I just saw this on one of those inspirational weight loss, um, posters? on Pinterest.
It's meant, obviously, to inspire you to get up off the sofa and exercise, rather than fret or excuse yourself that you're too busy and haven't the time to exercise regularly.
But the thing assumes that you've got 4% of your day to spare. I know, I know, no excuses. But this tool can be as much guilt-tripper, stress-inducer as motivator.
How do I know? I saw the thing at 5:30 a.m., when I woke up to exercise.
Let me just break my working mom day down into percentages.
Sleep, average 7 hours -- 29%
Get self and child ready for the day -- 2 hours -- 8%
Commute to work -- 1 hour -- 4%
Work -- 8 hours -- 33%
Commute from work and pick up son from school -- 1.5 hour -- 6.25%
Cook dinner, eat it, ensure kid eats -- 1.5 hours -- 6.25%
Bathe kid, read books and put him to bed -- 1.5 hours -- 6.25%
So that leaves an hour and a half of the day (6.25%!) for all the other stuff I need to get done in the day (you know, continue to have a relationship with my husband, take care of the diabetic cat, laundry, plan a third birthday party).... And that's IF traffic's not bad, IF the kid cooperates, IF I don't have to work late.... Oh, and somehow I need to to fit into that 1.5 hours time to relax and maybe have an avocation or read a book or write a blog post or talk with a friend or something....
So yeah, suddenly 4% of my day seems like a hell of a lot of time. Especially when you consider that that "4%" does not include the time it takes get dressed to work out and shower afterwards....
Which is why I'm up before six.... And why I usually sleep in my work out gear or sometimes work out in my pajamas (like today - exercise bike, weights).... Because giving up sleep is the only way I can figure out to fit that "only 4%" into my day. Something else has to give -- and since neither my job, my kid nor traffic are options for time-compromise, it's got to be my sleep. Not so motivating. Not so easy after all.... Get off my back, Pinterest, I'm doing my best.
