Tuesday, July 7, 2009

A day in the life

I've been thinking a lot about time management lately and wanted to lay out my daily schedule and see if there's any room for improvement.

5:45am - alarm goes off
6:05am - husband gets up
6:30am - I get up and take a shower
6:50am - husband has my coffee ready (love him!)
7:00am - watch first 20 minutes of Today with my coffee
7:20am - assemble both of our lunches and snacks
7:40am - finish getting ready. Pack gym bag.
7:50am - out the door
8:30am - arrive at work
12:30pm - eat lunch at my desk
1:00pm- go out to run errands or sit in my car and read for a while.
2:00pm- back to work
5:30pm- leave work
6:00pm- arrive at gym
7:00pm- leave gym
7.30pm- arrive home - finish making dinner
8:00pm- unpack gym bag - eat dinner
8:30pm- clean up kitchen and maybe catch some HGTV
9:00pm- watch something on TV with husband
10:00pm- bed

Now that I see how my day is scheduled I can see why I feel like I do the same thing everyday and most of it revolves around trying to be healthy! I used to have the opportunity to work out at lunch back when I lost 100 pounds but there is really no way I can in my current situation. I've gone over that a million times in my head and it's not doable with only an hour. I did Curves for a while at lunch but it's a waste of time because it's not enough hard work for me. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be right now - it just sometimes feels like a really long day without a lot of time for myself. I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling!

I woke up with very sore legs this morning and that was my punishment for skipping the gym for 2 weeks straight. It felt great to go back last night and my goal is to go every night this week. 1 day down, 4 to go! I like a small challenge like that. It somehow feels manageable if I take it a week at a time.

14 comments:

  1. I love the idea of one week at a time for exercise - and tada! - you've completed a goal!

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  2. It's so hard keeping that commitment to working out because there's so many things you have to, have to do and it's easy to let the exercise slide.

    Don't let it slide.

    You know it's one of the keys to losing big-time weight. Keep it as a high priority.

    I wonder if, as a trade-off for the whopping pay cut, if your company would let you work thru lunch and leave early. That might unclog your schedule a bit.

    Anyway, keep up the great work.

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  3. Looking at your schedule - you have a lot of time that could be utilized either for 'you' time or 'other workout' time.

    45 minutes between alarm off & get up (side note: why is the alarm going off 20 minutes before anyone gets up?)

    Could you make making lunches/snacks part of what's going on during making dinner or post-dinner clean up? Could you repack your gym bag as your unpacking at night? Is your husband willing to help do these things to help out?

    Maybe you and your husband could do something between 9-10 active? A walk after dinner, dancing in the living room, tennis? Just thinking of the correlation of tv time & obesity/overweight (your schedule shows you could be watching about 2 hours of tv a day). Maybe not every night, but every other night?

    Just some ideas.

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  4. Smart idea! I love mapping out your day to look at how you're utilizing your time. One thing I do that has helped a bunch is have gym clothes laid out for the week & packed. Wal-Mart currently has Danskin athletic wear on sale. I bought enough pants, tops and bras to get me through the week. When I wash clothes on the weekend, I have them all laid out and ready to go. I keep a gym bag packed in my trunk at all times and a spare pair of tennis shoes. For me, the fuss of getting to the gym was getting to be a bit much so I had to put it on autopilot.

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  5. By the way Tina, the Buckhead center was just remodeled and it's awesome. You should come for a visit! I'd be happy to support. :)

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  6. Busy lady. I'm such a slug by comparison. :)

    I like the exercise plan and taking it a week at a time for a goal. Maybe that's what I need to kick myself into gear.

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  7. Love a man that has coffee waiting on you! :-)

    The suggestion that Lauren made about putting lunches together during dinner prep is something I do for hubby's lunch. Gets our morning off to a little earlier start!

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  8. Send me an email - crystalw99@aol.com and I'll send you the details. There are two really good meetings to choose from.

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  9. Why not go for a walk instead of sitting in the car and reading during your lunch break? Are you in a building with stairs? You could also run up and down those at lunch time.
    Path to Health

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  10. Good luck making the gym every night! You can do it!!!

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  11. Good idea on the excercise plan. I tend to say :im going to workout twice a day everyday!" and then when I miss a workout I stop completely. I learned consistancy is the key :)

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  12. LOVE the one week at a time.

    many many days up in herre (especially with the heat) with the Toddler Im clinging to making good choices one HOUR at a time.

    To my eyes as well it looks as though you could squeeze in more YOU TIME (no necessarily exercise-time!)but I also know how easy it is to look at another person's life and say: you totallly could...

    only you know for sure.

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  13. Could you have your husband call my husband, please?

    I don't know how you do it all in one day, Superwoman. I am in awe.

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  14. A few ideas:

    -Eliminate the time between when the alarm goes off and when you actually get out of bed. It's tough when you start, but the snooze button steals time, and that time in bed does not equal rest - it's disrupted and mostly makes you feel more sluggish in the morning!

    -Instead of a full sweaty workout at lunchtime, how about a 30 minute walk instead of sitting in your car reading or running errands?

    -Is there any way you can take a 1/2 hour lunch instead of the full hour and leave 30 minutes earlier at the end of the day?

    -Pack lunches as you are putting away your dinner stuff at night.

    -Instead of watching TV before you and your hubby spend time together, take a bath, give yourself a manicure, read a book, listen to music, etc. Use that little window for some "pamper me" time.

    -Do something active with hubby most days instead of watching TV.

    Hope this helps & good luck!

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