Hi IMs
I weighed myself last week to discover I am the heaviest I have been when not pregnant in my life. I have always been one of those really jammy people who can eat anything, never move and my weight has never shifted so exercise has never really been a thing I've bothered with. Until now.
I have three really young kids. And Ive recently returned to work 2 days a week. Time is not on my side. The gym is out of the question because 1. I get really bored really fast there. 2. It is a place that makes me crave chips. 3. It's not a financial priority for me.
I am not overweight. Just bigger than I'd like to be. I want to have better fitness and tone up a bit. Hopefully lose a few kilos along the way, but my handles for hips are the biggest annoyance I have with myself.
Things I have on my side - mega supportive family. The husband would move mountains if he thought it would make me happy. My kids are all good sleepers and respond well to routine so most days are busy but predictable. I have a big garden that is closed in so as long as there was no risk of injury I could probably use that space somehow with kids around and they can't really leave my sight. Access to a treadmill. Access to some weights. Skipping rope, pedometer.
So far I have made significant reductions to the amount of sugar in my diet. I have no interest in eliminating it altogether. I have also upped the amount of water I drink to about 1.5l per day minimum - a vast improvement on about a glass a week among all caffeinated drinks.
So here is my question - what now? I would ideally like something that I can do where I can encourage the kids to move as well. Or if anyone has any suggestions for exercises that isn't specifically "exercise" that would be good - like I count vacuuming as exercise as well as cleaning. We also like dance parties in our house
Would love to hear other suggestions and also any tips you have for staying motivated.
5 Replies
Things like gardening, kicking a ball around with the kids, walking to the local park/playground or even walking to the local coffee shop for a coffee.
You could set up an obstacle course for the kids to race through.
I love your attitude to sugar. There is no reason to eliminate sugar entirely, just eat less of the stuff :)
Dance, trampoline. skip - get the kids doing it too. Walk to school/kindy. There are so many things you can do around the house/yard without needing gear. Google functional exercise. Have fun with your kids mumma! :)
I could have written this myself, but add in there a recent bulging disc in my back has got me motivated to look after myself better. We have started going for family walks after dinner most nights and bike rides of a weekend, it has been really good for us all, the kids run and race each other hubby and I get to walk and chat. Trampolining is great, skipping and hoolahooping are all really good to. I don't keep junk food in the house so if I have it, it's a treat when out.
I'm in the same boat here, but I've never been pregnant as yet. Noticed I started getting bigger and clothes are getting tighter! I am not big on going to the gym either as I hate exercising in front of people so I only will go if there is no one else there. I do a lot of exercise at home, mostly a lot of walking with my dogs. If you get bored easy try googling 10 or 15 minute workouts, there are loads of them and even though they are short they are intense!
Skipping is really good for you, they say 10 minutes a day is brilliant, something you could involve the kids with?
I get my partner to take photos of my body every few weeks to see if any changes happened, I've lost one fat roll so far so that gets me really motivated!
Join a dance class? Boxing classes?
Try the 30 days of yoga challenge, I've onto my second round, the kids love to try and join in and I'm really noticing changes now, I'm looking leaner and I feel healthier! It's on YouTube and it's free, search for yoga by adriene