You have every intention to get into the BEST shape of your life, but your busy schedule won’t let you be great, huh? No problem sista! Come on in here and let’s discuss exactly how to stay fit with a busy schedule – even if you’ve failed in the past.
How to Stay Fit With a Busy Schedule
If you’re reading this right now, I know that you are a woman out there who is busy.
You’ve got a schedule that’s full, the kids to take care of – or you’ve got pets to take care of. Maybe the kids AND the pets, plus the significant other, and work and everything else. And, sometimes it really seems like it’s super hard to make time for yourself, particularly your fitness goals.
But your fitness is important to you.
You getting in shape is important to. You feeling good is important to. You being able to move is important to you.
And, most of all, having a body that makes you feel amazingly confident is important to you. However, you are so exasperated because (oh my gosh!) you don’t have time to work out right?
I totally get it. Trust me, I know.
Listen, I get clients that come to me all the time with these kinds of problems… From the busy executive to the busy professionals, doctors, nurses (you gals, oh my gosh your schedules are crazy), and even busy stay-at-home moms…
I really want to help you to figure out how you can go ahead and live that busy life, all while taking care of yourself – and your fitness at the same time.
Hey listen, you know that you need to take care of you because if you don’t other people can’t rely on you, honey. All right, so then let’s talk about how to get unbusy.
Block Out Your Schedule – Make Workout Appointments
Here’s a little trick to help you to actually GET to the gym. You’ve got to really start looking at your schedule in blocks. You might already be doing this in fact, however… Let me ask you this question, how many of those time blocks are actually allocated for your workouts, or just for YOU? Meaning, actual self-care appointments for you to be able to focus on the things that you want?
Ah-haaaa! If you answered a few to none, I’ve got some news for you. You’re not alone in this actually – so breathe a sigh of relief.
When I ask my clients that same question (when they first start working with me) a lot of times that answer is zero. Big fat zero! They don’t do it at all.
Honey, Let Me Enlighten You a Little Bit…
Today might actually change everything for you, because what I hope I share next inspires you. Busy women need to really tell themselves, mentally, that they deserve to have some personal time.
There are 24 hours in the day and you can’t give all of those 24 hours to somebody else’s well-being, focus, goals without caring for yourself. You have to get out of this mindset that having time for you is selfish. It’s not!
I like to call it being self-full. I did a video on that concept that you can check out right here. But it’s not selfish for you to take time for self-care… And doing the things that you need to do to be alive and sane on this planet, so you can actually be responsible for other people.
Mindblowing, right?
It’s self-full for you to be able to do that!
Now, the first thing I want you to do is to figure out a time during the day where you know you can show up for yourself. For a lot of women that means working out in the morning before they go to work. For others, that might mean working out in the afternoon during their lunch break or immediately after work. In other cases, that even might be a little bit later on at night like 9 o’clock or 10 o’clock. No matter what, you must focus on getting it in.
Schedule Your Workouts as Standing Appointments
This is so magical! Look at your schedule and actually put your workouts on there as standing appointments. Whether that’s going to be an hour, 45 minutes, or 90 minutes, block it out and treat it like it’s so important to you that other things get worked around it.
Think about when you go to the doctor. You have an appointment and nothing knocks it off your schedule. Like, you literally say “Hey, I have a doctor’s appointment, I have to show up,” your gym time needs to be the same thing.
So, set a standing appointment and then everything else fits around that, and do not cancel it unless it is an absolute emergency.
What If You Can’t Do This Each Week?
Now for some of you, creating standing appointments is going to be easier than others.
For example, you have a schedule where it changes every single week. That means you’re going to have to sit down when you get your schedule for the week, and put the time in there for yourself as time allows. Scheduling these appointments is a crucial part of actually solving this problem point-blank, so do what you must to make it happen.
Food Prep and Meal Planning for Busy Women
When it comes to meal preparation for the busy woman – great news – there are lots of things that you can do!
You can cook ahead of time. Designate two days/week that you allocate to food prep. For instance maybe Sunday you can cook a batch, and then Wednesday or Thursday if needed you can cook something else. Having a second day is a great option for those who like to switch it up,
Dedicate yourself to preparing your meals ahead of time, and commit to having everything packed and ready to go. So, essentially it’s grab and go – no thinking, no fuss.
Save Time With Pre-Made Foods
There are so many options for food options that are healthy – and make this stuff SUPER easy to execute. Nowadays they have frozen rice, pre-cooked rice that you just pop into the microwave if you don’t have time to cook up some. Frozen vegetables, or steam bag ready veggies.
Don’t have time to cook your chicken? No problem! Honey, go get you a big ole rotisserie chicken that they sell in the grocery store. If you don’t want to consume much pre-packaged foods you can use meal prep services.
They have so many of them out there to choose from.
They’re great if you can’t actually prep for yourself, and if you don’t have time to grocery shop. Instead of ordering out, put that money into a meal prep service! It’s healthier and will get you to your goal sooner.
Whatever you can do to facilitate being able to have things done ahead of time, set that in motion!
You want to make your approach to training and nutrition so foolproof that there is NO EXCUSE why you can’t reach your goals. You have to make the choice that you are important enough to yourself to make it your reality – and to make it work for you.