You start your day at 6am rushing to get you and the kids out the door. You rush to work for 8 hours, often scarfing down your lunch consisting of your left over pizza from last evening’s dinner. Just as you rushed into work in the morning, you rush out to pick up the kids and take them to practices. On the way you swing through the drive-thru at your favorite fast food restaurant to grab dinner for your family. You get home, get your kids tucked into bed and your exhausted! Your energy level is depleted and your clothes are getting tighter every week. The frustration sets in, and you feel you will never reach your weight loss goals.
It does not need to be this way! Moms are very busy juggling careers, kids and often feel there is not enough time in the day to do it all! As a result their weight increases and their health decreases. While we can’t change the number of hours in a day, we can make some small changes throughout the day that can leave you feeling healthier. The best part, you pass down these healthy habits to your kids.
Here are 4 simple busy mom weight loss tips to try today:
Busy Mom Weight Loss Tip #1: Attack the Fat in the Morning
Breakfast has earned the title, “most important meal of the day” for a reason. Starting your day off with breakfast will help you make healthier choices later in the day. When you skip breakfast, you are starving by lunchtime and will likely eat more calories and more fattening foods. An additional breakfast bonus, you have more time to burn the calories off throughout the day. Throughout the day you should reduce your meal sizes. When you eat a large meal before bed you tend to gain more fat long term since your body is in storage mode vs. burning mode while you sleep. Additionally, large meals before bed often affect your quality of sleep.
The following are some quick and healthy breakfast choices for your mornings:
- If you’ve got time: Scramble some eggs and serve with turkey bacon, fruit, and whole-grain wheat toast.
- If you’re in a rush: Toast a whole grain English muffin and top with low-fat cheese and some sliced vegetables.
- If you’re running out the door: Microwave some eggs in a coffee mug, grab a banana or an organic low-sugar protein bar.
Busy Mom Weight Loss Tip #2: Create Healthy Family Challenges
Create healthy family challenges for the week. Just because you and your family spend the weekdays apart doesn’t mean you can’t be active together. Create a family step challenge. Have everyone in your family wear a pedometer and compare steps at the end of the day. Start with 5,000 steps per day and then increase to 10,000 steps per day.
Here are some additional healthy family challenges:
- When you arrive at work, park at the end of the lot and walk.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
- Bring your lunch. It’s healthier, and it takes less time than standing in line for takeout. Then you’ll have time for a quick walk.
Busy Mom Weight Loss Tip #3: Take Time For Dinner
We know making healthy choices for dinner is important, but so is how you eat dinner. Eating dinner together as family is truly a long-lost tradition in today’s busy world. The shift in not eating dinner together as a family has lead to weight gain. Eating out is less nutritious and leads to more calorie consumption. Additionally, home-cooked meals provide family cohesion and cause us to slow down.
Between each bite put your fork down and talk. The slower you eat the more time you give your body to feel full, and will lead to eating less. This also provides your family the time to share about each other’s day and check in.
Busy Mom Weight Loss Tip #4:Get Some Sleep
Just like your kids, you need rest to be ready for the next day. That’s 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. When you get enough sleep your body functions better. Stress levels are lowered and you have an easier time maintaining your ideal body weight.
When you do get enough sleep, you’re more likely to have more energy the next day. This additional energy could be used for a morning workout, more time to pack a healthier lunch or to prepare a healthy breakfast.
All these small changes can add up to making a big difference in your weight loss goals and in your family’s health.
If you are looking to lose weight and keep it off, Solstice Health’s Ideal Protein weight loss program can help. Contact us today to learn more about our weight loss program and to schedule a free weight loss consult.