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I jumped into the Meltdown with my goal of losing 16 pounds. 2 weeks in I am down about 3-4 and I think I can hit my goal. I know how to watch what I eat, I know what I have to do to burn weight off and I know I can do it.
I have been realizing how hard it is to lose weight and stay in shape as a parent. With 4 kids everything is hard!
It is hard to have me time, to have any time in my life that I can do what I want or what I need to do.
During the work week I wake up before anyone else in the house, get ready for work, go to work, either come home from work or workout, make/eat dinner and hang out with the kids. Then we put the kids to bed and deal with house business. Then I am usually the last person to fall asleep at night. On the weekends I am so tired from the week I schedule workouts ahead of time so I can make myself do them. If I don't get a chance to work out right after work the battle is almost certainly lost. There is no way to carve out extra time to work out after I get home or if there is I can't do a hard workout right after dinner. I can either choose to sleep less or work out more. I guess for now I will sleep less.
Food is also a problem!
Many nights dinner gets out of control. With 4 kids my wife is so tired and busy just taking care of the kids that she is worn out by dinner time. I am also worn out and we find it harder and harder to want to cook good meals. We have turned to scheduling meals as a family on Sunday nights which is a solid idea but does not always work out as planned. I don't want to become the family who eats pizza as a fall back every week.
I work in downtown Minneapolis and there are few really healthy and affordable choices for lunch if I fail to bring one from home. I often bring a PB & J sandwich. I use Ezekiel bread with no sugar PB and Jelly my mother in law makes, so it's pretty healthy and packed with protein. I also make sure to drink lots of water and more coffee than I should during the work day. If I am too tired at night to make lunch it gets to be a big game of what can I eat that is healthy. Sure I can get a salad but paying $10 for a salad at a grab and go place gets old pretty quick and the ingredients are often not very fresh.
On the weekends we don't plan what we eat and I find myself playing run away from all the meals the kids and my wife eat. I feel like Saturdays and Sundays are one big eating orgy, I get really frustrated with all the eating when I am trying to lose weight and make other things a priority.
In general eating bugs me. We easily spend $900 a month on food and we are always running out of something. We eat organic eggs and milk and don't buy things with corn syrup. In a perfect world we would grow most of what we eat or go to a co-op for everything else. Eating is really hard to do right when you live in the suburbs with a family of 4. I am open to any ideas on what other people do when it comes to naturally feeding a family.
I know I need to get back to the VitaMix and my smoothies, but again it takes time and I feel like I am pinched for every second of life.
What do you do to make extra time or prioritize what and when you are eating?
Right now I am doing my best to eat healthy and exercise as much as I can.
I do Body Pump 2 times a week, Gladiator 1 day a week and Dodgeball every Friday. I also lift or do cardio pretty much every other day. When I work out at home I walk on the treadmill at 3.5-4 MPH at a high incline and do a couple sets of bench after every 10 minutes. I will also throw in spin training around the 4 triathlon's I train for.
On to the Bike.
I did a Body Geometry Fit at Erik's bike shop this weekend. It was really fun and it showed me a lot about how I bike. They made my bar further forward and curved up, they gave me a new seat that was firmer and wider and they put shims and supports in my shoes. The fit technician watched me with 2 video cameras and made lots of tweaks over a 3 hour period. I think this will really help me with my back feeling good and with my pedal power on the Red Ribbon Ride and other rides I do. I love to bike and it is one of the best ways you can train or simply get around with little impact to your joints.
Well I think that's all for now. Back to the food log I go and body pump tonight. Please ask me questions and share ideas you have to help me and others.
If you are interested in working with me as your beach body coach or meeting up for a workout or bike ride, please click the link below.
As always keep up the good work, and remember, we are doing this for ourselves and our kids.
-Gabe
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