I think most of us can agree that being a mom is one of the best and hardest jobs we will ever have, right? Raising kids isn’t for the faint of heart and if I’ve learned anything over my last almost 13 years of being a mom, it’s that you feel like you have zero time for yourself. Especially as you add more kids to the bunch.
But here’s one thing I know: you have to make time to take care of yourself. You may have to get creative with your schedule, but I promise it doesn’t take as much time as you’d think to live a fit mom lifestyle. You don’t necessarily have to put yourself first, but please don’t put yourself last.
I’m totally in my mom era of the busy evenings and weekends full of driving kids to practices and games and competitions. But my mama always said (anyone else picturing Forrest Gump here?) “you make time for the things you care about”. And she’s right. If I say my health is a priority, then I will create the time to take care of it.
I also heard this piece of advice recently and really couldn’t agree more: if you want to improve your confidence, do the things you said you were going to do. Because like any other skill, confidence has to be learned, practiced, and mastered by taking action every single day. I don’t know who originally said it, but wow that’s powerful, isn’t it?
4 Tips for Busy Fit Moms
Okay let’s get to the good stuff! As a gal who loves bullet points and tips, I’m sharing 4 tips that I personally find helpful in this stage of life and I think may help with yours too:
Never Miss A Monday
Hear me out: starting your week off with a workout and good nutrition will help you have a more successful week and help you feel in control. And it will keep the momentum rolling throughout the week. When you miss healthy habits on a Monday, it’s easy to throw in the towel and not care about the rest of the week. I highly recommend doing everything you can to start your Monday off strong!
In order to do this, it’s helpful to have a plan, which brings me to my next tip…..
Plan, Journal, & Check In
Having the hope of creating a new healthy habit is not going to make it actually happen. You have to plan. Say it with me now: You. have. to. plan. What do I mean by this? List out your meals then make your grocery list from there. Write out when you’re going to exercise on your calendar. Set appointments with yourself and make a reminder pop-up to alert you. If you want to work on eating more fruit, write out how you’re going to make that happen. If you want to drink more water, figure out your plan of attack on how you’re going to do it.
Journaling can be extremely helpful to keep you on track. Write out why you want to make these changes and celebrate your wins so you can look back on them when you have a tough week.
Do daily or weekly check-ins on how you’re doing with the plan and make adjustments when needed. Keeping a note section in your phone can be helpful. Check in on if you’re making progress toward your goal. This is huge for helping you stay on track.
Know Your Nutrition
If you don’t know what nutrients your body needs to reach your goals of weight loss, muscle gain, general health, etc, it’s going to be difficult to get there when you’re going at it blind. Did you know each person has their own individual nutrition prescription? Your activity level, medical history, height, weight, age, goals, and more all impact the amount of calories, protein, and even micronutrients that you need. Once you know this information about yourself, it’s much easier to make progress toward your goal.
Build Muscle
Friends, here’s the deal. We’re losing muscle mass as we age. Once we hit our 30s, our muscle mass declines about 0.5-1% every year so we have to be very intentional about holding onto the muscle we have and building more muscle! Of course we can’t build muscle that we aren’t using so strength training is a must.
We also have to make sure we’re eating the right things to help build those muscles because you can lift weights all day long but if you’re not eating the right foods, you won’t be able to create strong muscles.
These are four things that I always do to help me stay fit and healthy through my busy season of life with kids and I hope you’ll find them helpful too! If you don’t already do these four tips, choose one that you want to start with and give it a try! After you get really good at that one, you can add another habit to it.
Need extra guidance on your nutritional needs? I’d love to help. Head over to www.wholesomenutritionco.com to apply for my coaching program!
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