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In this episode, I open up about what staying healthy really looks like as a busy mom—especially in the early years. With two little ones at home, I get how chaotic life feels, so I’m sharing the seven habits that help fit and healthy moms make it work. From short workouts to imperfect meals and embracing the “something is better than nothing” mindset, this is all about simplifying your approach and showing yourself grace while still making progress in your health journey.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For more free wellness resources, hiking/travel guides, and other blog posts, check out my website HERE.
What is Fit for Hiking?
Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for Hiking podcast. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady. And today we're going to get really practical and just chat through what the heck to do. If you are a mom who's trying to just do the bare minimum to stay fit and healthy because let's be honest, if you're a mom listening to this episode, which if you're listening to this, you probably are. It can be overwhelming to try to put yourself first, to try to even think about prioritizing your own health and fitness, especially in the early years of parenthood when you're figuring out how to be a mom or when you are, you know, stuck with littles all day and you really don't have any time to yourself right now. I am in the thick of it. I have a three year old and a three month old, and between their two schedules, we have kids awake from like 6:30 a.m. till nine at night because our three year old usually is awake early, goes to bed by like seven, and then our three month old has her late wake window until about 9 p.m., so that means I only have about an hour to myself all day long, which is crazy. So trying to fit in. Time to think about my own health. Between working, raising kids, breastfeeding around the clock, trying to keep the house running, trying to grocery shop, all of these things, it's a lot. So I want to talk about how to simplify this. How do we just break down what is the most important, what's really going to move the needle the most to help you feel your best? Stay relatively fit, stay relatively healthy in a time of life where it's otherwise very easy to kind of just let your own health fall by the wayside because you are the sole caretaker sometimes of these little humans. And. We're putting them first, which as parents. Absolutely. But we also need to fill our own cups. Otherwise we are just completely empty and we don't have our best to offer to our family or our work or really any other aspect of life. So today we're going to talk about the top seven habits of healthy and Fit Moms. If you see a healthier fit mom, what are they doing to achieve this? Because it's overwhelming, right? And I also want to start by saying that this is going to be easier for some people than others based on like your child care situation, if you have family nearby helping you out, um, your budget for, you know, gym, childcare, things like that, your work situation, if you're a working mom versus stay at home mom. Um, honestly, sometimes it's easier as a working mom because you maybe are going to work and you have your lunch break, you can hit the gym or whatever, versus when you're a stay at home mom. Or maybe you're just in the thick of it and you can't ever really escape. Also, how supportive your partner is is going to be a massive factor in this. I really, truly believe if my husband was not extremely supportive of my fitness goals and vice versa, we would never get to work out at this point in time because it's just there's no child coverage. Um, so that's huge. You know, we don't have family nearby and we don't have a huge budget for childcare, so we have to help each other out so that we can get to the gym. So all of these different factors will make a difference. But a lot of this you can still do with minimal time, minimal budget. It's just about really prioritizing it and making it happen and not making excuses anymore. Because yes, there's always going to be excuses. There are like 30 excuses I could come up with right now for a while. I don't have time or energy or the ability to work out this week. However, if it really matters to you and you really care about making this a reality, then you're going to find some pockets of time. You're going to find some energy, you're going to find some willpower. I know, because I've had to do it myself. So a lot of this is just the reality of putting it into practice and doing it consistently and figuring out how to make all of this a reality while you're juggling a lot. So let's get into these top seven habits of Healthy and Fit moms. Number one is to really prioritize movement, even in small doses. Yes, that might be like, duh. Obviously that's a given. However, oftentimes we're waiting to have like the perfect amount of time, the perfect situation, a gym membership, whatever in order to work out. In reality, in this time of life, you might only be able to squeeze in like 10 to 20 minute workouts a few times a week. Maybe that's from home. Maybe your kids are climbing on top of you. Maybe it's in the form of a family hike, or daily walks with your stroller, or you're able to join like a stroller stride type group where you're working out with your stroller, with your baby. Or maybe you strap your baby to your chest and you're doing an at home bodyweight workout. You know there are ways to get movement in in small doses. Even though it looks crazy, it does not look conventional. I've had to do them myself. I've done workouts where my three year old is literally crawling on top of me, and I've done workouts with my baby strapped to my chest many, many times. And that's just kind of what it looks like in this time of life. Getting to the gym and having this perfect distraction free workout is likely not super realistic for many moms listening to this, if that's an option for you. Awesome. That's so great. Like go for it. That's really, really special that you're able to get away and have that time to yourself. I do that any time that I can because I love having that as kind of my me time, not having someone needing