Becoming a fabulous, fit mother takes more than hitting the gym before the delivery date… Do you have what it takes?

Throughout most of our lives, we’ve only had to look out for ourselves. We ate what we wanted… watched what we wanted… worked how we wanted… played all the sports we wanted. Life could just be about us. But then we met someone, and that someone brought a brand new someone into our world. Now, life is no longer about us. There’s a new number one in town. And looking out for this new number one means sacrificing more than you might think.

The First Thing to Go

Once our baby arrives in this world, the first thing to go… is our free time. And not f for the first few months, either. From the moment they leave the hospital to the day they graduate school, we’re working on their time. Our once healthy lifestyle mutates into stress-filled days of skipped breakfasts, rushed lunches, no time to exercise and, eventually, a slower, more exhausted woman… one we can’t recognize in the mirror.

A Busy Mom's guide to Fitness

With such a dramatic shift in priorities, staying in shape may seem inevitable. But by incorporating these few tips into your daily routine, we can keep the weight, stress, and tired away.

  • Sleep Quality = Body Quality: Stress, lack of sleep, and the stress of receiving little to no sleep raise our cortisol levels… and our fat levels. The best way to counter the inevitable disrupted sleep is to set an earlier bedtime or a later waking time. This will allow our bodies to find a semblance of balance.
  • Master the Kitch, Master Your Body: Que the “woman in the kitchen” jokes. In all seriousness, there’s nothing better than a home-cooked meal from mom… or dad… BUT a health home-cooked meal takes a little more prep. to discover the power of honing those kitchen skills to become a master mother-chef!**
  • Re-Prioritize Your Time: Think about all the things you used to do with your free time: Bubble Baths, Binge-Watching Scandal, Girls’ Night Outs… All seem to disappear as mothers. When the house becomes a mess and you’re still balancing work and baby, it’s time to call for backup. Prioritizing what’s important to you and delegating what’s not will save you from spreading yourself too thin. This is especially true for working women.
  • Make a Schedule…: When life becomes chaotic and stressful, it can be hard to stay focused on your goals. Add a child to the mix, and your focus can fly right out the window! Make a list of the most important goals in life, and rank them in order. If something conflicts with our priorities, it gets bumped down the schedule. When we have a schedule and can stick with it, there’s no need to rely on fickle willpower.
  • … And Stick to It: Many of us know what we need to do, but few of us execute consistently. Enter the accountability partner. Whether this is your partner, best friend, or an online community, having someone in our to keep us on the right path is invaluable.

Getting Started

But wait? Where are all the workout routines and diet guides? Well… Fitness is more than hitting the gym — it’s a balanced lifestyle to encourage healthy physical and mental abilities. By taking these steps to stay on track, we can prepare both physically and mentally to become a Fab, Fit Mom.