3. Schedule a regular workout time

Most committed exercisers do it every day before the sun rised or late at night when the kids are in bed. Sit down with your weekly schedule and try to build in an hour each day to be good to your body.

If you convince yourself you’ll fit in a workout some time after that last meeting, once the kids go down for a nap or when your spouse arrives home on time, failure is certain. Chances are a last-minute invitation will come along; or the kids won’t nap. Write your workout on your calendar and rearrange things around this one hour as if it were any other important appointment you have to keep.

Shift your thinking from couch potato mentality to thinking like an athlete. This may sound like a big challenge, but it’s not as big a leap as you think. Essex, Massachusetts mom April Bowling, 33, stopped using her busy life as an excuse not to exercise. After the birth of her children (now age...