me so I can really just focus on my own health for even just two hours a week, right? Um, but if that's not a reality for you, finding those pockets of time to get a little bit of workout in. Even if you're only getting an hour total a week because you're doing six ten minute workouts randomly throughout your week, whatever that can look like for you. Like I mentioned before, getting walks in every day. That's something you can do with your kids. You could strap them to you. You can put them in the stroller. You can put them in a wagon getting those walks or hikes in. I love hiking with my little kiddos because that's something that we can do with them really, at all ages. And yes, it's exhausting, but we make it fun. And it's something that I love to do, and I can bring my family along and get some good movement in hallmark outs. Playground workouts, make it fun, run around with your kids like you don't have to do what you would call a formal workout in order to get movement in. A lot of it is just getting your body up and moving instead of just sitting all day long. So even if it's not conventional, even if it's not, maybe what it used to look like for you, what can you do this week that is able to increase your non exercise energy expenditure and potentially your time getting normal exercise? Whether it's bodyweight workouts, dumbbell workouts at home, yoga, gym workouts, whatever that looks like for you and trying to just fit it in. Okay, number two is to plan and prep meals. Trying to just figure things out on the fly typically doesn't work out as well, because you're pulled in so many different directions, you're distracted, you have so much on your plate, so then it's easy to just go for convenience items, right? So if that's why it's important to do a grocery haul at least once a week where you're picking out healthy things, you have meals in mind, you're cooking things in bulk, you have veggies, healthy carbs, healthy proteins. You're cooking them in bulk so that you can just kind of put together some simple meals throughout the week for your breakfast lunches, dinners, have a few go to staples that you're like, okay, I know that my family enjoys this. We like this. This is a go to have like five of those for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner. And then you don't have to put so much mental energy into things because let's be real, what mom has the mental energy to be cooking gourmet meals on a daily basis? Certainly not this mom, so I know how that is. I have a few go to's and then I just kind of cycle through them every now and then. Yes, I'll cook like a special type of meal. That is not something I typically cook. If I have more time on my hands or it's a special occasion. But for the most part, I'm just keeping it simple and doing the things that I don't have to think so hard about. Okay, so having those in mind and being able to prep on like a Sunday or whatever day you have off so that the next day you're not scrambling like, oh my gosh, we're in the middle of a crazy Monday and I have no protein options. I don't have any produce or veggies or fruits in the house. I need to go to the grocery store, right? Get ahead of this stuff. That way you don't have to think so hard about it or worry about it on Monday morning. This is just going to save you so much time, reduce stress, and prevent those last minute junk food type of choices. Number three. Protect sleep as much as possible. And I know more than ever right now with having two little kiddos, that this is not always within your control. However, even if it's broken sleep, setting some boundaries around like these are the times where I'm in bed distraction free. My phone is away. I'm really trying to get some good deep sleep. Setting yourself up for success as much as possible. That way, when you do have the interruptions, at least the time around the interruptions, you are getting some good rest. So maybe you just have like a hard cutoff at 10:00 pm, or you're like, okay, my phone's on a charger across the room. I'm not picking it up, I'm not scrolling. I'm going to wind down and I'm closing my eyes even if I don't fall asleep right away. Um, and then saying, okay, I'm going to wake up at 7 a.m., maybe you aren't doing like 5 a.m. workouts anymore because you're up throughout the night, right? Sleep really is important. We need to make sure that we're getting enough sleep, that we can make healthy food choices, that we have the energy to parent and work out and move our bodies the next day. Um, everything kind of just falls by the wayside when we aren't getting good enough sleep and recovery. Um, if you're able to take some short naps or get early bedtimes, amazing. And that can make such a big difference in recovery. So sneak it in when you can, but don't let yourself fall victim to like, oh, I'm just going to get like five hours of sleep a night and then hit the ground running and chug coffee and energy drinks all day to make it through, because your nervous system will not thank you for that. Your cortisol is going to be high or recovery is going to be poor. Your hormones that control satiety and um, and hunger are going to be out of whack, and that's going to make your food decisions less advantageous. So it's really important to prioritize sleep as much as possible. Number four is hydration and mindful eating. So getting water in first thing in the morning. Chugging it throughout the day. Just having a big water bottle that you're like, okay, I filled this up three times a day and make that a non-negotiable in your day. This is going to help reduce inflammation dehydration, which affects how you feel overall. Also, you're less likely to snack and just make poor decisions if you are well hydrated. Um, and you're less likely to consume other liquids that are just loaded with calories and sugar. So if you're really making a priority to hit a water goal, you're going to have less room for the sugary, high calorie, crappy beverages. In addition to that, mindful eating throughout the day. Absolutely makes a huge difference. And what I mean by mindful eating is, are you just mindlessly snacking, or are you pausing before leaning towards a sugary or high calorie snack and saying, am I actually