I'm really having trouble finding time for exercise. I work 10+ hours a day. I also travel a lot for work so I don't have a regular "routine". When I'm just working in my office (in NYC), I simply walk briskly from the train to my office and back and that's 1+ mile which is my exercise for the day. But on the days when I'm travelling (which is more often) I just can't seem to find the time to exercise.

And I know that exercise makes such a major difference in my success. How do I make exercise a priority and fit it into my hectic life? Any suggestions? What has everyone else done?

Ha! Im a fine one to try to answer.

Can you pack a resistance band in your travel kit along with a dvd or video. Hotel gyms might be easier then getting to a gym at home.

when you travel is it overnight in a motel?? is it to the same place?? is is for a week at a time??

i work 10 hour days as well. but i work 4 days a week. go to the gym on my days off plus one evening during the week.

i also travel alot for work. i go to the same places and stay all week. i have found hotels that have a fitness room and stay there. i also found motels that are in areas where there is a sidewalk/bike path/park nearby so i can go for a walk/jog from the motel. some motels even have video players in the room, bring a excercise video with you.

hope this helps!!

I just wanted you to know, I understand your thinking that exercise will make a major difference in your losing. I lost all my weight without exercising. So if you get it in or not, you can still lose the weight!

Hi!
I also work 10 hour days so this thread spoke to me. You just have to make exercise a priority. Find out whether you prefer working out in a gym or at home. I find the gym has a great selection of equipment but I hate all the people during the busy hours (when I have to go). There are a lot pf pros and cons.
I work out 6 days a week, which is not for everybody, but I've found success following the Body for Life program. I used to get up at 2:30 am to go to the gym (I have to be at work at 6am) but I couldn't do that for long. Now I wait for my husband to get off work and we go together at around 8pm, then I immediately go to bed after a shower. I sometimes have a lot of difficulty falling asleep but I don't know what else to do short of going really early.
I think Most people would be happy following a program of working out 3 or 4 days a week. Just start doing it and you'll be surprised how your schedule will fall around it!

Your work schedule sounds punishing (lots of commuting and travel). Do you move around at work at all? If so, you might be surprised at how much walking you are already doing. Perhaps you can walk faster (wear running shoes and carry dress shoes in your briefcase or whatever) around the office and to and from the train. Can you take some time at lunch and walk or run? Is there a gym near the office? Although, frankly, I am not a great fan of gyms...so much effort to get there. And then all those buff people in spandex

Resistance training can certainly be done in a hotel room with light weights. Those hotel carpets are also usually thick enough to allow some "mat" work like ab crunches without the need for a toted-from-home exercise mat. Hotels also often contain a pool for guests to use. Water-walking (sort of jogging through the water) and swimming laps are great ways to de-stress.

Even running on the spot in front of the tv helps! It's just like a tread mill but cheaper! (Well, not really "just like", but you know what I mean).

Good luck!

How many hours a night are you sleeping? I ask because once I established an exercise program, I went from sleeping an average of 8.5 hours per night down to only 6. And my program is only 1 hour per day(6 days a week)......so really I GAINED time by starting it

The hotels I stay in usually have gyms, but I always hate using the gym because it is so boring to me that I feel like I need to kill someone, which is definitely not conducive to productive and relaxing exercise...

Another big problem is that when I travel, I work even longer hours. By the time I get back to my hotel room (usually around 8pm or so) I am so tired and hungry that I just order dinner, watch tv, and go to bed. Do I exercise before eating? Then I'd be eating dinner at 10pm... Do I exercise after eating? Then I'd be exercising on a full stomach.... I feel like I can't win! And the worst time is when I'm not travelling, but I'm not in my office (i.e. I'm driving to a client location) because I don't walk and I usually get home really late because my commute to and from the client location is about 2+ hours each way.

I love swimming but I hate having my hair full of chlorine... I can't really pack weights in my bag because then it's too heavy for the airplane... I bought an exercise DVD so hopefully I'll do that but it's still about finding the time...

I know it sounds like one excuse after another, but this is really causing me a lot of distress... I just feel so exasperated about this whole thing. This has been one of my major obstacles to weight loss throughout my whole life and I really need help to overcome it...

Why am I in this thread? I cant make myself do my Walk away the Pounds tape-even the 1mile. I m supposed to do that everyday I don't go to the gym. Sigh.........

Try the 5min approach 5min stretch/calisthenics in am
5min walk at lunch /Laps in the hotel hallways & lobby.
You have a great normal routine with that mile walk in your commute-cut yourself some slack ..

Wow, your schedule sounds horrible, I feel really bad for you (unless of course you enjoy this hectic life) -

If I was you, I would get up earlier in order to exercise - because I know (even though I have NOWHERE near the schedule you do, that if I wait till the end of the day I will be just too tired/lazy by then to do it) depending on the exercise program you do you might not have to get up anymore than 20-30 minutes early. I often am exercising within 4 minutes of waking up (but I have everything at home).

The resistance bands are an excellent idea and how about an exercise ball - they sell them with pumps so they can be deflated and inflated quickly and I imagine they would be easy to pack. I've seen a book called the 6 minute solution (I think) and it's a series of exercises that can be done in 6 minutes a day.



ok I know some people here think I'm a bit overboard on exercise - but I would say it's more about making the time - you still have 12-14 hours a day left and all you want to do is squeeze in between 20-60 minutes of exercise - reading BFL was very inspiring for me and at some point after I started exercising I realized that it didn't work if I didn't do it - there were a lot of times I didn't really want to work out because I was tired or lazy but I did and the feeling of accomplishment after was like a high!!! There were times I delayed workouts and would look at the clock and think - jeesh if I'd started at 6:00 I'd already be done - instead of sitting there having one more cup of coffee or watching one TV show - is there one television show you could give up watching at night? As to your question about dinner (if you choose to exercise at night) - I'd exercise first and have a relaxing dinner when I was done.

Looking at your profile, I couldn't find out much about you but do you have much control over the hours you work - if you have the power to maybe you need to look at your schedule and make sure you can program in time for your exercise - after all in the end it will benefit your health. Good luck with this - If I was your boss I'd give you an exercise hour

I have found that if I pay a gym to get me in shape, instead of a free walk in the park, I will make the time to exercise.