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With Prevention's help, five busy women beat the number one workout excuse "I don't have time."

by Michele Stanten

Intro & Just Do It--Early

it's the most common excuse for not exercising that I hear--even out of my own mouth. With my 40-plus-hours-per-week job, an active 3-year-old son, laundry, grocery shopping, and a little side project of writing a book, something has to give.

And I'm not alone in feeling time-crunched: 77% of Americans say that when they get busy, it's their workouts that go out the window, according to a survey of 1,200 people by Impulse Research Corporation. "As women, we are so busy taking care of everyone else that exercise becomes an if-I-have-time item. Of course, we never have the time," says Suzanne Zoglio, PhD, a psychologist in Doylestown, PA, and author of Recharge in Minutes.

To help, we paired time-starved women with time-management experts. Here's what they learned, which can help you, too.

Just Do It--Early
Liza Murphy, 44, sales director for a publishing company, NYC
Obstacle: Not wanting to take time away from her sons
Breakthrough: Discovering she can work out while her kids slumber
Accomplishment: From nothing to 2 hours of Pilates a week

Her Day, Pre-Makeover
6 am: Gets herself, 2-year-old Evan, and 13-year-old Sam dressed and fed
8 am: Out the door
8:30 am: Drops Evan off at day care and arrives at the office at 9:00
5 pm: Leaves work to pick up her toddler at day care
6:15 pm: Makes dinner, plays with Evan, helps Sam with homework, does laundry
8:30 pm: Puts Evan to bed and spends time with Sam
10 pm: Goes to sleep

Murphy hadn't exercised since her 2-year-old was born, but she'd thought about it a lot. Many of her coworkers and friends would exercise at lunch and she'd try to join them, but with five departments reporting to her, something always got in the way. "Even though exercise has really positive repercussions--looking better, fitting into clothes easier--it is the first thing to fall off my to-do list," Murphy admits. And as a single parent, she doesn't have someone with whom she can share responsibilities at home.

After tracking what she was doing every hour of the day, Murphy and her coach, Sunny Schlenger, author of Organizing for the Spirit, looked for holes in her schedule. Evening hours before her boys go to bed are off-limits. "I don't want them to feel I have no time for them, so I make a point of giving them one-on-one time with me every day," she says. And after going pretty much nonstop from 6 am until 9:30 pm, she didn't have any energy left to exercise. Her only option: Get up earlier.

That was doable, but Murphy needed a workout she could accomplish close to home; without child care, long walks and runs were out of the question. When she heard that Pilates is great for toning muscles, she decided to give it a try. At first, she followed exercises from a book and managed only 15 minutes at a time. "I was happy to be doing even a little exercise, though," she says. When she switched to a videotaped workout, she was motivated to go longer. Now she gets up at 5:30 and usually does 30 minutes of Pilates (a little less if her toddler gets up early or she has to do laundry) 4 days a week. "It gives me more energy, and it's easier to hold in my stomach," she says.

Although Murphy wishes she had more time to exercise (getting up at 5 am is just too early for her), she's really doing more than she thinks. In addition to the Pilates, every day she walks about 30 minutes to and from the subway--time that counts as exercise