hungry right now? Or am I just stressed? Am I overstimulated? Am I emotional? Am I upset because there's plenty of moments like that throughout the day where you just want something to kind of gratify you quickly to ease some of that stress, or like a big dopamine hit. And I totally get it. But oftentimes that emotional or stress eating is really not doing this any favors when it comes to our health or body composition goals. So we want to make sure that we have healthy snacks on hand and think about, okay, if I don't actually want to reach for a healthy snack, am I actually that hungry? And that's not to mean that you shouldn't have any sort of like treats or things like that, but you want to do so in moderation and do it mindfully. So for me, like I like to usually have some sort of sweet treat or a glass of wine or something at the end of the day. And, um, that's really like something I do every single day. I either have like a little bit of ice cream or some chocolate or a glass of wine. And so for me, that's a healthy part of my day, because I can do that in moderation. I don't feel the need to binge. I'm not doing that from a place of just heightened emotions or stress like I used to. Okay, so as long as you can approach those things mindfully, you're able to keep the portion sizes in check and then it doesn't become an issue. Number five. Self-care is non-negotiable. So moms that are successful with prioritizing their own, um, health and fitness really have to look at their own self-care and decide this is non-negotiable and I need the support to make this happen. So scheduling need time, whether that's a workout, a hike, journaling, going for a walk by yourself, getting a coffee by yourself, having time with friends. Right? It's not just all about fitness. Oftentimes, health is very holistic in how you're spending your time. Are your cups being filled as far as like your socialization? Being able to be around other adults instead of just tending to children all day long? Are you having a long time where nobody needs you, and you're able to just take a deep breath and regulate your nervous system? Right? So it's not all about your movement and your nutrition. If we are not healthy from a nervous system standpoint, or our cortisol is just off the charts because we're never taking any time to do things that fill our own cups, we're not going to be healthy. It doesn't matter how many times you're working out in the day, how clean you eat, it does not matter. And I can personally speak to that because I've experienced it in my own life where my inflammation and cortisol were just out of control and it affected everything else, even though I was on paper doing so many of the right things that should have helped me be lean and healthy and feel my best, but I really was feeling the opposite, right? So it's important to look at what actually feels like self-care to you, what fills your cup, truly. And oftentimes we think like, oh, I just want to scroll on Instagram or TikTok or watch Netflix, but are those things actually regulating your nervous system or are they adding to your load of stimulation? So look for things that really do provide natural dopamine in a healthy way that make you feel better and more full afterwards, instead of just mindless activities that actually end up stressing your nervous system out even more. So, take care of your own mental health. This is going to help you show up better for your own family. But also it just really does matter how you feel. I think as moms, oftentimes we're told like everything you do has to be selfless. It's all about your kid, it's all about your family. But your mental health matters just because you are also an individual. Okay, it's not even just about oh, then you can also pour into your family. You matter too. Okay, so do the things that help you feel like you. You shouldn't have to justify that. Your partner should be supportive of that. And if they're not, you need to have a conversation. Because if they're not supporting your mental health and physical health, then that's an issue and it's going to keep showing up in your relationship. Number six. Prioritize strength and compound lifts. When you do, work out as much as you can, so get the most bang for your buck with your workouts by prioritizing muscle mass or a healthier basal metabolic rate and body composition, this is going to essentially help you just maintain a healthier, higher metabolism at rest, which is important when you don't have time to just manually burn calories all the time through tons of workouts. If you don't have time to be doing cardio five days a week, then you need to make sure that you're burning more calories at rest and that you have an efficient metabolism. So we do that through building muscle. And so it's kind of an investment in your future health. It makes it easier to stay leaner long term when we have more muscle on our frame. So that's going to be a really important way to maximize the time that you do have for your workouts, doing weight bearing activities and building up from that compound movements or movements that are going to be working multiple muscle groups at a time, typically for larger muscle groups, and lifting as heavy as you can with those so that you are optimizing your efforts. If we're just lifting lightweights all the time. Um, yes, that might feel tough initially. Great. Find challenging weights for you and then build from that. If we're always just lifting lightweights for the goal of, you know, quote unquote toning or creating a long, lean muscle look, that's actually not really going to do the job that you hope it will do if you're not challenging your muscles, your body is not going to change, and you're not going to get the physique that you want. So maximize your time by prioritizing strength and compound lists. This is also just going to serve you well when you're carting around your kids for bone density and overall health markers. There's so many ways that this is going to benefit your health and your quality of life. And our last one, probably the most important one, if I'm being honest here. I think in general, the clients of mine that see the most success, both moms and not moms, are the ones that can