If things are done right, a busy person can also be a fit person. We’ve offered some tips on how to do that here and here. Here are some more tips, provided by Tweeters at a MomItForward Girls’ Night Out Twitter party (#gno) sponsored by McDonald’s back in June.

6 Tips for Managing Time and Fitness

1. Use Google Calendar. This was the most tweeted tip. Both @MomInManagement and @MrsWndr say they use a mix of that and paper calendars to bring organization to their busy lives.
2. Check out FitDay.com, a free online diet journal and calorie tracker. This tip came from @KellyOlexa, who says, “@CraigRichard1 and I use FitDay.com to track my stuff. If I don’t track, I get way off.“
3. Check out Cozi.com if you have a smart phone. Recommended by our own @jylmomIF, it is a free online organizer and mobile that has family calendar, to-do list, shopping list, family journal, and meal planning features. She says, “It’s an awesome way to schedule appointments. Syncs with your phone. Great for grocery shopping too.”
4. Put nutritious snacks in single-serving baggies right after buying them, then put the filled baggies back in the box the snacks came in, so they’re ready to eat on-the-go, says @Katm21. Also, try putting smaller portions of less-nutritious snacks like chips into baggies and then back in their original container, so as to make portion control easier.
5. Give healthy options. While taking the unhealthy food options (i.e., ones with high sugar, fat, or sodium) out of the pantry altogether, give yourself and your kids lots of healthy options to choose from, so that no one feels deprived and it’s easy to pick some healthy as you’re heading out the door.
6. Check out this link from @CybraryMan1 for instructions on how to make a snow fort, Star Wars paper snowflakes, and other awesome winter activities with your kids.

How do you stay fit with a busy schedule? What helps you and your family to stay fit and stay on time for appointments, practice, school, work, etc.?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

For me, it lapses into an unknown place between poopy diapers, preparing meals, coloring, and giving baths. Before I know it, the goal I had set for myself hasn’t even begun. I’ve been down this post-pregnancy road three times now and I’ve made mistakes. In fact, I’ve made lots of mistakes!

As a mom, I have this instinct that tells me that I have to take care of these little people as best I can. They are my priority. Taking care of me is set aside — last on my list of things to do. Can you relate?

You are not alone! Let’s do this together.

How To Get Fit and Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

The following are baby steps that you can take to get fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle:

Start Where You Are

Don’t stress over setting lofty goals and exaggerated transformations. Set goals for the next 60 days. Don’t worry about being perfect. Just be better.

Move Your Body

If you can, go to the gym! There is no better option than time alone to focus on fitness. If guilt is holding you back, I understand. I’ve been there and I have the t-shirt (in a variety of sizes too). Your kids need mom to be healthy. You are the cornerstone of the family and taking care of yourself is just as much for them as it is for you.  But if you absolutely cannot get time away from your kids: you must move with the kids. This means PLAY, I mean, really PLAY! Dance like crazy for 10 minutes three times a day. Do extra laps up and down the stairs when you need to do the laundry. Lift hand weights, buying each child 2 lb dumbbells do to the moves with you. Get creative. You just have to be purposeful with your time! You CAN do this.

Focus On Food

Let’s not say “diet”, let’s say “conscious eating”. What is going into your mouth? If your answer is “I don’t know” or you are thinking “my child’s leftovers”, I hereby release you from the mommy zombie eating. Did you know that you don’t have to finish your child’s plate? While some may call this wasteful, I call it self-preservation.  Also, you MUST drink more water. I’m confident 99% of you don’t drink enough. 64 oz of water isn’t enough. You should drink half your body weight in ounces. This means that 64 oz is only good enough if you are 128 lbs or less. Water helps you detoxify and boosts your metabolism (which means staying hydrated helps you lose weight). It’s worth doing.

Bottom Line: Health is a gift you can’t buy and is something that you can’t afford to lose. You are worth it! Make time for yourself, get your family involved, make better decisions, ditch the guilt, and get healthy!

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? Do they involved getting into shape? How will you reach your goals?

Photo provided by Devin Noel Photography.

Jeannette A. Kennedy, MS, DC is a science geek turned mom of three who simply tries to do her best every day.

She always thought she’d be a superwoman doctor: helping patients to be healthy and strong, questioning the status quo, and making great strides for health professionals. She never thought she would choose another life, staying home, raising children, and even homeschooling! That is…until the first child was born. Then she realized there is no better way to leave a lasting impression than to be an awesome mom.

Jeannette is a seeker of knowledge, particularly of health, science, and all things kids. She holds a Masters Degree in Biomedical Science from the Medical University of South Carolina and a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Logan University. She is a social media junkie and a novice blogger excited about developing her own space to share her thoughts and ideas.

She and her husband, Dr. Jerry Kennedy, own and operate Midwest Upper Cervical in Belleville, IL where they raise their three children: Shaelin (6 years), Knox (2 years), and Beckham (5 months). 

