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7 manageable ways to be a ‘fit’ mum – and what does that mean anyway? (Guest blog)
This is a guest blog by Cressida Martin. I’ve asked her to introduce herself here:
“I am a wife and Mum of two, a 6 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. We are an expat family, currently living in Singapore. My son was born in the UK and my daughter in Hong Kong.
Fitness has always been a huge priority in my life. After my son was born I did that first time Mum thing of thinking that I could take baby to the gym and stick them in the corner for a couple of hours while I did my workout!! Obviously my son didn’t get that and wouldn’t play ball!! Eventually I got really down about my body and trapped in the comparison mindset and couldn’t see a solution. That is until I discovered an amazing group of women just like me, all working out at home, taking control of their bodies, ditching their excuses and feeling great again. I jumped at the chance to join them and now I like to spread the joy of these workouts and nutrition systems to others. I have now been coaching Mums to get fit and healthy for the last 3 years using my experience and our “Netflix” of workouts.”
7 manageable ways to be a ‘fit’ mum – and what does that mean anyway?
What is a fit Mum? Is she a young attractive Insta star Mum who posts 15 seconds of a perfect life for us all to see? With a pert bottom and matching clothes who has had at least 2 showers and 2 cups of (hot) tea that morning? No. A fit Mum is someone who can run around the park with her kids, who feels good in her own body, who is healthy and feels energised.
There is so much pressure on women to “bounce back” after having children. I remember reading an article in a Mother and baby magazine and all the Mums interviewed were back in pregnancy jeans at 6 weeks post-partum. I felt totally depressed and miserable because I hadn’t, I felt like I had totally messed up. But in reality, few women get back into their old jeans that quickly, if ever! Our bodies change shape, they have scars and stretch marks. It’s all normal and tells the story of our lives. We should be proud of our bodies and embrace them as part of us. Being fit and healthy has little to do with the size in the back of your pants and everything to do with how you feel.
So how do we fit in exercise and good nutrition into our busy lives? With some effort and planning it can be done! Here are my top tips for you.
GET UP EARLY
Set your alarm to get up 30 minutes earlier. Lay your workout clothes out the night before, put your alarm on the other side of the room. I even know people who even sleep in their gym clothes! Getting your workout in first thing before your brain has properly woken up prevents you from talking yourself out of it! Once you have made a habit of this it’s a game changer!
PS. If your child does not sleep through the night forget about this step!!
NAP TIME WORKOUTS
I know they say sleep when the baby sleeps but I was never able to sleep then, I needed that time awake to do things for me and I always woke up in a bad mood anyway! Short workouts while your baby sleeps will energise you, make you feel proud of yourself and set you up for the rest of your day.
SCREEN TIME
I am a firm believer that putting your child in front of a screen for 30 minutes so you can get a workout in is time well spent!! And if they are in the same room as you they even get up and join in! Children may try and interfere in your workouts, over time they will get used to your workouts and understand it’s important and they need to wait. It also helps to learn to be patient with disruptions, stop what your doing, sort them out and then go again. Don’t give up. 30 minute workouts often used to take me 45 minutes between snacks, feeding, sorting toys out but it was always worth it.
DIARISE YOUR WORKOUTS
When you plan your diary for the week put in the appointments you have to attend and then put in your workouts. Having it written down in black and white will make it much harder to skip. If you work block out your lunch hour so people can’t add meetings about meetings into your diary. At first it might take a while to figure out when you can fit it in but play around experiment with different times.
MAKE YOUR SELF A PRIORITY
This needs to come from you. You need to make sure you look after yourself, you need to put your hand up and say “this is my time, I need this for me”. Partners don’t always know when you need a break, so tell them. Tell them this is important to you and you need their support, this goes for older kids too. Being fit and healthy is part of self care, you will feel so much better and have so much more energy if you exercise and eat good food.
FUEL YOUR BODY
Your body needs nutrients and calories to function properly. If you don’t give it good nutrition there will be a knock on effect, lack of energy, stomach issues, skin problems etc… This doesn’t mean banning all the things you love, you’d never get me to give up cake!! It does mean being mindful with your food, eat your veggies, drink lots of water, limit caffeine and processed foods. Really tune in and listen to your body rather than what your emotions are telling you. Making small changes over time will make such a difference, there is no need to try to overhaul everything at the same time.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY
To be fit you don’t need to exercise for hours at a time. Short workouts, even 10 minutes, will make a difference. However you need to be consistent. Going crazy for 3 months, working out hard for 2 hours a day and then burning out and sofa surfing again won’t help you. Same goes with your nutrition. There is no point in restricting your calorie intake for 3 days then getting so hungry that you have a huge binge.
If you need a home workout and nutrition system that really works along with a supportive community then “My Virtual Gym” is for you. Contact me for full details.
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