How To Fit Fitness In

I am a mother of two young children, one school aged and the other is home with me. So I understand the complexities of trying to get fit while tending to the often demanding needs of others. In a former life, before children,I had very demanding litigation jobs which also left little time for extracurriculars like hitting the gym. I can totally empathize with the dilemma of trying to justify working out when the demands of work and family are insurmountable.

It is with that understanding, that I urge you to make time for fitness. If you try to "find" time it will not happen. There are 24 hours in a day, a chunk of that you are sleeping and the other chunk of that you are working. What are you doing with the rest of your day?

Do this experiment, break your day into 10 minute increments beginning from when you wake up until  you go to sleep at night.  Keep a log and jot down what you did in each of those 10 minutes segments. You will be amazed at how much time you wasted checking email and Facebook and hanging out at Starbucks. I love being connected but it can really derail your day and suck up major amounts of time.

Once you identify some pockets of time that you could workout, schedule your workouts. I write mine down in my Lily Pulitzer Planner and also enter them in my iPhone. Just the acting of scheduling the workouts affirms your commitment to getting fit. I don't work out every day, there are some days that are just too packed with activities and trying to get in a workout would just be too stressful. On these days, I don't feel like a slacker because I have planned to take the day off. Conversely, I don't struggle with getting back on track because I have my next workout scheduled.

If you haven't worked out in a while or are trying to find the right workout for you, start by picking up some fitness and health magazines. They are a low cost way to get the inside track on new fitness trends. Another great way to sample a variety of fitness options is through sites like Groupon and Living Social. They often offer month long gym memberships and packages to fitness classes that are a far below market value.

Sometimes working out at home is a great option, you can fit it in early in the morning before anyone is stirring or late at night after everything is quiet. I am working on a more detailed post about working out at home and will have that up for you is weekend.

How do you make time to workout? 

My kids "making" the time for fitness at Dick's Sporting Goods