Creating or maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be tough especially when you are a busy mum. So I created this guide to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle that will help you stay consistent and fit around your schedule as a busy mum.
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Being a mum is the most beautiful thing ever! But it is also very challenging. Your are constantly doing things, your energy is completely drained out and this can have an impact on your motivation to stay healthy. I get it, I am on the same boat.
Since becoming a mum, my mental and physical health was not at its best place and I realised that it really impacted my ability to be the best mum I could be and wanted to be. So I realised I had to make a change but fit it around my busy mum schedule.
Once I developed a routine I realised any busy mum can build a healthy lifestyle whether you work or you’re a stay at home mum. So I wanted to share some tips with you to help you build a sustainable healthy lifestyle that you will stay consistent with. Like they say you can’t “pour from an empty cup” so developing a healthy way of living is super important to be the best person and mum you can be.
This post is all about creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for busy mums.
Healthy Lifestyle
1. Write Down Your Goals
Goal setting has been game changing for me as a busy mum. Writing down your weekly/monthly/yearly goals is super important. It will help you know exactly what you want to achieve. And this will support you in knowing exactly what you need to do and how often you need to do something to achieve the healthy lifestyle you want.
If you are someone who struggles to know how to set goals and achieve them then I have a blog post about 5 powerful yet simple steps to help you achieve them. Click HERE for the post. The strategy can be used for your monthly goals too!
So, before starting your journey make sure you know exactly what you want to achieve. For example, it could be having 2 litres of water a day, reducing takes outs to once a week or once a fortnight etc. When you have set your goals you can move on to the next few steps below.
2. Start With Baby Steps
The worst thing you can do at the start of your journey is go all in and try and do every thing. I tried doing this after 6 months postpartum and I learnt is that going all in will make you hate the whole process. Being a mum is hard enough as it is and takes a lot of your time. Therefore, going all in at the beginning with your health journey can really make you hate the whole process and make you feel like it is too much since you have a lot going on already.
Instead, start with baby steps. For example, I started my journey with a gratitude journal and kept practicing gratitude to help with my mental health. After, I slowly started moving my body by going on walks at least 2-3 days a week. You get my point…
Take it at your own pace. You are not in competition with anyone else apart from who you were yesterday. So take it easy, enjoy the process and you will see a huge difference. In 6 months time you will look back and be proud to have come so far.
3. Meal Planning
I feel like as soon as you become a mum you immediately have 1737492726 things on your to do list. It is never ending. And the last thing I wanted to think about was what was for lunch and dinner. It caused me so much frustration that quite often, we would have take out. It just wasn’t healthy for any of us and not to mention the amount of money spent.
Meal planning on Sundays has helped so much with saving time and avoiding take outs. This is why meal planning needs to be part of your journey to building a healthy lifestyle. But this does not mean you can’t have take outs.
It literally will take you about 10-15 minutes, or even less to be honest, to think about what is on the menu for the week. And that way you will ensure you are eating healthy home cooked food and not stress during the day about it.
4. Start To Move Your Body
Moving your body even as little as 10-20 minutes a day can make a huge difference. And I know as a busy mum theres a high chance you won’t be able to get 1 hour a day 4-5 times a week. But what I found since starting my journey is that doing even 15-30 minutes 4-5 times a week is still effective and makes a difference. This will not only benefit you physically but I have realised that it improves my mood so much and that positive energy is so transferable to our children.
Remember do not rush things. Work at your own pace. Even if you do a home workout once a week and then do a walk once a week too that will be so beneficial for you. And slowly you will start to increase the number of times you dedicate to move your body.
5. Time Blocking
Creating a to do list the week before or even the night before is a life saver. But time blocking will make having a healthy lifestyle so much easier.
As I mentioned before, since you become a mum you immediately have so much on your to do list. And sometimes fitting in some self care or a workout/stretch can seem like it is impossible to fit in.
Once I started reducing my to do list to 5 things a day and making time slots for everything, it made building a healthy lifestyle for myself so much easier. But just know life happens and sometimes you may have to change slots or even cancel which is normal. That is not a reason to give up.
Try scheduling blocks of time and see how it makes healthy living so much easier. And if you struggle with time anxiety like I do, watch it help with that too! Helping you improve both your physical and mental wellbeing!
6. Start A Journal
Since becoming a mother my mental health worsened and I had to do something about it. Creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself is not just about eating well and exercising. It is also about taking care of your mental wellbeing.
Starting a gratitude journal is another amazing way to live a healthier life even if you are super busy! It takes 5 minutes to fill in a gratitude journal. I usually do this when Ayah is having breakfast or watching tv in the morning so I can get 5 minutes of quiet time. So no excuses!
Even if your mental health has not worsened after having your little one, you’ll find that a lot of the days will be stressful and hard. But believe me when I say that if you start your gratitude journal journey you will not only start living a healthier life. But you will become so much more happier. And even on your hardest days (sometimes) it will make it easier even if it’s just by a little bit.
7. Never Forget Self Care
This one is super important for a healthy lifestyle. We always put our families before ourselves and I found this can really impact your mental health. Having a few hours to yourself even if its just an hour a week to recharge and do things that you love will help your sanity. So make sure you schedule in once a week at least for yourself. Like I mentioned above, you can’t pour from an empty cup. The only way you will be able to look after your family is if you look after yourself.
How To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle
A final tip I want to share to help you maintain and stay consistent to building a healthy lifestyle for yourself is by sharing a quote I once read.
A few months ago, I read a quote that said “Marry the process, divorce the results”. When we start anything in life, whether that is a healthy lifestyle or a business or whatever it could be, we always tend to focus on the results. When we don’t see results when we would like to see results, we tend to give up. But in order to stay consistent for example, sticking to your healthy lifestyle habits, you need to “marry the process”. In other words enjoy the process!
I hope you found this valuable and has given you an idea on how you can build a healthy lifestyle as a busy mum.
Lots of love, Mariam x
This post was all about a complete guide to building a healthy lifestyle as a busy mum.
If you found this post help, please share it on Pinterest for other busy mums to benefit from! Thank you x
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