This is the perfect time to introduce a workout regime into your schedule because once things slow down, you have already established your routine and you are ready to roll.

Tips for Working Out During the Holidays

Here are tips on how I workout during the holidays, with four kids of my own:

Set Goals

First things first, what is your goal in all of this?  Take 10 minutes to think about what goals you want to achieve in your fitness journey. Let it be for whatever reason makes you feel good. Set time frames around your goals and be specific so you can hold yourself accountable. For example, “I will walk 30 minutes every day until Christmas.” Not only will you feel  great from working out, but you will also feel a sense of accomplishment which isn’t so bad either.

Plan and Schedule

What is your reality with fitness during the holidays? Do you have access to childcare? Can you join a gym with a daycare? Do you need to schedule your workouts at home while your baby is napping? Get real with yourself and your schedule and create your plan.

If you are looking for non-gym options, make sure you have the right equipment to stay motivated. Be prepared with DVDs, weights, ballet bars, a jogging stroller, yoga mat…make it a priority. If you are working out at a gym, make sure you know the rules around daycare and check out their class or fitness training schedules before hand so you can plan it in to your day.

Do you like to do a morning jog? Jump out of bed and into your running clothes. Consider putting workout times into your smartphone calendar with alerts and don’t schedule anything else during that time.

Commit Yourself

You have done the planning, the scheduling, the strategizing. You bought the right equipment, joined the right gym, and now you need to commit. I can tell you how to get to this point, but you’re the one who has to make it happen. Don’t make excuses. Make this activity the one thing you are doing for yourself today.

Execute Your Plan

Adapt a daily mantra!  My favorite is, “Do it now. Do it now. Do it now.”

Reward Yourself

Spending time nourishing your mental and physical self should be reward enough, but sometimes it’s nice to dangle that carrot a bit.

How about a mani/pedi or a foot massage? Or splurge on that amazing bubble bath you’ve been eyeing! Do you have a hot dress in mind for New Year’s Eve? Rewards are a great way to thank yourself and your body for following through. You don’t even have to spend any money on a reward as feeling good and healthy is an amazing reward in itself.

How do you plan on working out during the holiday season? How will you maintain your health and fitness over the next month?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Stefanie Van Aken is RockStarMomLV, a lifestyle writer of all things Vegas, and contributes to several national on-line magazines.  She loves food, wine, yoga, and living green.  A mommy to 4 (with a set of 1 year old twins), wife, girlfriend and RockStar all rolled into one. You can read more about living her life at www.RockStarMomlv.com, FaceBook or Twitter.

I have always been a big believer of taking an active part in your health. Throughout a woman’s reproductive life, we see rhythmic patterns of change, monthly cycles, with the completion of these cycles with menopause. Educating ourselves on how best to prevent and/or modify our health problems allows us to enjoy a fuller life. Conventional approaches to women’s health tend to use surgery and other invasive medical procedures to manage relatively normal physiological functions, such as hormonal imbalances. Whereas, alternative medicine offers a more whole-body approach using diet and nutritional supplementation, herbal medicine, homeopathy, naturopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and Ayurvedic medicine, which can be safely used to address women’s health issues (Source:  Alternative Medicine – The Definitive Guide).

According to Susan M. Lark, M.D., of Los Altos, California, during perimenopause “estrogen levels swing between highly elevated and deficient with many side effects. Issues such as pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), bleeding, and fibroids are very common. Often women who’ve had no PMS, will begin noticing more irritability or touchiness or classic PMS symptoms, such as food cravings, more tendency toward fluid retention, bloating, and breast tenderness. Combined with the more irregular menstrual cycle, women can feel pretty awful during this transition time” (Source: Alternative Medicine – The Definitive Guide). Okay, so what can we do to minimize these premenopause systems you might ask?

Some diet recommendations by Dr. Lark include a low-fat, high-fiber, more vegetarian-based diet with whole grains, legumes, raw seeds and nuts, fruits, and vegetables making up the core of the diet. I would make sure that you are including good fats in your diet such as coconut oil (great cooking oil), leaner meats and fish, and you really can’t eat enough greens. The person who knows your body best is you! Listen to your body after you eat certain foods to see if they energize or deplete you. Some supplements Dr. Lark recommends is vitamin B complex, vitamins B6, C, and E, bioflavonoids, magnesium, and either evening primrose oil or borage oil (Source:  Alternative Medicine). She also recommends talking to your doctor about natural hormone replacement (not the synthetic type our mother’s were given) if you are suffering from premenopause symptoms.

You can read more about natural hormone replacement in Dr. John R. Lee’s book as well to see if this might be a good path for you!  Remember you are your own best guide – listen to your body and ask your trusted doctors to help in your journey to health.

