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I do Camp Gladiator in my area. Camps are at 5am and 5:15am. I am done at 6:15 at the latest, get home by 6:30 at the latest and am out the door at 7:30.

@Mrs D: can you just dry shampoo and pony tail?

I'm working on this as well, I'm working on the clean eating. I do yoga one night a week (tonight) which is when the girls are still awake. I think I'm going to be working out at 8 pm, after the girls are in bed. I wake up at 5:30, and I just know that 4:30 is unfeasible for me to sustain on regularly! I'm not one who in the past gets the "energy burst" so I'm hoping I have no problem falling asleep after my workouts! It's hard though, I'm out the door at 7 am and walk back in around 5;15, I want to utilize as much time with my girls as I can!

I have a spin bike at home. The problem isn't the workout time, it's the commute to the workout. So I cut that out and gained an hour.

Ideally though, I'd use the gym at the office, during lunch.

When h was waking up, I went outside to run as soon as I put her down in the crib. There are lots of things you can wear to make yourself visible at night. I always let my husband know exactly where I am going and I carry mace. I also run on my lunch, especially if there have been a lot of night wake ups. Running/exercising at night doesn't amp me up too much. I actually sleep a bit better.

I workout on my lunch break. Before I was pregnant I would run outside on Monday and Wednesday, yoga Tuesday and Thursday and spin class on Friday. Sometimes I would skip a day if I had errands to run mid-day. I just come back with either wet hair, dry shampooed hair or I pull it back and hope no one minds my red cheeks. Luckily every one at my office pretty much works out so it doesn't matter too much.

If you can workout at lunch, I recommend it. However, I'm not yet a mother (due date is at the end of this month) so all of this advice is from a non-mom perspective.

I started working out at lunch over 5 years ago, because I had a 2.5 hour commute each way; I was out the door at 4:45am and home around 8pm. Not time to work out at all. My office was right next to a gym, so I could easily walk next door & change (15 min), work out (30 min), change, and get back to the office (15 min). I would do a quick sponge bath or a very fast rinse if I was really sweaty, then dry shampoo my hair (or just wear it up!) and touch up my makeup. My face was sometimes still red by the time I got back to work, but my coworkers knew I was going to the gym, and I didn't smell so it didn't bother anyone.

I still go at lunch now, even though my location has changed - I now take 1.5 hours at lunch because I have to add a 15 min drive on either end. But I'm lucky that my work is flexible like that, and how I hope to continue once I'm back from maternity leave.

The most surprising thing for me is how much energy I have in the afternoon after working out. I know it sounds crazy, but the days I don't workout I hit the afternoon slump hard. The days I do work out, I feel great.
I'm 36 weeks, and I still go to the gym 3 days per week at lunch (and no I'm not some crazy gym rat, in fact I was 30 pounds overweight before getting pregnant)

I know this isn't an option for everyone, the gym location and amenities are key. (You can also walk/run outside at lunch, do spin classes, or zumba, or even swim)

If you can do it, it works out great. Its the only way I'm going to get to workout after my little one arrives!

Good luck!

I've stopped exercising now because I'm exhausted this pregnancy, it was increasing my nausea, and work is crazy, but I got got into a grove before getting pregnant of going after work a couple days per week but before eating dinner--dh would feed lo and often do bedtime while I was gone. So I'd be gone from like 5:45-7:15 (gym is about 15 mins from our house). It worked well because I was picking lo up from daycare around 3, so I got some quality time with her, and she was going to sleep around 7, so I could get home, eat, and wind down before bed. Now I pick her up around 5:30ish though and we do dinner immediately after, plus she goes to sleep later/closer to when I crash, so it;d be tougher to fit in...But I think that's still when I would go if I had the energy now!

I don't right now My 14 month old is still up at night quite often, I am slammed at work and don't have the luxury of staying late or coming in early like I did pre-baby so I always work through lunch. I get home about 5ish, baby goes to bed 7-7:30. I guess I could do it then, but by the time we clean up, pack lunches, maybe do a little laundry or something... it's 9pm and I'm shot and I need to sit for 30 minutes. And then bed because I know I'm gonna be up at night.

Sucks but I guess it's not forever. I just can't figure out how to work it in without sacrificing more sleep, which is NOT HAPPENING right now. I am already exhausted.

We try to do family walks some evenings in our neighborhood (maybe a mile) a few times a week, I try to park far away, take the stairs, etc.... for whatever that's worth.

When I was trying to get back into the swing of exercising after LO1, I skipped bed time 2 nights a week and then did 2 long weekend workouts. So that gave me 4 workouts a week, which was great compared to none! Early mornings are always the "easiest" in the sense that nothing interferes with them, but I hate getting up early and DH uses that time anyways.

Then you can always change it up later if you are getting better sleep and want to try mornings, figure out a way to sneak in some lunchtime ones, etc.

early is the only way I can do it! I get up between 4:30 and 5 and I'm out the door soon after to run. I usually run on an empty stomach, but if I need something, I'll eat a half a banana or something easy like that before hand. I'm also pregnant, so I'm exhausted at the end of the day, so evenings are definitely out for me! I also feel less guilty doing my workouts while everyone is sleeping. I'll also add that my 2 year old has generally been a good sleeper, which helps!!

@Mrs D: Do you do daycare pick up and drop offs every day? Where does that fit into your schedule?

I'm actually not working out right now--I could be lifting weights, I guess, but I have a serious foot injury and am just working on getting that back to normal. It hurts to even walk. But for a brief while before the foot issue, I was paying our nanny extra twice a week to stay a bit later, and I would go from work directly to work out--a short workout, like 30-45 min--and then home. But it wasn't great solution because I always felt so rushed. And then I was trying to get the 3rd workout on the weekend, when my husband is home.

I'm up at 5:45 and out the door for work by 6:45, so early morning workouts aren't great for me. I guess I could get up at 5 and work out for 30 min--then race back home to shower. But both of my kids still wake up at night, so that exhausts me.

What about your husband's schedule? Can you just pick 2x a week that he puts the kids to bed and you go workout before bedtime? Like you stay home for the dinner/bath rush and then leave around 7:15? My husband is kind of a big baby about putting both kids to sleep, but he will do it without complaining if he feels like it's for a worthwhile reason (arbitrary, right?) and working out qualifies for him.

Like, if I wanted to just run out to Target to browse and miss dinner/bath/bedtime he would freak out (I probably would to if he wanted to go shopping right then). But if I were leaving to go work out, he would be okay with it if it were scheduled--like every Tuesday or Thursday, or whatever.

@Mrs. D, once a week is better than nothing! I didn't mention that I actually took my lunch break at 2pm, so that the gym was quieter, and I would get a lot of work done while the office was quiet while everyone was at lunch. Again, I don't know how flexible you are but taking a late lunch break may help.

But if you work out at lunch on Tuesday, spin on Thursday night, and then do something active on Sat & Sun - that's 4 days of exercise! I know we all have very high expectations of ourselves, but even just one more exercise day for you might do the trick.

Good luck!

@Mrs D: I love it! There are so many workout programs on there so you can do whatever you're in the mood for (yoga, strength, cardio, etc).