ZeldaZonk

While I'm certainly not currently chasing my PhD... (Congrats, btw! That's an amazing accomplishment!) I am a single Mom to a nine month old, working two jobs, and currently in the running for a really competitive 3rd shift engineering apprenticeship. I'd say I'm really freaking busy. Like you, my sleep is incredibly important (especially since my little one thinks it's funny to wake me up at three A.M just to say Hi.) So when it comes to working out, it takes a lot of work to find the time. I'd say the number one tip that has helped me is to work out first thing in the morning. Bright and early... and I do mean bright and early, before my daughter is even awake. If I were to wait until later in the day, it would be easy for me to push it aside and go on with the 43,432,938 other things I need to do that day. If I take the first 30 minutes of my time as soon as I wake up to do body weight circuits, it gets done. Now of course you need to get up 30 minutes earlier, so you'll need to go to sleep 30 minutes earlier... and who's got time for that? The only way I've found any extra time is to literally budget my time. I treat my time just like I would a bank account. If I need to spend 30 extra minutes, I've got to cut 30 minutes somewhere. Obviously I don't have somewhere I could just chop 30 extra minutes off of, or I would've done it already... so I make lots of little adjustments to cut 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there until I've reached the time needed for the activity I want to do. Some examples of where I make small adjustments: Feeding my daughter and eating my dinner at the same time, skipping blow drying my hair, cutting my night time reading by 5 or 10 minutes, only watching my television program while cooking/cleaning. Find whatever little places in your life where you can save some time, and add them up for an early exercise routine. That's all I've got, I hope it helps!

Welcome! I have the same life goals you, how about that! Hope NF helps you on your journey. Zelda

I usually only have one smoothie a day, sometimes I cheat and have two. My post was kind of confusing. When I say "grab and go" it's geared mostly towards the days when I'm in a rush and I don't have time to make a smoothie for whatever reasons. (My current homemade smoothie is spinach, kale, banana, almond butter and almond milk, whey protein.) Again though, I'm trying to back away from the whey for a bit too. I don't really have sugar cravings all that often... but I don't eat meat, so they're more to try and pack some protein in. And thanks Harley for the Spirulina tip. I've heard of it before (on Doomsday Preppers, of all places) but never tried it. I'll look in to it. Thanks guys.

Also, has anyone had any experience with plant based protein? I'm trying to cut out as much animal products as possible due to recommendations by my doctor for a health condition.

Ha! I guess that's an idea. Seems obvious, but it never occurred to me. Now what would be the best flavor for this?

I usually do Whey Protein in my morning shake I make at home, but I was looking for something I could grab at the store and throw in my purse for later that I could drink as is.

All right, who wants in on this one? Sounds like it could be a lot of fun! http://prisonbreakmudrun.com/

Good suggestion. Thanks! I'll look in to one!

Hey Rebels, I need your help on some suggestions to replace my daily Muscle Milk. I eat clean 90% of the time. The other 10%, I grab a Muscle Milk. I know they're not good for me, and that the protein combination and ingredients are questionable... and that's why I need your help! Throughout the rest of the day, I make my own smoothies and cook/eat clean. I work full time and I'm a Mom... add in my workout routine, and "short on time" is an understatment. Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternate grab-and-go protein source? Thanks! ZeldaZonk

Hey that means we did our job! Thank you for your support though!

Hi there, My name is Chelsea and I'm new here. I've been reading over a lot of the topics and posts, and I really love seeing how supportive and influential everyone is here with other members trying new things and reaching their goals. I have six months to make my biggest fitness, and also one of my biggest personal goals of 2013 happen. I'd love any input or strategies for success that anyone has to offer. In my Introduction post, I talked about how before my pregnancy I was an entertainer at Universal Studios, and how I'd now settled in to a lazy desk job lifestyle, not doing much of anything. I still casually work events for Universal... one of my favorites being the infamous "Halloween Horror Nights." It's what I live for every year. It's given me some incredible memories. How many people can say they've been paid to chase people around with a chainsaw? Halloween Horror Nights also has a stage show called "Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure." It an awesome comedy variety show where the Wild Stallions come out and rip on all the crappy pop culture that's surfaced during the current year. At the end of the show, all the characters come out half dressed and dance around. This is my problem. Every year I've auditioned for the show, I've made it to the call backs. And then... they make you dance. I mean, really dance. They don't give you a lot of time to learn the dance. And I always fail, in an epic way. For example, last year I was in an audition room of 40 fellow call back attendees. We danced once. I was THE ONLY one sent home. Talk about sucking. It's not so much the moves, though they are difficult. It's the speed. I can't keep up. I end up out of breath and red faced by the middle of the choreography. I just can't keep up. So auditions are in six months... I have to be able to pick up choreography quickly, massively improve my cardio endurance, and get my waistline down to look decent in one of these skimpy outfits. I'll probably end up going to some dances classes closer to the audition, but until then.. I'd like to brainstorm some ways to make significant improvements in my cardio, by doing something other than running. Any help would be massively appreciated. Oh! And here's a link to the show I'm referring to. It's the Hollywood, not Orlando version... But the concept is still the same. Thank everyone, Chelsea

Thanks everyone.

Hi there, My name is Chelsea, I'm 22, and I'm mother to a darling 9 month old baby girl. I'm here for a lot of reasons, but mostly to take some responsibility for my actions and to quit being a lazy bum. I was always a skinny nerd. I was never over weight, but dear god I was not in shape. I hated gym. In fact, in high school, I opted out of gym class and instead received exemption for P.E by volunteering with the special education classes. (Which was awesome!) It never really bothered me much, my lack of any physical prowess. I was fine sitting on the couch for hours in my Martian Manhunter pajamas, drinking my 3rd Mountain Dew. I worked as an entertainer at Universal Studios, so I justified that as enough exercise for me, and never really tried to improve. Then I got pregnant. I left my moderately physical job to now begin sitting at a desk for hours at a time. It was okay, I was pregnant... I was taking it easy. Then I had my daughter. And I ate the same amount of food, worked the same crappy job... for months. It was a really slow progression, everything creeping up on me. Then one day I bent over to put a dish in the dishwasher and collapsed on the floor (Geriatric/Life Alert Style) and was hospitalized with two fully slipped disks out of my back. I was that lazy that I hurt myself, trying to put a dish in the dishwasher, wow. So something had to give, and apparently my back was it. My diet is one thing that I'm pretty good with. I've been eating Vegan for a while now, due to other health related issues. And no, not crappy Vegan where you justify eating Oreo's and over processed foods because they don't contain animal products... But real Vegan, whole foods, fruit, lots of raw veggies. (I promise, I get TONS of protein.) The exercise part is a whole new thing. I'm still in horrible, horrible shape. I have trouble picking up my daughter. I couldn't run a mile to save my life. While I'm a great shot with my rifle, I'm positive I couldn't run/climb/skedaddle away from a zombie invasion. (Which sucks, caused I live in Florida. Obviously where it will all start.) I want to weight lift. (Which is how I wound up here, after reading Staci's article!) So I signed up for my first training session tomorrow morning and I'm excited to see how it goes. My biggest goals are to be capable of running a mile, able to do a pull up, and to get back my pre-baby body. So I'm glad to be here. I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know other people on their own fitness goals. So alas, here goes.