Personal Trainer and Fascia/Stretching Expert, Teagan Haining (Once David Beckhmans PT), helps us ease into 2017 for our best healthy year yet.
- Take the thinking out of meal time and plan your meals in advance – otherwise you’ll probably be ordering takeout more often than you would like. Have the same meals on rotation. Maybe its lamb chops with sweet potato mash and broccoli one night, spaghetti bol the next, and so on. This makes shopping much easier each week. You can stock up your pantry and then just focus on buying the fresh produce you need each week.
- Tupperware is your friend, make extra meals and freeze them! Nothing better than getting a home cooked meal with ZERO effort. You can either whip one out in the morning, ready for dinner, or worst case, defrost in the microwave for an instant nutritious meal.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep. If you’re a new mum you’ll want to clean, meal prep or get some work done while the baby is napping. But mummy-naps are just as important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Think about it, when you’re tired, all you want is an instant energy boost and unless you are super disciplined this is when you probably are reaching for chocolate, an extra coffee or maybe some banana bread or a muffin. Reaching for these types of foods can make post-baby weight loss that much harder. So make sure you sleep as much as you can so you stay inspired and motivated to stick to your fitness and healthy eating habits.
- Go for mini workouts three times a day, just to keep the blood flowing and the muscles moving. You could try doing 20 deep squats while your preparing lunch, with 20 push-ups on the bench. Maybe playtime involves mum doing a plank for 1 minute and the kids joining in too. Go for a balanced routine. So if you do something for the lower body like squats or lunges, balance it out with some push-ups and back rows (use a towel around a tree works well) to make sure you are working the whole body.
- Book in a power walk (and catch up) with a like minded mama or friend each week. Having a workout buddy means you are both more inclined to stick to your healthy habits. You can chat about what sort of meals you ate that week, share ideas and keep each other motivated when times get tough.
