Top 25 Health & Fitness Mom Blogs: 2 of 8

How I Balance Being a Mom and Taking Care of My Health

I know that part of being a good mother is being happy. How does the saying go? “If mom ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” So, I don’t feel guilty taking time for myself and making myself happy. Likewise, if something comes up and my children need me, I don’t fret about a missed workout. I also like to incorporate an active lifestyle into my family time. I jog while pushing a stroller, we bike together and I recently ran a 5K with my oldest son. I look at my active/healthy lifestyle as setting a good example for my children and I already see it’s “rubbing off” on them. 

Three Health & Fitness Tips for Busy Moms

1. My biggest piece of advice is to find something you LOVE to do. Don’t settle for running if you hate it.  Don’t go to spin if it makes you unhappy. Try ALL kinds of activities and don’t stop trying until you find something you love.
2. Make workouts part of your routine. Don’t make is something you HAVE to do, but something you just do. You don’t wake up every morning dreading brushing your teeth. It’s just something you do. If you make exercise part of your daily “habit”, it will become second nature.
3. Incorporate your children into your workouts if you have to. You can buy a jogging stroller or a bike trailer and take your children with you. You can play basketball with your kids. Heck, even getting up off the porch to play a little hopscotch is better than doing nothing at all. Get up, move and HAVE FUN!
   

My Favorite Posts

1. Livestrong Austin Marathon Race Recap
2. When Buzz Became Harry
3. Nobody’s Perfect

How I Balance Being a Mom and Taking Care of My Health

I work very hard to model healthy choices for my children. Incorporating regular exercise and good eating habits (treats are allowed... but they are treats!) are the foundation. Most of my working out happens after the kids are in bed. With four of them running all over the place, one of whom is an uncontainable 2-year old, exercise while they are around is just no fun and can be downright frustrating! Once they are all down for the night, it is mama's time! It does make for a long day :P

Three Health & Fitness Tips for Busy Moms

1. Don't worry about how slow/fast you are; don't worry about how pretty/not pretty you are; don't worry about your outfit; just get out there and start moving and smile.
2. Sleep and water and laughter are super important! Most of us need to get more of all three!
3. Eliminating or dramatically reducing refined sugars...no matter how hard or seemingly impossible...is the single most valuable step you can take toward improving your diet and health.

My Favorite Posts

1. P90X and breastfeeding are compatible
2. Weekend run: What worked...and what didn't.
3. Double Diaper Run...fun!

How I Balance Being a Mom and Taking Care of My Health

It is one and the same: I need to take care of myself in order to take care of others. No one else can do it for me. It took me a while to realize this. Like many other moms, I tended to think of taking care of the needs of others first. When I started experiencing some health issues several years ago (high cholesterol, fatigue, etc.) I realized that I needed to heed the advice I often give at work to my patients: exercise regularly and watch what you eat.

Three Health & Fitness Tips for Busy Moms

1. Be flexible. It is important to remain flexible with your workouts (location, time, type of workout) because despite our best intentions, life can sometimes throw a curve into plans.
2. Take the time on your days off work to prep healthy foods for the work week, so you have convenient access to healthy eats. This can help keep your diet on track and keep you out of the fast food drive-thru.
3. As kids get older, consider volunteering at a sporting event (e.g. a race or triathlon) together. Not only do you get to spend some quality time together, but your child gets a taste of volunteerism and the excitement of athletes in competition.

My Favorite Posts

1. Treadmill Tuesday series
2. Mile Four
3. There Once Was A Girl