Have you ever had an awesome run of feeling like you are on top of your health? You have been moving regularly, nourishing your body & just feeling great. But then something happens that throws you off your rhythm.
Maybe your child got sick, you got some bad news, your husband has to work longer days, whatever! These situations can strike us at any time and they will continue to throw themselves at us every day of our lives.
It’s not a big deal if you miss a couple workouts or over eat, but it is easy to see how these days can snow ball. You might say to yourself, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow’, then you don’t get much sleep, something else happens the next day, and before you know it a whole week has passed and you loose momentum.
So how do you stay on track and still keep your health a top priority?
Absorb it, deal with it & refocus
Give yourself a moment to take on exactly what is happening in your world, deal with any of those emotions & process what you need to do. It is hard to think straight when your child is sick. Take on what you need to, try not to worry about things until you really need to worry about them. Don’t be afraid to ask for a little help from a friend or family.
Hit the reset button
Hit that reset button sooner rather than later. Avoid telling yourself, I’ll just start again tomorrow. You can even hit reset and get back on track all within the same day. Maybe you had a massive emotional binge & ate everything in site. You may as well keep going huh? No!
Forgive yourself and start again with the next meal or start moving to boost your happy endorphins again.
Plan A, B & C
When it comes to exercise & caring for children, no two days are the same. What worked last week, might not happen this week. Maybe your baby is extra clingy today, it’s raining or you totally forgot you had that appointment to go to. I like to have a couple of good workouts options up my sleeve that I can choose depending on how my day is evolving. For example. Plan A, I am going to get up early before hubby goes to work and do a solo (mummy time only) workout… Opps baby woke up 8 times last night and I slept in. Plan B – I am going to go for a walk after breakfast with the pram…. Oh no, its like 50 degrees outside. Plan C – I am going to do a babywearing workout at home, in front of the air conditioning and dance my baby to sleep for her first nap. Boom! With having all these tricks up your sleeve, something good is bound to happen.
Do something that make you HAPPY
Having something fun to look forward to that you actually enjoy will help distract you and make you want to be there. If you hate running… Don’t Run! Find a great class (like Kangatraining), find a great workout partner, do something you haven’t done in ages.
Plan it & Prioritise it
If you know this crazy life event is going to be all consuming and the week ahead is going to be chaotic, perhaps your eldest child is starting school this week and you just need to figure out your new routine, if you can foresee the week being crazy you can still plan around it.
Sit down the night before and pin point where exactly in the day you can get some movement in. There is no point saying ‘I will try and do a workout at some point tomorrow’, because that automatically means its not a priority and will get bumped. Before you know its, its witching hour and the only thing you want to do once the kids are in bed is crash on the couch.
Is it going to be 10.15am for only 20mins? Whatever is going to work and get your heart pumping for a short period of time will keep the momentum going while this little life events makes its way through your world. Keep is short and effective.
Treat Mum life like a job
You know being a Mum is one of the toughest jobs around. It is an awesome job, but it is still a job, so you can treat it like how you would get your job done in paid employement. There are certain tasks you have on your list of things to do each day. Whatever they are, start by writing them all down. Sometimes the thought of having so much to do is overwhelming, so when you right it down it will become much more manageable quickly.
So moving your butt is on the list right?
Now make it a number one priority. Do it early in the day so its not left lingering. You know your health is important right? You need me time and you need more energy! For me, it is much easier to fold washing at 9pm at night, rather than thinking about going for a run at 9pm.. plus I don’t have a baby throwing around all my nicely folded washing I just did.
So there are just a couple of ideas to help keep you moving forward and looking after yourself when life gets a bit cray cray. I would love to hear how you bring yourself back on track when you just want to curl up in a ball & hide from the world. So let me know on facebook
Philippa Bowman
Pre/Postnatal Fitness Expert & Founder of Nurtured Fitness
