31 Days - Day 8 Work and Scheduling

I'm a full time working out of the home mother of 3. So a lot of my time is taken up by family and home obligations.

Trying to find time to meal plan and exercise is challenging some days.

Right now I'm lucky because my husband is off work for the winter and he does most of the lunch and dinner cooking.

The best way I've found is to have a binder for your meal schedule and recipes, for easy access. It's takes 10 minutes to sit down after supper or before bed to quickly write down what you plan on having that week, Sunday is probably the best day or even Friday night so you can use Saturday and Sunday for any prep work for the week. I plan a week at a time and I ask the kids what they would like to eat as well. Making sure to add fruits and veggies to the menu as well.

Exercising in a busy household is challenging at times, kids can have bad days, cranky days or are just plain tired. On those days we don't do much besides play games, read or watch some tv. But days when they are active and energetic, we go out in the yard to play or go for a walk or hike or bike ride.

For me at work in the past I have walked to work, leaving early since I'm about two kilometers from work, or drive in and take a quick walk around town. I've gone for walks on my coffee break or lunch, I've gone to the gym at lunch. Walk the halls and taken the stairs, parked further from work and walked to the office. I'm in a desk job so getting up to stretch or do a few push ups or knee lifts or anything to move around during the day helps.

I'm an early exerciser, I try to go to bed at a reasonable hour and then I get up at 5:30am to either go to the gym or work out at home with a DVD or jump on my elliptical. Exercise any other time for me is almost impossible without kids. So when I have the kids I do what I stated above.

So find what works with your schedule. I'm sure there are minutes in your day that you came move around. It's very important to take time for yourself to exercise on this journey. Find things that you think are fun and enjoy. Because if you do something you hate, then you'll give up because it's no fun!