On a side note:  I went on to have a wonderful and healthy child after being told by the leading specialist on endometriosis that I would be unable to conceive. After three months of Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture, imagine the doctor’s surprise when he was the one to tell me I was pregnant!

How do you take care of yourself? How do you make sure you maintain your health and happiness?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

References:

• John R. Lee., What Your Doctor May Not Tell you about Premenopause:  How to Balance Your Hormones and Life from Thirty to Fifty. (www.johnleemd.com).
• Burton Goldberg, Alternative Medicine – The Definitive Guide. Celestial Arts. Second Edition.

Melissa Northway is a mom, writer and has her Masters in Human Nutrition. Her storybook app Penelope the Purple Pirate has been chosen as a Top 10 Must-Have eBook by lilsugar of Popsugar.com and was in the Top 25 iTunes books. Please check out Penelope the Purple Pirate Facebook Page to see how you can enter to win some pirate booty! You can read more about Melissa and Penelope’s TLAP Giveaway at: www.melissanorthway.com. Penelope is having a Halloween Giveaway with loads of goodies.  For more information please go here: http://melissanorthway.com/news.html.

Although we’ve made great strides in the field of addiction in de-stigmatizing substance abuse, there are still pervasive stereotypes and myths in our society regarding what an alcoholic/addict looks and acts like. There remains the perception that people who abuse substances live substandard lives. In my experience, working as a marriage and family therapist with high functioning and successful families at the Caron Treatment Centers in Manhattan, I’ve found nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that addicts are lawyers and doctors, teachers and government officials. Substance abusers exist among people who have money in the bank, well-mannered children in good schools, prestigious addresses and successful careers. And yes, addicts are working and stay-at-home moms.

The reason we don’t think of these people as substance abusers is because their trapping of success enable them to hide it. The pressure for perfection, particularly among moms, can become too much to bear. Without healthy coping mechanisms, many moms become “silent sufferers”. They put up a façade of perfection to mask the anxiety, fear and overwhelming pressures they feel, self-medicating with alcohol.

Although these “high functioning alcoholics” may not drink or use every day, they become psychologically dependent on the substances they abuse – obsessing on their next opportunity to drink or needing to drink in certain settings.

Some of the signs of high functioning alcoholism include:

1. People who have trouble controlling their intake after they start using or swear off using again.
2. People who think obsessively about their next drink or using opportunity.
3. People whose personality changes after they start using.
4. People who experience “blackouts”, meaning they are not able to fully remember what happened during a using binge.

The lesson here is that moms need to take care of themselves. It’s OK to put yourself first sometimes and it’s absolutely OK to not be perfect.

If you’re a mother who struggles with the pressure of living up to the impossible standard set for moms, please know you are not alone. There is hope. Please also know that if you do resort to drugs and alcohol to relieve the pressure of motherhood – you are not a bad person. But you may have the disease of addiction and it’s important that you seek help for yourself as soon as possible. Alcoholism and drug addiction are 100 percent treatable. While typically high functioning people may be late to the recovery game, their drive and determination enable them to quickly catch up and find lives beyond their wildest dreams in recovery.

What pressures do you experience as a mom in the 21st century? How do you deal with and overcome these pressures in a healthy way?

Read a mom’s story: I Wanted To Be the Perfect Mom

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Dr. Paul Hokemeyer is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based at Caron Treatment Center’s New York City Office. In addition to holding a PhD in Psychology, Dr. Hokemeyer holds a doctorate in the law. 

10 Bite-Size Ideas for Moving Service

1. Donate a used suitcase to a local foster care agency to enable foster care children to move from one foster home to the next with dignity.
2. Donate a Fresh Start Moving Kit like this one to help foster kids aging out of foster care. Contact your local United Way for more information.
3. Opt out of or remove yourself from the mailing list of one credit card junk mail solicitation, and save some trees.
4. Make the first move to increase the safety of your neighborhood by creating a phone tree organized by street so that in case of an emergency or power outage, neighbors can make sure everyone’s taken care of.
5. Walk somewhere you’d normally drive, to get your blood moving.
6. Calculate how many food miles your dinner moved to get to your house, using this link or this one, to understand  your carbon footprint better.
7. Check out this article from FirstMove.org on the benefits of teaching chess to kids, and consider teaching chess to your kids.
8. Follow MoveAmericaForward on Twitter, to find out more about their mission of supplying care packages to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
9. Take a 10-minute walk twice this week to increase your movement. Go to AmericaOnTheMove.org if you need help getting motivation or ideas.
10. Like The Second Step on Facebook to find out more about how they help survivors of domestic violence move out of the cycle of abuse.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

• What other ideas do you have for giving to others by moving?
• How has moving made a meaningful difference for you this week?
• How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Make a meaningful difference this season by taking the Season of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:

• Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
• Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
• Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s prizes from PBS Kids by clicking here.
• Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

There’s nothing easier or less expensive than tossing on a pair of sneakers and walking out the door for a run. Whether you choose to set goals and run races or not, the mental, emotional, and physical health benefits from running can be life changing. Why fear the unknown? Every runner starts the same way; they put one foot in front of the other! Why not give it a try?

