Exercise - Floral Park,NY

I go to an outdoor boot camp for moms. I don't know if there is anything in your area but, my kids absolutely love going. Check out their website www.bootcamp4moms.com Hopefully, you have something similar in your area!

I have been trying to get motivated for a while. I am not one to work out and the kids were an easy excuse for me...I wish I had your motivation!! The best thing for me was to find a mommy to walk/ run with. We get together with our kids twice a week at local parks, we try to switch it up so the kids don't get bored. She pushes our 4 year olds in her double jogging stroller (they have mp3 players for entertainment) and I push my 18 month old. We do our workout and then a picnic lunch with the kids. Then we take the kids to play at the playground or to feed the ducks. We are done by nap time. It motivates me because my friend is an avid athlete and enjoys working out (she tolerates me slowing her down at times :)) Plus it gets us out of the house, talking to grown ups, models exercise for our kids and the children seem to enjoy the time together. When we don't get together I ride my bike with my son (my daughter is in the trailer) or we walk our neighborhood. We bought an elliptical and sometimes I work out on that when the kids are napping. I'll be interested in the other posts you get, could always get more ideas. I feel better when I work out, but it's still work for me.

My MIL babysits one night a week so that I can go to bootcamp workout class at the gym. The class is at 7 pm so I prep dinner before I leave and my MIL makes sure baby is fed and bathed and ready for bed when I get back at 8. I do usually leave the class 10 minutes early to get home in time to put baby to bed. I used to do classes several times a week before baby, but it is much harder to schedule now. About 2-3 days a week I go to the gym in the morning before baby wakes up, usually from 5:30-6. Its a short workout, but its something and I'm still home in time to get out the door at 7:15 for work. Other days and weekends I try to go for a walk with baby and sometimes husband at least once. Its nothing compared to the workout schedule I had before having a child, but again its better than nothing. And getting to the gym is a nice break and gives me some quiet me time. Good luck!!

Hi A.,
I also cannot go to a gym (work days, can't afford a membership, husband works nights). I mostly workout at home with DVDs, do stuff with my kids, and take them for walks. After I had my second I started a general health journal. I cannot stand to write down everything I eat so would just jot down my weight in the morning, how I felt at the end of the day, what I did for an activity (if anything), and if I ate badly, well, or well with one mistake or something like that. I also took "before" pictures (decent, but not sharing them with anyone!), my measurements, a picked a start weight. I like the 10 Minute Solutions DVDs because you can start and end a workout in 10 minutes instead of being interrupted in the middle of a 30-minute session when you child needs something, and you can pick and choose and order them however you want (I like the Kickboxing Boot Camp with Kelly Roberts and 5-Day Get Fit Mix with A. Bento a lot). For me, looking back over a more casual journal makes me more motivated--I can see the trend in my weight going down, see that I felt better the days I worked out, and see periodic updates in the pictures and measurements (and noticed when I had to start buying smaller clothes). When my older son started exercising with me with the videos, it made it a lot of fun. Now I try to be active with them--we'll set up hurdles with his car tracks and run "laps" in the house jumping them, then crab walk as fast as we can, just trying to keep our heart rates up for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Every little bit counts. When the day is gorgeous, I throw both of them in the stroller and walk our road to the end and back, which is 2 1/2 miles. I feel I get extra credit for all the weight in the stroller, and we still take some time to run around outside. It might take a little while to see the difference, but sometimes that is enough of a motivator to make us want to keep it up.

P.S. I also find I am much less crabby, do better on the little sleep I get, and am happier overall with everyone when I exercise regularly--which is one more reason I want to do it more. There is a lot you can do with your daughter--I always liked push ups and planks with my kids under me so I can smooch on them, or doing ab work with them on my belly or legs. You can find some nice Mommy and Me videos to try as well. See if your library or rental store has some so you don't have to spend money if you don't want to. :) I also finally got a subscription to Shape magazine, which I used to buy periodically but never got in the mail. It was my treat to myself and is one more source of encouragement. I love the success stories.

Wii fit!
I love our Wii fit and the games you can play on it to get points , tracks progression etc.
We have a friend that lost over 100lbs using the Wii active ( I think it was).