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FitMoms: Get Your Sweat on With Toddler in Tote

February 13, 2012 By Erika Zane

13 Feb

I started this blog as a mode of accountability for staying fit once I had Little Man, so I know how hard it can be to fit in the time for exercise when you have little ones around.  Whether you work full-time or stay home, finding time for fitness can be challenging.  So, when I recently caught up with a nutritionist friend of mine from college who had started a fitness blog, I invited her to write a guest post for me.  She’s fun-loving, realistic, and strives to find new and creative ways to incorporate health and fitness into her life.  She may not be a mother yet, but she certainly has an idea of what motherhood is like and has some great pointers!

With that, I’m excited to introduce Jessica from Healthy Urbanista!

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Busy moms don’t have time for workouts, they make time!

Mommies are always on.  You know that exercise is important, but there is hardly time for you to eat or sleep, let alone fit exercise into the day.  This is a trend I see every day with my patients, my wonderful mommy friends, and my own amazing mother.  The good news is that with little deviation for your normal schedule, you can fit in easy exercises and healthy foods that will fuel and arm you to take on anything that your toddler’s busy schedule will throw at you!


4 Tips for Fitting in Exercise

Tip 1:
Put on your workout clothes as soon as you get up and keep them on all day!  
Doing this will ensure that you’ll be ready to get fit any time the opportunity presents itself!

  • Buy exercise clothes that you love and that make you feel good about your body.  You will be more likely to wear them!
  • Make sure to have multiple types of fitness clothes.  At home, wear the sports top and throw on an exercise jacket or hoodie when going out in the cold or to the store.

 

Tip 2:
Make Spare Minutes Count
Though they may be few and far between, you do have spare minutes somewhere in your day.  You just may need to dig a little deeper than most to find them.

  • Keep small dumbbells in your bathroom or kitchen.  I know this sounds odd, but I’ve been doing this since a friend of mine told me about it. She learned it from her mom   She fits in a few quick sets of bicep curls in between curling her hair or applying her makeup.  Trust me- do this!  Your lack-of-arm-flab will thank you!
  • Nap time is just as important for you as it is for them!  Often, you get in valuable sleep time while your little tyke (LT) is snoozing.  But, if you had a full night of rest, this is the perfect time to get in some cardio.  Jump rope, try a fun crank circuit, or turn on your ipod/Zumba on Wii and get your dance on! Whatever you choose, try to get in at least 20-30 minutes of cardio with 10 minutes of core training after cardio.

Fun Tip: There’s a twitter trend called #plankaday where fitness enthusiasts post about getting their plank on.  It’s a fun way to stay motivated about your ‘me’ time! You’ll be surprised how much more energy you will have during the day!  

Tip 3:
Exercise with your Little Tyke
Playtime should be for you too! Here are some tips for exercising with your little one:

  • Allow your LT to count reps with or for you while you do jumping jacks, crunches on a yoga ball, or leg lifts on the floor.  Not only is this excellent way to encourage an early love of exercise, your little one will develop counting skills while you get in some cardio!
  • Squats with LT in the Baby Bjorn or leg lifts with LT on your legs – They will love it!
  • Bike or walk with your child – Be a role model by exercising with them.
  • Fun Chores and Contests – Have contests with your child like leaf raking contests or see who can run in place for one minute!

Tip 4:
Partner with a friend or public feed to establish accountability.

  • Partner with a friend to hold each other accountable – Set up goals and check in regularly.
  • Get connected with the blogosphere or twitter-sphere!  Write a post or tweet (after LT’s bedtime) recapping your day of fitness success!  Make sure to read other mom-related blogs with health and fitness focus to create an accountability community.
  • Seek out mommy meet ups for exercise!  Find stroller communities or take turns watching the kids play while the others are making laps around the playground or walking path!  This is a great time to discuss healthy eating and fitness goals and accomplishments!  Just make sure you’re walking while you’re talking

Though I can give you healthy eating and exercise tips from a nutritionist’s perspective, I wanted to go straight to the source to see what works.  So, I polled my amazing mommy friends to ask how they get in their exercise.  You can read the suggestions from the FitMoms themselves!