Getting Started

*As with any exercise or physical activity, you should always check with your doctor prior to starting a new program.

• Wear Appropriate Footwear: Choose a seamless athletic sock and a running shoe one half size larger than your normal every day shoe. This extra room will leave room for good blood circulation and accommodate any swelling in your feet as your heart rate increases.
• Keep Yourself Hydrated: Hydrate before, during, and after a workout. I live in Colorado and almost always run with a water belt or, on longer runs, a Camelbak. Staying properly hydrated by drinking water throughout each day will reduce muscle soreness and fatigue.
• Make Sure You Condition: Depending on your current fitness level, you may want to begin walking 2-3 times a week until you are able to walk comfortably for at least 30 minutes. In general, most people find success adding time in increments of 5-10 minutes each week until they’ve reached the 30 minute goal.
• Hit the Road: Everyone has a different reason or motivation for running. If you are the type of person who motivates best with a set goal go ahead and sign up for a local 5k race/walk. You can plot your training runs backwards from the day of the race. Your goal should be simple: Finish! There are a hundreds of different methods, schedules, and plans for running published in books and online-there is even a very popular plan titled Couch to 5k (there’s even a Couch To Marathon!). I recommend beginning with a run/walk interval method 2-3 days a week for 20-30 minutes. Keep your run intervals relaxed and easy, you should be able to carry on a conversation at this pace. The chart below shows a beginner plan I helped a yogi friend create. Each workout started with a 5 minute warm-up followed by run/walk intervals. You can see that by the end of 5 weeks she was jogging for her warm up and the recovery/walk portion of her intervals had dwindled to 1 minute. By Week 6 she was hooked on running and was able to eliminate walking altogether.

• Schedule Rest Days: Rest days are essential for injury prevention as well as muscle and joint recovery, particularly when you are first starting out. Alternative exercise such as strength training or yoga will keep you active but at the same time give your body a break from the impact of running. Do not underestimate the value of non-running days!

One of my favorite books ever is a book called The Courage To Start, in which the author John Bingham says, “If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.”

How often do you run? If you don’t run, what’s holding you back? If you do run, why? What kind of enjoyment do you get out of running? What does your running schedule look like on a weekly basis?

Fiona Bryan is a freelance writer and new media marketing consultant in Denver, Colorado. She is the mother of three children and blogs about social media and all things “banter-worthy” at BanteringBlonde.com. Fiona is also founder of the multi-media outreach, MomActive, which strives to motivate and empower women to be positive role models for their families.

5 Ways to Avoid Extra Holiday Weight

Here are simple tips for finding the balance between celebration and glad tidings without overindulging.

1. Plan ahead. Having a game plan in place can do wonders for you. Not only does it keep you organized but you can also strategize ways to keep healthy foods on your plate and fist fulls of chocolates off it. If you know you won’t have control over the food that is served, have a small, healthy snack, such as raw veggies and hummus before dinner. That way, when the wonderful aroma’s hit your system, you’ll be more likely to eat with your brain, not your eyes.

2. Schedule Your Workout. Treat them like appointments. You don’t skip appointments so if the time is scheduled, you won’t be as inclined to push it aside or forget about it. Take it a step further and post it on your calendar or family to-do list. That way everyone knows that you won’t be available for those set times. And the added accountability will help keep you from skipping out.

3. Make “Me” Time. As busy as you are, as demanding as this time of year is, it is critical to take some “you” time every day. Even 5 or 10 minutes of uninterrupted time can do wonders for your stress and mental well-being. If all you have is a few minutes, take it. Find a quiet place and do some deep breathing. You’re less likely to overindulge if your stress levels are controlled.

4. Don’t Deprive Yourself. Rather, exercise moderation. It is perfectly ok to enjoy the holiday food and drink. Just don’t go overboard. The holidays are meant to be enjoyed, so enjoy yourself. A great tip is to put a spoonful of each treat food on your plate. That way you get a taste of all the goodness without overloading your body with too many empty calories.

5. Be Proactive. Not sure if there is going to be healthy alternatives at dinner? Offer to bring a dish with you. This is a great way to ensure that there will be something healthy on the table and it’s one less dish your gracious hosts have to make. You might even surprise a few people with how tasty and flavourful clean foods can be.

And most importantly, always remember that the holidays are about great friends and family, not simply great food.

Have a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!

Stephanie is a married mother to a beautiful baby boy. When she is not blogging about her health and fitness journey, she is chasing after her son, growing her photography business and cheering on anyone and everyone working to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. You can also follow Stephanie on Twitter and Facebook.