Be creative with physical activities - a mum's experience

[happyhealthyjane]

Day 3 back on track with my weight loss journey. Today's been good and difficult. I was good for breakfast and lunch, had 3 plums, 1 banana, a small breakfast bar and 1 small bowl of carrot soup altogether, drunk half liter of water and had 2 instant coffee. Walked about 40 minutes. Got invited to stay on for dinner in a friend's, so not able to calculate calories. Not regret it at all, it was a really nice meal, delicious and mostly healthy food. Had some clear soup, 1 piece of spare rib ( boiled), some boiled carrots, some steam eggs with spring onions and soy sauce, some boiled carrots, fried cabbage with mushroom, a few prawns and a bit mackerel, a mini muffin and a piece of home made cake. So I had quite a lot, and it's difficult to calculate calories, but drink water and soup has helped me to feel full quickly.

Planned to walk my son to nursery as part of weekly exercise, but weather forecast says heavy rain. So to plan ahead with my exercise, I'll do some cleaning, mainly mopping and hoovering, to burn some calories. As a mum with a 3 year old, I have to be creative with exercise, finding ones that can be built into my everyday life, enjoyable (with my son), with low cost or no cost (I work part time, so money is tight).

Here is a list of physical activities I do myself or with my son

Swimming

gardening

snowball fight

walking

cleaning

running after my son when he cycles

any other ideas are definitely welcome !

[Hidden]

You did good with what you had to deal with. How about dancing for exercise? Someone today posted about that and I think it's great for many reasons.

[Tiggerr]

Well done on your reboot. It sounds like you're keeping good track of everything.

It's good to remember all the different ways we can find ways to exercise whilst keeping a rein on finances. Melhall added dancing and I'm going to add diy.

[happyhealthyjane in reply to Tiggerr]

Thanks Tiggerr...actually I didn't do well today, 1800 kcal, that's way more than what I should be having, mainly due to my son refused to share lunch with me (we normally share one dish, or I have kids' meal or starter). And I couldn't bring it home and reheat it coz it was ready meal. And I wasn't disciplined to cut down on dinner...In any case, I can't change what happened, tomorrow is another day, will try things a bit different.

DIY is great idea, which I always do but didn't really see it as exercise. I'm actually quite a hands on person, me and my husband renovated 2 homes so far and I have helped others with home improvement. So it's something I enjoy

[Tiggerr in reply to happyhealthyjane]

Life can blindside us at times but like you've just said, you're going to 'try things a bit different'. We can be pretty adaptable when we want to be.

Renovating 2 homes is so impressive. You'll know how much effort is required to undertake even some of the most basic tasks.

Rooting for you.

[Hidden]

Sounds like you are doing well

My suggestion is for the evenings when wee one gone to bed and you decide to flake out and watch TV If the programme you are watching has adverts, when they come on get up and march on the spot

It's free and you are at home with your wee one while they are asleep

[happyhealthyjane in reply to Hidden]

Good idea! This one could really work. I do get quite tired when my son's in bed, so watching a bit TV helps me to relax, but I can certainly build in physical exercise while relaxing my brain

[Debs2510]

Hi happyhealthyjane ,

There are loads of exercise videos on youtube that you could do once your son is in bed.

Debs