Juggling Work, Fitness and Motherhood

Any woman that has juggled work andmotherhood can attest to the fact that it's not easy! Fortunately, there are some habits that can make it easier to keep your household running smoothly, so you can find time to pursue your fitness goals. One way in which you can save a lot of time and effort is in making your nutritional cooking and your fitness activities fit into your lifestyle.

• Family Friendly Meals âEUR" if you start your children early at healthy eating habits, rather than prepackaged meals and snacks, you'll be doing them and yourself a big favor that will pay off for years. Don't fall into the trap of preparing one meal for you and another for the kids. Every child loves mac & cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches, but grilled vegetables, fish, fresh fruit, salads, chicken and quinoa are much better for them, and will give them habits to keep them on a healthy track all their lives.


• Freeze or Cut up Meals Ahead âEUR" after bringing home your groceries, cook up some chicken and break it up into portions for meals during the week. Cut up some fresh fruit so everyone can use that for snacks. Bake up a couple of casseroles and cook and freeze some meat so your busy nights don't turn out to be even busier in the kitchen. You'll be surprised how much time you can save this way over the course of a week.Â


• Get the Whole Family Involved âEUR" running, biking and walking can be great family fun, as well as healthy for the entire family. If your children are very small, get a jogging stroller or a bike carrier (some strollers will convert).


• Fitness Videos âEUR" rather than trying to set aside time to go to the gym every day, get some fitness videos that you can use at home when the opportunity arises. If you use a little imagination, you can come up with some really great home workouts, with little to no investment. Why pay for gas, membership, fancy workout duds or childcare, when you can do it at your own convenience?Â


• Take your VitaminsâEUR" in fact, the whole family can benefit. And it's even easier to avoid forgetting when everyone takes them at the same time. It never hurts to get them in their natural form, of course, so omegas and greens can be a great addition to your program.Â
  
  • Use HIIT Workouts âEUR" HIIT workouts can accelerate your results a <em>lot</em>. By adding HIIT to your program, you can burn fat twice as fast as with traditional workouts. Here's a video to give you the idea: Youtube Workout Video
  
  

Steady-state cardio burns calories at a much slower rate than HIIT and cardio can be hard on your joints and ligaments. In addition, if you overdo cardio, you can find yourself burning muscle rather than fat. When you're trying to lose weight, it doesn't matter what kind of food you're eating, only that you're burning more calories than you're consuming. If you're burning more, you'll lose weightâEUR¦ it's that simple.

• Get Enough Sleep âEUR" most people will acknowledge that getting enough sleep is important to their health and fitness. Yet this is one need that many people seem to ignore. Every member of your family should be getting plenty of sleep âEUR" 10 to 12 hours for toddlers and children and 6-8 hours for adults. Period.

Finding a Balance
Having a career and a family can be challenging enough. Toss in being a wife, housekeeper, cook and a fitness enthusiast and it's obviously going to require some planning and effort to make everything work. You'll also need some support from the rest of the family and commitment from all of you.
That doesn't mean every meal needs to be a defrosted casserole, though. Get inventive, and you can find a lot of really tasty meals that will take only a half hour or so of your time to prepare. Here's an example:
Healthy Avocado Salad Recipe
From the kitchen of Flavia Del Monte
Prep. time: 30 minutesCook time: 20 minutesTotal time: 50 minutes
Ingredients

• 2 oz of organic chicken breast, cooked and sliced


• 1 strip of organic bacon, cut into pieces


• 1 oz avocado, sliced


• 1 cup of lettuce (any type)


• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved


• 1 oz of blue cheese dressing


• 1/2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil


• 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar


• Juice of 1/2 lemon


• sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Add everything to a bowl except the meat and dressing items, arranged for presentation.


2. Add the oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice on top. Add salt and pepper to taste.


3. Add chicken and bacon pieces on top

Serving: 1Calories: 340Fat: 24gSugar: 3gProtein: 21g
If you use cooked chicken from the day before, you only need to fry that strip of bacon, which only takes a few minutes. You can be enjoying this salad in about half an hour.
Planning can accomplish a great deal, in salvaging a few hours each week âEUR" more than enough to fit in some good workouts. Improved health of your family and a slimmer, trimmer form for you are well worth the effort!