Finding time and motivation to work out!

[Guanaco_Sensei]

Hi everyone,

I am a new father of an amazing baby boy (he is 1yr now) who keeps my wife and I on our toes. When I am home, I am tending for my babies need alongside my wife. At night, after he goes to bed, I am usually exhausted and spend the little time and energy I have left to hang out with my wife.  And of course, at morning time he wakes up at 6:30 am sharp....

I am a network administrator working at an HQ building (offices) and my job is very sedentary; making no effort to work out, I merely get 3-5k steps a day.Work is very busy , but computer busy. I manage several dozen computers but I do most of the work remotely across different sites in the American continent.. so that's no good, no source for exercise there. My day usually goes from 8 am to about 6:30 PM, then i'm off to usually pick up my son from my in-law's house. 

To add to the mix, I am a part time student (taking onlnine classes). Though there's flexibility there, I must remain disciplined and do my work during the week if I want to have time for my family on the weekends. 

To make things worst, I am a stress eater. Needless to say, I cannot allow myself to not be active during my work weeks... 

This is what leads me to the question "How do busy people find time and motivation to work out?"

I would love to hear from you guys what your schedules are like and how do you find motivation and time to work out. 

Cheers! 

Mod edit: topic length

[Guanaco_Sensei]

How do I find time and Motivation:

I have found that I fail at working out when I see working out as an option, something I have to find time for. Instead, I try to make working out one of my daily tasks that cannot be skipped. If I work my exerciise into my daily routine, it becomes a part of my day. 

That wasn't an easy task, however, In order to do the above I had to make some changes that made it easier for me to succeed at execising. Here are some changes I've implemented to help me with my exercise goals:

1. Signed up for a gym that's within walking distances to my place of employent. One of the biggest challenges I was having in making my way to the gym is that my old gym was out of the way from home and from work. There were days when the distance and time it took to get there made me say "Screw it" and I would skip the day. And going to the gym before work would require me to get up at 5 AM if I wanted to have a decent workout. HECK NO!!!

Now I've no excuse. I am now able to go to the Gym in the AM before work and/or during my lunch time. 

2. Working out during my lunch hour: Instead of going out to eat with the fellows, I eat cardio for lunch. Not only did I start saving money by cutting the amount of times I went out to eat, but I feel so energetic after working out! My second half of my work day flies after working out at lunch time. 

3.  I take advantage of FitBit's amazing tools to get me moving. The Hourly Activity tracker, for example, helps me walk at least 250 steps every 30-60 minutes. I have also started to join weekly challenges, which pushes me to work out because I HATE being last! lol. 

4. Replace binge eating with binge drinking. I keep a bottle of water in my office all day, full. When I feel stressed, instead of eating snacks I drink some water. Water helps me feel full, which makes me not want to eat snacks. 

There you have it. 

Can't wait to read some of your techniques! 

[A_Lurker]

I'm lucky that I get a fair number of steps at work most days, although I don't specifically have a step goal.  I also don't get a lot of organized workouts during my week.  I have a fairly healthy calorie burn most days and I really just watch that I'm not over eating.

Exercise is good for you, but your food is the most critical thing for weight loss.  Find a number of 'go to' snacks and lunches, then pack your food every day.  I often will take some time on the weekend and make sure I have supplies for the week.  Lately lunches have been couscous salad (made ahead with coulcous, onion, green pepper, celery, salad dressing - easily keeps a week) mixed in with halved cherry tomatoes and cucmber, nice flavour, and add some chopped chicken or pork and it's a good lunch.  It's a pain when you don't get home until late, but it's the best option.  As you discovered, much cheaper too.

[USAF-Larry]

When I was a young man, with a young family, I was on active duty in the military. A very active life, with very little spare time. And, after a 10 to 12 hour day at work, it was off to home to have some time with a young son and a loving wife. Not a lot of time for exercise routines.  But, I never went to lunch - I went to the gym. There was usually a group of guys at work that were also interested in going to the gym to work out together or run on the outdoor track, so we had minor competition against each other.

To answer your question, "How do busy people find time and motivation to work out?", I never found time, I made it!  And, during that time, I ran an annual marathon, too. 

[Guanaco_Sensei]

Wow, Larry - 

Having just recently started to work out, I can't even begin to think of me running a marathon... but that sounds like a hell of a good target to aim for. 

Thanks for sharing! 

[emili]

I really like the techniques you use already. When I started my journey almost three years ago, it was decided that for however long it took, this would come first. Kids and husband voted yes. And they kept their end of the bargain and I kept mine. Today my son goes to the gym with me when he isn't doing something more fun. My husband goes to a different gym ( saves our marriage 🙂 ) and my daughter is 17 so she marches to her own drum. Yes my kids were older when I started, but I am telling you now, as busy as you think you are now- hold on. It gets worse. Get your routines settled now- it becomes a lifestyle and not a to do.

[Dominique]

I don’t consider myself particularly busy, but here are a few things I’ve done to make sure I have enough time to work out:

* I stopped watching TV altogether (I don’t have a subscription to Netflix or similar either)

* I’m not on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter

* I set up my own "home gym", so I can lift weights at home

Sure, I hear people talking about Game of Thrones and other wonderful shows, but since I’ve never watched it, I don’t know what I’m missing. What I know is that I have a deskjob that has me spend most of my day in front of a computer, so the last thing I want is spend even more time sitting on a couch staring at yet another screen,

Sure, I hear how Facebook is great to reconnect with people, share photos etc., but what I also see is many people spend a lot of time everyday updating their status and checking other people’s. For me, social media is just another time waster.

As to the gym thing, I live out of town, and the nearest commercial gym is 12 km away, which means I would need to drive there everytime (I’m self-employed and work from home, so it’s not like I could go to the gym after or before work). Since I have plenty of space available at home, I decided for the "home gym" solution. I did spend quite a lot on it (even though I don’t have fancy machines like in a commercial gym), but I view it as a long-term investment and it probably has already paid off in saved membership fees and gas. Plus I never have to wait for my turn and I save at least 45 minutes by not having to drive to the gym and back.

All this to say finding the time isn’t really that hard for me.

[Mukluk4]

After reading The Rock's fitness regiment it got me motivated.

1.  Get up an hour before you need to get ready to work and get your cardio in.  It really gets you off on the right foot for the workday.

2.  Set up a home gym so you can get in a 30-45 minute strength routine after dinner and before all the extra stuff (TV, video games, etc.).

3.  Find a sport you love and join a club that plays 2-3 times a week.

[Nick_87]

Hi Bud,

Solo training might not be the best in keeping you motivated when you are limited on time.  When I have been going through very busy times in my life I found that if I minced around a gym curling some weights I would be constantly thinking of work and the next deadline.  I found a different gym very close that does circuits, boxing and other class based fitness that really hit the spot.  It was very intense and took my mind off all the other crap that was going on if only for 60 minutes. 

Initially it was tough..long days with sore muscles is never fun..but after around the 2-3 week mark I noticed my energy levels increased and I felt a lot less stressed.  So yeah...maybe try mixing it up a bit or try something you've never done before, for me it was boxing and I've stuck with it since!