There are times, no matter how much you love your family, that you can feel like you're in the middle of a war zone, and your body is the casualty. It is important to keep yourself healthy and fit, even when there never seems to be enough time to devote to a fitness routine. Those spare pounds can creep up quickly, and especially when you have young ones tugging on your apron strings.
The obvious reason to develop a way to stay fit is that you will be better able to keep up with your kids, and enjoy life with your family. There is another reason as well, however. Your kids follow your example in every way. Most of us know that our actions are more powerful than our words when it comes to the habits our children pick up, and eating and attitudes toward exercise are just as much a part of that as other areas of their personality and outlook.
Diet on the Go
No matter what age your kids, it's a pretty good bet you don't have much down time. The problem with that tends to be needing meals on the go, and ending up with empty calories instead of nutritious food: and of course, the resulting extra pounds, because empty calories may not have much food value, but they have a ton of caloric value.
If you are running, and meal time is approaching, find sensible ways to curb your hunger and still get good food value. You can get Medifast coupons online to help you get a quick lunch on the run, or use Nutrisystem meal coupons to have a fast lunch during a break in the errands, or at your desk at work.
Carry small snacks to keep you from getting so hungry that you have to grab something at a fast food stop on the way home. A bag of carrots or celery has good longevity. A handful of peanuts, while high in calories is packed with protein that helps stave off hunger pains.
When the kids get home from school, have a healthy snack waiting for them too. Teaching them to enjoy healthy foods early will not only help them, but give you an incentive to keep on track as well. A plateful of cookies may taste good to them, but the temptation will be too great for you as well.
Exercise Anytime
Whether you love to exercise, or hate it with a passion, it is an important element in a fitness plan. It can be really hard to find the time to fit a regimen into a busy parenting schedule, however. The good thing is that even if health clubs are out, and you don't have time for even a solid hour every day to devote to a fitness regime, you can get good exercise by incorporating exercises into your daily schedule.
Everyone knows about the standard advice of parking at the end of the parking lot when you go shopping, or using the stairs instead of elevators, but you can add even more to those everyday elements. If you have stairs in your home—bonus! Every time you pass the stairs go up and down whether you have to or not. When you bring home the groceries, lift the gallon of milk ten times on each side. Find the little ways to add little exercises everywhere.
Family Play Dates
Experts moan about the inactivity of today's kids. Get your kids involved, and keep yourself fit at the same time by planning family play dates. Get together with your kids and discuss their favorite sports, and plan a day at the park, or even in the backyard to enjoy those games with them. Even if it's just two of you, a rousing game of one-on-one basketball, or playing on the playground with young kids burns off a lot of calories, and gets them outside and moving too.
Tami Parrington is a mother of two who works from home and writes about health and fitness on Weight Loss Triumph, a blog that reviews diet and weight loss programs and offers the latest Medifast promo codes and Nutrisystem meal discounts.
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