That combination makes for a wretched day. That was another unacceptable arrangement.

Recently, I tried a new tactic. I tried going to the gym after I had put the kids to bed. While I had a great workout, lifted weights, swam and took a nice quiet steam between 8 and 10 pm, my husband was stuck at home with a teething baby who decided to wake up right after Mama left for the gym. Again, I returned home to an unhappy husband and had a very overtired baby to deal with the next day. When the next evening rolled around, I was too exhausted to even think about going to the gym. Yes, another unacceptable arrangement.

I have one more option left, which I plan to try this weekend. I'll go to the gym on Saturday and Sunday. I'll weight train my upper body on Saturday and my lower body on Sunday and do aerobic work each day as well. I'll expect to be away from home for about two hours and while it isn't an idea exercise plan, it is all I have at this point.

If that doesn't work then I have two months left to wait before DS#2 will be old enough to be cared for in my gym's day care center. Once DS#2 is six months old, my scheduling and childcare woes will be over and I'll have up to two hours at the gym to get in my workouts.

Weight loss is a very serious issue for many of us. Exercising is one of the keys to healthy weight loss and, although we all know we need to make time for it, sometimes we simply have to accept that try as we might, time cannot be made in a vacuum. If you've tried to find the time and simply cannot do it without causing great hardship on your family (and yourself) in the process, do yourself a favor and let it go. I don't mean forget about exercise altogether. I just mean that sometimes we have to accept the fact that we don't have the time in the day to do it right now. Keep trying and in a couple weeks or a couple months, you may just find the time you need.

In the meantime, eat right, get plenty of sleep and don't beat yourself up over it.

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Learn more about Lisa P

Lisa used to be a freelance writer and Community Manager for Families.com, but she has finally made the jump to novelist.

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