Adding Exercise Time in Busy Schedules for Work-at-Home-Moms/Dads (WHAMS/WHADS)

Your lifestyle and schedule, like most solopreneurs, are already packed with working long hours and tending to the kids and all their activities. You might be wondering how on earth you are going to find time to exercise. You know you need to for a healthier life but exercising usually is shoved to the bottom of your priority list.

Exercise and fitness are important because they help you maintain or lose weight. An added benefit of regular exercise is that it helps to keep your stress level down and provides a sense of well-being. People who exercise tend to be healthier, happier and live longer than those who do not. Who doesn’t want that?

Take a close look at your current lifestyle and work habits. Consider the following tips to squeezing some exercise into your day. Not only will you feel better, but you will be a good role model for your kids to start exercising too.

1. Use your lunch hour to go for a brisk walk. You may find a great route around your office that you can take. Fresh air and your walking shoes are all that’s required. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, try walking at a nearby mall or up and down the stairs in your office building.

2. If you have an errand to run, like going to the bank or the post office and that’s a short distance away, try walking instead of driving. If it is farther away, park at the back of the parking lot and walk from there. It takes a little getting used to as you’re probably accustomed to looking for the closest parking spot, but make it a new habit to park as far away from the entrance as you can.

3. Make healthy choices with your food so you’re not feeling forced to do more exercise than you have time. That super-sized fast food lunch is going to take a lot more exercise to burn off than a chicken salad and apple will.

4. Sometimes people don’t feel like exercising after work because they have no energy left. This can be due to poor eating habits, like eating lots of refined sugar in the afternoon, which causes an energy crash. Have a snack in the afternoon that fills up your energy tank.

5. If you don’t feel you have any time to exercise during your busy day, wake up 15-20 minutes earlier in the morning and get your exercise in then. Need your sleep? Then cut your TV viewing time down in the evening and go to bed earlier. A short but effective exercise video in the morning or a fast walk with hand weights can leave you feeling good the rest of the day.

6. If you find yourself watching TV in the evening, don’t sit down on the couch. Instead, use a resistance band that you can pick up cheap at a sporting goods store. It’s a rubber tubing with handles on each end and you can exercise both your upper and lower body… while watching TV or even when helping kids with their homework.

7. Instead of trying to exercise after the kids are in bed, include your kids in your exercise plans. Instead of watching them play at the park, play with them. Chasing them around, lifting them up to the monkey bars, playing tag, hiking, biking, chasing a Frisbee, playing tennis, and shooting baskets are all activities best enjoyed with someone else.

It might require a little work, but there are ways you can sneak some exercise into your daily routine. Pick activities you enjoy, otherwise you won’t stick with them. Exercise does not have to be two hours of lifting weights at the gym. Get creative and start moving.

Related posts:

1. More Exercise, Less Calories – the Great Weight Loss Debate