5 Keys to Staying Active
Let's face it, life is challenging and finding time to workout can be exhausting in itself. Add children into the mix and you've just added on an entire new level of exhaustion. When you're not juggling cooking dinner and breaking up brotherly battles, you're helping with homework and loving sick children. There is no rest! So when do you have time to take care of yourself?
I have found these 5 key things to success to keeping active and sticking with as a mom and before I had become a mom.
1. Planning having a plan is the most important thing. It is easy to talk yourself out of a spur of the moment workout. However, if you have planned it out or even better if you have a weekly or monthly plan it helps to keep your workouts on track. Personally I try to make a weekly plan to help keep myself on track. I look at what my hockey schedule looks like for the week and then plan other activities around there. If I have a late hockey game then the next day I will have an evening workout. If i don't have a late game that week then I also try to throw in some morning workouts. I also like to have a Monday night workout during the Bachelor as I am going to sit and watch it so I might as well exercise while I do. Planning a variety of activities also helps as it keeps things fresh throughout the week.
2. Find a workout partner sometimes having a workout partner is extremely helpful as it keeps you accountable to your workouts. Right now I have a work buddy who walks with me every lunch hour. Sometimes we walk for 10 minutes and other times we walk for an hour. It all depends on the day and what other activities we have going on. We do make a point to try and walk for a little bit every day as it is important to not just stay active 1 time a day but throughout the day.
3. Motivation finding what motivates you to get up and exercise is key. Is it music? a certain TV show? a specific outfit? I know when I was on Maternity leave and trying to lose those last 20 lbs I made sure I had a Netflix TV show as well as lots of motivating music to keep me going. It is important to find what works for you and what motivates you and to use that to keep you going. Now that I have lost the weight I have found that I don't need music or a specific show but that wearing good active wear helps to keep me motivated. I do still like to have a good show on the TV if I am in the workout room or a good playlist if I am outside. But a good pair of lululemon pants (personally I like the Fast and Free Crop - they have a great side pocket to hold any personal items or your phone) and a good lululemon workout top (I love the tank that has the pocked in the back of the racer back for your phone, but they don't make it anymore :( so now its just any sweat wicking shirt from there) help to keep my feeling good while working out.
4. Track your activity This is so important if you are a competitive person like I am. I used to have an activity tracker that would track my steps and let me compete with others with like trackers and this was a good motivator to get up and move. I now have the Apple Watch and it has personally up'd my activity level. It has you track your active calories, standing hours, and exercise minutes as well as keeping track of your steps. You can also compete with others and share your activities to help keep you motivated and competitive. I don't like how they limit the number of points that you can earn in a day as it makes it difficult to have a winner as everyone could max out their points. But to me this is a minor factor and I would still highly recommend the watch.
5. Have fun! If you're not having fun then you wont keep it up. Make sure you love what you're doing and having fun while doing it. This is extremely important to staying on track and fit!
Following these 5 tips will help you stay active and as we all know having tips as a mom is key because our tiny humans don't come with any lol!
**None of the links are ADs and just links to things that I like and have found helpful in keeping my fitness on track**
I have found these 5 key things to success to keeping active and sticking with as a mom and before I had become a mom.
1. Planning having a plan is the most important thing. It is easy to talk yourself out of a spur of the moment workout. However, if you have planned it out or even better if you have a weekly or monthly plan it helps to keep your workouts on track. Personally I try to make a weekly plan to help keep myself on track. I look at what my hockey schedule looks like for the week and then plan other activities around there. If I have a late hockey game then the next day I will have an evening workout. If i don't have a late game that week then I also try to throw in some morning workouts. I also like to have a Monday night workout during the Bachelor as I am going to sit and watch it so I might as well exercise while I do. Planning a variety of activities also helps as it keeps things fresh throughout the week.
2. Find a workout partner sometimes having a workout partner is extremely helpful as it keeps you accountable to your workouts. Right now I have a work buddy who walks with me every lunch hour. Sometimes we walk for 10 minutes and other times we walk for an hour. It all depends on the day and what other activities we have going on. We do make a point to try and walk for a little bit every day as it is important to not just stay active 1 time a day but throughout the day.
3. Motivation finding what motivates you to get up and exercise is key. Is it music? a certain TV show? a specific outfit? I know when I was on Maternity leave and trying to lose those last 20 lbs I made sure I had a Netflix TV show as well as lots of motivating music to keep me going. It is important to find what works for you and what motivates you and to use that to keep you going. Now that I have lost the weight I have found that I don't need music or a specific show but that wearing good active wear helps to keep me motivated. I do still like to have a good show on the TV if I am in the workout room or a good playlist if I am outside. But a good pair of lululemon pants (personally I like the Fast and Free Crop - they have a great side pocket to hold any personal items or your phone) and a good lululemon workout top (I love the tank that has the pocked in the back of the racer back for your phone, but they don't make it anymore :( so now its just any sweat wicking shirt from there) help to keep my feeling good while working out.
4. Track your activity This is so important if you are a competitive person like I am. I used to have an activity tracker that would track my steps and let me compete with others with like trackers and this was a good motivator to get up and move. I now have the Apple Watch and it has personally up'd my activity level. It has you track your active calories, standing hours, and exercise minutes as well as keeping track of your steps. You can also compete with others and share your activities to help keep you motivated and competitive. I don't like how they limit the number of points that you can earn in a day as it makes it difficult to have a winner as everyone could max out their points. But to me this is a minor factor and I would still highly recommend the watch.
5. Have fun! If you're not having fun then you wont keep it up. Make sure you love what you're doing and having fun while doing it. This is extremely important to staying on track and fit!
Following these 5 tips will help you stay active and as we all know having tips as a mom is key because our tiny humans don't come with any lol!
**None of the links are ADs and just links to things that I like and have found helpful in keeping my fitness on track**
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