I’m not a gym bunny by any means, but I am committed to shedding this baby weight (it’s so hard!) and getting back to a place where I feel strong in my skin. And while research shows a healthy diet is a lot more important than exercise when it comes to losing weight, if you want to tone, reshape, and release stress, a good sweat session is key. You can do it fast!! I’ve become the queen of under 45-minute workouts. Here’s how I make it happen, almost daily.

ANYWHERE, ANYTIME ONLINE

Our Body Electric (Obe) is a company I invested in because I so believe in their mission to bring the best of the NYC and LA workout scenes to anyone with internet and a screen. I often have just 30 minutes (and not one minute more) to exercise, and these 28-minute workouts have great music and top instructors cloaked in pastels which gives the classes a party vibe that almost lets me forget I’m here to work. I also love that I can customize from their catalog of live and archived classes targeting cardio or different parts of the body so I can change it up daily.

GET UP AND JUST GO

My family and I made the move to Florida a few years ago, and I’ve been taking advantage of the weather and running outside. I find running to be the most efficient fat-burning exercise, and in 40 minutes door to door, I can put my workout behind me and get on with my day. But I have to do it first thing or I’ll never get to it, so I set my alarm 50 minutes early, have my running clothes already next to my bed, and just will my body into motion before the part of me that would just like to hit snooze has time to wake up.

One thing that has made this time even more efficient is I’ve started listening to podcasts. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite workout playlists in the coming weeks, but changing it up with a quick podcast that lets me learn something new, get some food for thought, or hear the day’s news while I’m on the move changes my focus so the time goes faster. (Did I mention I don’t like running? Like, not even a little?) I often learn something so novel or interesting that it changes the course of my day, or at least how I think about what is happening to and around me, which I love. P.S. Here are the podcasts I’m loving at the moment.

BEFORE BED

A friend of mine recently told me that she spends 10-15 minutes after putting her baby down at night doing some light yoga and stretching. It helps her decompress and get into the headspace where she can enjoy time with her husband without having all the wheels of the day churning in her head.

It made so much sense that I’ve started doing it, and I have to tell you, I am blown away by what a difference just 10 minutes of meditation makes. Maybe it’s because I’m an Aquarius and I just crave a (teeny, tiny) bit of alone time to sit with my thoughts and make sense of them. Maybe I’m just not very good at compartmentalizing, so I need a second to calm down before I jump right into the next thing. Either way, it means I don’t bring all the stress and crazy of the day into my night or dump whatever chaos I dealt with all day onto John, especially since we only get a few precious minutes alone together to reconnect. I’ve really enjoyed it and found it helpful, and I hope you will, too. Would you want to hear more easy strategies to wind down or give yourself a mental reset throughout the day?