Question:  Do you have awesome fit tips for exercise or healthy eating during the day? 

A Healthy Treat for Mommy and LT
This is a tried and true, kid-friendly recipe.  It’s easy, fresh, healthy and delicious!  My niece asks for this every time she visits, so I make enough for her and for me!  She doesn’t have a clue there is anything green in the mix!
Banana Blueberry Smoothie
•    1 medium banana, ripe
•    1 cup frozen blueberries
•    1 leaf kale or cup of freshly rinsed spinach
•    1-2 cups skim milk
•    1 tablespoon ground flax for mommy
instructions
All ingredients go into a blender, except the ground flax.  Mix until smooth.  Pour out about 1/3 for LT.  Add the ground flax to the remaining smoothie in the blender.  Give it a mix and serve to yourself!  Pretty easy, right?
notes
Feel free to substitute or combine other berries with the blueberries.  It is best to serve this power packed smoothie after nap-time!  The natural sugar from the fruit will keep LT awake and you from exercise!    Add whey protein to your smoothie for added muscle – repair post workout.
nutrition
Loaded with Antioxidants, fatigue-fighting Iron and heart healthy Omega-3’s for mommy!

Other Fitness Resources:
8 Workout Ideas for Every Mom
http://www.parenting.com/article/8-workout-ideas-for-every-mom
Exercises to Do With Your Baby
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/exercises-to-do-with-your-baby?pnid=108830
Safety Tips for Cold Weather Exercise
http://www.ivillage.com/safety-tips-cold-weather-exercise/4-a-416623
Get Fit Mom Forums
http://forums.ivillage.com/t5/Get-Fit-Moms/ct-p/iv-ppstyfitafpg
Running Diva Mom Blog
http://runningdivamom.blogspot.com/

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Filed Under: fitness, Health

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Comments

  1. Jessica @ Healthy Urbanista says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Thanks Erika! This was so fun! I really appreciate the opportunity to write this guest post! Several of the Fit Moms have written and were so excited to be included 🙂
    Jessica @ Healthy Urbanista recently posted..I Love Running because…

    • Erika @NaMammaSte says

      February 15, 2012 at 2:45 pm

      Of course! It was! Thank you! 🙂

  2. Dawn says

    February 27, 2012 at 11:04 pm

    Great tips, especially about including LT into the workout. I have some mums that I work with and what we do is set up a workout that mum can do and then set up a mini workout that LT can do…like chasing balloons together or a mini circuit where mum skips and LT jumps over the rope instead.

    What we find then it is LT who is asking to do the exercise and then in turn making mum do it. LT gets an awesome example of living a healthy lifestyle and Mum gets to fit the time in
    Dawn recently posted..Think Your Kids Need Exercise? Look At Your Own!

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    October 26, 2012 at 8:03 am

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Hello and welcome.  It’s been a while.  For Lent this year I decided to fast from the thing that took too much of my attention from what is truly important: Social Media.  Though there are countless amazing benefits to Social Media, after about a month offline so far, there are seemingly just as many negatives.  I never realized how much of my brain had been hijacked by it.  I’ve had so many revelations about how much easier it is to move forward when I’m not constantly reminded of the past.  But I still want to record my family as they grow at this ridiculous speed and, I’m realizing, so many of our family’s memories are here.  Those along with so many of the struggles and stages we’ve worked through.  Maybe in the midst of COVID19 isolation and my kids around me so often, I’m brought back to a time when they were too young for school and with me so often.  Writing here during that time helped make up for the limited adult conversation in my days and the overwhelm provided by my… little treasures 😉 My husband, fur babies, three fiesty kids, and I hereby extend an invitation to visit this little sneak peak into our life. We’re super flawed and broken and there aren’t too many dull moments around here.  And I promise it’s not always as magical as some of my golden hour, sun-soaked images would suggest.  There’s usually too much coffee in my system and we welcome all the prayers.  Come on over if you want to process with me.

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