For years past, I was only able to do my work out at night time before bed. I would take all the little ones down in the basement, put the baby in the playpen or swing and do my elliptical. With 5 under 5 I can guarantee that for the most part toddlers cried and whined. There wasn’t as much play going on as they do now. But it was okay, I just endured the crying and smiled and kept on doing the elliptical. I knew that for 30 minutes it was not going to hurt them to be unhappy. There were plenty of toys to play with if they so chose, but for the most part they just cried. But I made it, and they did too. Look into headphones:)
That is all I would recommend doing until you have gotten down to a manageable weight. I didn’t even think about crunchers, pushups, or leg lifts until I had most of my “fat” off my body. Concentrate on just moving, get off the couch, stand and hold the baby. Get outside and take a brisk walk. March up and down your stairs. Anything to get your body moving.
You need to get your heart rate pumping for a minimal of 20 minutes for it to be effective. If you aren’t sweating, then you are probably not doing a hard enough work out.
Remember sweat is a natural way for toxins to leave your body. So it is good to sweat. Even though it is gross:)
Plan to work out either in the early morning before your children wake up, so that it ensures you shower and get ready for your day. Or do it at night time close to bed so that you can shower and then hop into bed. If none of these options works then plan on staying in your pajamas until you can work out and then shower and get ready for your day. Or get ready for your day and then take a short shower again after you work out.
Whatever works for you, I always like to get ready in the morning but since I have adopted the workout plan I have now, I have to stay in my pajamas until I work out and that is hard for me. But I know it is a temporary thing, I am just working on the weight loss and when it is done, I can just maintain and it won’t have to be so intensive.
Let’s say you have lost most of the weight, now it is time for floor exercises.
You can do these pretty much anytime you want, like I said before, I would recommend trying to get off most of the excess weight then toning it up.
Here are some simple exercises that I do to help tone. I do these in my living room while my little ones are climbing around me or playing nearby on the floor. It is all about utilizing your time.
Crunchers
Okay, I know that after having 10 babies, I wondered if I would ever have a stomach muscle left inside of me. I am here to say that yes, I do! They are buried under that belly fat, but I am starting to feel them. It took a long time to notice anything really but I am slowly making progress.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND SIT UPS. Those are extremely hard on your back, do crunchers. Bring your knees up and hands behind your head and slightly lift your head off of the ground, using your stomach muscles. 
Another variety of crunchers is to extend your legs upwards and lift your head off the ground towards your feet. You can also alternate reaching to the sides of your legs with your elbows.
How many can you do? I like to say—-“until your stomach hurts.” If you need a number do 50.
Push ups
When I first started doing push ups, I could barely make 5. My arms would be shaking! Now I am up to 15 and I usually do that 4 times throughout my floor time.
Do them on your knees to make them easier.
Planking
This is something new that my dear friend told me about. I looked it up on youtube and it looked super easy, but then I tried it. Definitely not easy!! This is a great core strengthener. Try it, you will be surprised at how difficult it is. I hold the position for 10 seconds and try and do that as many times as my stomach muscles allow. I would aim for 4-5 sets. It is basically a push up position on your toes not knees and on your forearms. It is tough.
Leg lifts lying down
These are great do to work on the inner and outer thighs. I do these until my legs hurt too much:)
Bend your leg on the bottom and extend your outer leg and do lifts toward the ceiling.
Take the knee down to the floor and push it back outwards. This is great for those outer thighs.
Bend both legs at 90 degree angles and continue doing leg lifts.
I would recommend doing 15-20 lifts at a time. See how many sets you can do
Leg lifts standing up
This is a great stretcher for you legs, it elongates them and helps tighten your rear- behind muscles.
Hold onto a tabletop and then lift your leg upwards. Your child will still want to be picked up, keep lifting:)
Turn to the side and lift your legs outwards. You can also do a scissor cross in front of your body as you swing your leg in front of you. These are great for outer and inner thighs. Again however many you can do. For me it is however my children allow me to do:) 25 each leg.
Dog lifts
These probably aren’t called dog lifts, I just call them that because my children say it. This was extremely hard for me to do after I had my babies. It really does a work on your stomach muscles as well as your rear behind muscles. If you are feeling any type of pain, stop and do not continue this exercise. Slowly work up at it. I would do maybe 5 and now I can do 25 of them at a time, I just needed to heal.
Get on all 4s and extend your leg out and lift your leg to the ceiling. Stay up on your arms for an easier workout.
Bend the knee and lift your heel to the ceiling. You can also point your toe and lift that to the ceiling. Get down on your forearms for a harder workout. Do 25 of each kind. As many sets as you can.
STRETCHING
After I am all finished and the children are still playing I like to stretch.
Stretching, this is something I have neglected to do over the years and have only recently realized the importance of it.
When I think of stretching, I like to take all my body parts and give them a great stretch. Here are some areas I like to elongate:
- Start with your head and neck do slow rolls with it.
- Then move to your shoulders and arms and do small circles and large ones. Go forward and backward.
- Take your waistline, and do some twists.
- Sit on the floor and stretch your leg out to the side and reach for your toes.
- Sit butterfly style and try and bring your face down to the floor.
- You can get on all 4s and do a cat stretch. Raise your lower back up and arch like a cat.
- Don’t forget those Kegel exercises, especially after having babies, we gotta keep everything in shape!!
How about finding the TIME for exercise? And what do you eat while trying to lose weight that doesn’t require a lot of prep work because you still have to make meals for 10 other people? Continue topart 3 to see how it is done.
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