do this, and that is adopting something better than nothing rule. Let's be honest, when you are in a season of motherhood, you're going to just need to expect chaos, lack of perfection, thicknesses that pop up, schedule changes, and just be prepared to work around all of it. There's never going to be a perfect day, a perfect week, a perfect month where there's no obstacles. Expect the obstacles and be prepared to still do what you can around those things. Because when we just decide, oh crap, like this entire day, this entire week, this entire month is just a failure because my kid got sick and then I can't go to the gym, or I wasn't able to eat healthy because we ended up going out to eat these few times, uh, we weren't able to get the healthy groceries that we wanted. And then just saying, okay, everything's bad now for the next month because I already ruined it. That is very counterproductive. And that isn't all or nothing mentality that's not going to serve you. So we can adopt some things better than nothing. That's going to move our progress along. So much better than just waiting for these, you know, perfect circumstances to come along. And I love this analogy of, um. Say you are on the side of the road with a top tire. You realize you blew the tire. Get out of your car. So you decide. Okay, well, I already popped one tire, so I'm just going to slash the other three. That is essentially what we're doing when we adopt an all or nothing mentality. When we say, well, I had, you know, three cookies today because I was really stressed, though the weeks ruined, I already screwed everything up. So I'm just going to go on a vendor and not try at all because I've already ruined it. Right. Or if you still a glass of water and the glass shatters, so then you just go in and break the rest of your glasses and your entire kitchen. Right? It does not make sense. But that's kind of what we do. We self-sabotage when mentally we feel that we've already screwed up. So it takes practice. But trying to get your brain to no longer default to all or nothing and instead adopt it, something is better than nothing rule. This will make such a big difference. So for instance, going for walks when you're on the phone, just kind of pacing around. Um, doing bodyweight workouts or moves while you're cooking dinner. Maybe you do jumping jacks while you're waiting for something in the microwave. Um, getting your kids out and playing instead of just sitting down and watching them get up and interact with them, run around on the deck. Run around on your driveway. Um, going and playing with them at the playground. Um, you know, even just doing one gym workout a week, maybe you say, hey, I need one hour. You ask your partner or whoever with you to help you out so you can go to the gym once a week. Maybe you ramp it up over time. Right. Instead of just saying, well, since I can't go to the gym four days a week, there's really no point in even bothering because nothing's going to matter. It does matter. Every single effort is going to help move the needle. And it's all about those daily deposits, those micro workouts, the little walks, the amount of time that you're fidgeting and pacing and moving around absolutely does add up as far as your total daily energy expenditure, which will make a big difference in being able to stay lean and stay healthy. And also just making an effort with your nutrition. There might be weeks where workouts are just not happening. For whatever reason, you can absolutely still control your sleep, your nutrition, your non exercise movement. Okay, so just because you can't do something in one area doesn't mean that everything else needs to just also be a total fail. You can totally still focus on trying to get two servings of veggies a day, two servings of fruit, getting protein at every single meal, trying to get 25 plus grams of fiber in the day. Paying attention to those types of things instead of just saying, well, since I can't work out, I guess I just can't do anything for my health and I'll start again next month. I'll do a cleanse, right? Just doing those micro decisions and habits every single day. Instead of saying, I've failed, I've ruined it. Say, what can I do in my next meal? What can my next decision be that will be healthy and move the needle? Whether that's saying, hey, I really feel like just sitting on the couch after dinner, but instead I'm going to go for a walk with my family. It's going to actually be great for our mental health as well. It's going to be good bonding time, and we'll be able to digest our food better and get some extra steps in for the day. So adopting that something is better than nothing mentality and rule will seriously do more for you than you can even imagine. Um, those micro habits, those micro decisions are going to absolutely add up and compound over time, even if they feel small and insignificant in the moment. Okay, guys, I hope that this has been helpful. If you're a mom listening to this, I totally get where you're coming from. It is a lot. So if you are looking for support, if you're like, I know that I can't do this on my own right now, I need the accountability. I need a plan that fits my life and I have no idea where to start. Then I want you to DM us at Fit underscore for hiking on Instagram. That's fit. Underscore for hiking and hit apply dash mom in the messaging. Okay, so type out apply dash mom and we'll know that you want to join our mom program. And we're going to help you get where you want to be without you having to sacrifice your life, without it being unrealistic with everything that's on your plate because we're working around you, your unique circumstances, your workout situation, where you're at starting out, um, your mental blocks, all of it. That's the benefit of having a one on one coach and this all being personalized to you. So I hope that this has been helpful. Um, if you need some support or you have questions, shoot us a message of the underscore for Hiking Instagram page. You can also apply at our coaching application link in the show notes. And thanks so much for tuning in today guys. I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Pony Tail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy Trails.