Four Ways to Fit Exercise Into Your Day

Don’t Commit Yourself 

We all want to rock out our workout first thing in the morning to get it out of the way, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen that way. The snooze button gets hit, the kids spill milk on their pants and extra time is spent getting everything ready so she doesn’t smell sour all day, or you realize that the kids are out of hot lunch money at school, you don’t have singles, and you need to get a lunch ready with nothing but peanut butter, jelly, and a child with a peanut allergy in your kid’s class. (or your child with the peanut allergy – whatever)

These things can be an instant downer and push your workout out of the morning completely. You look at the clock and realize you’ve got no chance to fit your morning workout in. Don’t freak out! Find another time during the day to fit it in. Even if it’s after the kids are in bed, get it in, you’ll be glad the next day you did.

If you are a night person and usually work out at night, find another way to get your workout in. If you usually run and it’s raining, do a video inside. Have multiple back-up plans so you can get your exercise in. It doesn’t work if you only work it sporadically.

Don’t Be A Clock Watcher

Again, if your schedule is hectic – and come on, who’s isn’t? – you may find yourself with fifteen minutes in your day where you finally have a chance to breathe. Use it! Life doesn’t run on a tight schedule and neither should you. If you only have fifteen minutes, get out a 1 mile Walk At Home and power walk your break.

Maybe you only have ten minutes until you need to make dinner. Get in ten minutes of your workout and then redo it when the kids are in bed. It’s better to workout 30 minutes a day in three chunks than to skip them all because the timing just isn’t working for you. I understand you won’t feel that sense of accomplishment that you do when you get your workout in from beginning to end and then stretch it out, but you also won’t feel as bad as if you skipped the whole thing.

Eating Before – Eating After

Have easy to eat meals and food on hand. Not so you can graze all day or anything – that would be not-so-great for your health and well-being – but so you don’t have to choose between making some long, drawn-out egg white omlette and exercising. Eat an apple, have a yogurt – and then work out. If you prefer eating after your workout then reverse the order and get moving!

If you own a microwave and can eat eggs (I do not and cannot – sigh) then here is a quick and easy morning breakfast recipe packed with protein. Meal-in-a-mug challenge sponsored by Egg Beaters (It’s a post by Miz Fit – whom I adore)

Don’t Limit Yourself

Non-standard workouts count! If you have to choose between taking care of the kids and doing a video – choose option C (all of the above). Personally, I like to throw in a DVD and have the kids do my workouts with me (keeping healthy as a family and all that) but when they don’t want to I’ll take them outside and race them to the end of the block and back as many times as I can handle.

The kids get worn out (yea!) and I get my exercise in. It’s not a tape, I don’t know exactly how far I’ve gone, but I feel good about myself. I’m looking into getting either a Striiv or a Fitbit so if you have any opinions on that, please share them with me – I’m kind of paralyzed and can’t make a decision. But I know I did a good thing playing with my kids, being a great parent, and getting exercise in the old fashioned way – play!

So what can you do? Play with your dog, cat, kid, or run back and forth in front of your fishtank – whatever you can do to get your heartrate up and be active.

I hope these will help you get over some of your reservations when you feel like you don’t have time. I was totally inspired to write this by a post I saw over at Miz Fit so go up and check out the microwave recipe and then hang out on her site – as long as possible – because you’ll learn so much and smile a lot. She’s worth your time.

The biggest, most important thing to remember is to try and not be all or nothing about your workouts. You don’t have to do it perfect every time. Be consistent – or as consistent as possible – and eventually you’ll find your routine and find those days where everything goes wrong and your workout is messed up happen less and less.

Be kind and forgiving to yourself, but don’t give up!