Moms, Get #BackToYou This Fall

Why YOU Need to Put Yourself First and Five Ways You Can

It’s a simple analogy: you are on an airplane travelling with your small child. If you can manage to hear over your kid’s grumblings and see beyond their wiggling body, you will learn from the flight attendant that in the case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop Pandora Glass Beads from overhead. It is stressed then, and time and time again, that you must first put the mask on yourself.

Put yourself first.

Isn’t this counter-intuitive to our motherly instinct, where we will throw ou Cheap Pandora Australia Sale r body in front of a moving object to protect our children? But here’s the logic and trust me, it’s sound: you can’t help your child stay safe in an emergency if you yourself are no longer conscious from oxygen deprivation. Right?! You can’t feed your child from an empty cup. So Mom, why the heck are you letting your cup run dry… why are you putting Johnny’s mask on first?!

The typical household.

Mom wakes at the crack of dawn and as soon as her feet hit the ground she’s running … lunches need preparing, kids need feeding, socks need to be retrieved from where little sister hid them from big brother. After preparing a healthy lunch, and breakfast, for the little ones, Mom grabs a cup of coffee for herself. Out the door, the kids safe and where they should be, mom stops for a second coffee and grabs a muffin at a drive-thru to calm her grumbling stomach. Why are we eating differently from our kids? Why do we prepare nourishing food for our children, and then grab crap for ourselves? Or perhaps this scenario rings a bell… “Oh Little Johnny loves these mini cakes so I will let him have them after school each day. Oh, but I can’t eat those… they have so many calories.” Why are they daily fare for your growing Einstein? And how long do those mini cakes really stay out of your reach? How many of us, hands up!, have consumed 4-5 mini cakes in front of the television when the kids finally do go to bed?

We lack moderation. Treats can be OK.

This obesity epidemic is a serious one. Experts suggest that we might soon outlive our children due to the rise in number of kids who are considered overweight or obese. How do we stop this insanity? I’ve got the answer, it starts with YOU, Mom. Let’s not blame genetics (maybe they play a factor for some). Let’s take a cold hard look at our own eating habits, emotions and choices. How are we serving our kids?

Here’s what I know from my years as a personal trainer for moms.

I bet you are putting yourself dead last on the list of “to-dos” and I bet this means you aren’t aware, or subservient to, what your body needs. So let me make it easy for you. Here are the 5 things you need to do TODAY to turn this ship around. And if you haven’t got the message first: putting YOU first is what is best for your kids.

1.         Eat a nutritious breakfast.

You must feed your body after a night of fasting, and nourish that body the right way. Make breakfast your biggest meal of the day, so that you aren’t a ravenous food monster come 8pm at night (when you should be giving your digestive system a much-needed break). Eat so you don’t feel that 3pm slump, so your blood sugar stays stable, and so you don’t crave sweets that simply poison your body. EAT. Eat protein: hemp powder in a smoothie, or scrambled eggs with your fave veggie. EAT.

2.         Take a cold hard look at your emotional eating.

What does your binge-like behaviour teach your kids? Does your daughter sneak treats and do you wonder where that comes from? When we establish “forbidden foods” with our kids, or teach them that there is embarrassment or shame associated with eating them, we perpetuate unhealthy habits. Food is good nourishment for our body. It is not a reward after a long day. If you can’t sit in a room with a box of chocolates without inhaling each one, you need to find someone to talk to about that. And if you can’t have ice cream in the house without getting to the bottom of the container one night, stop buying it. And when you crave it, head to the ice cream shop and pay an arm and a leg for it. Make treats possible, make treats occasional, make treats harder to obtain than good food.

3.         Embrace where you are today; set goals for the future.

Stop the body hating!  You ARE beautiful, just as you are. This is not about fitting into your skinny jeans or impressing everyone at your high school reunion. This is about living a healthy life, and being a good example for your kids. Yes, let’s make goals for improvement. No, let’s not predicate our entire life’s happiness on being a size 0.

4.         Get movin. Just.Do.It.

There are no more excuses for not living an active life. Teach your children that a life full of reward is one that is active. Turn off the tv and take a walk as a family. Let your children see you exercise, encourage them to ask you about what you are doing. You want them to join you. Here are 5 easy ways to become active today.

5.         Throw out the scale.

Ugh, I hate scales. I hate talking with women who have become fixated on achieving a special little number on those dreaded scales. It ain’t nothin’ but a number, baby! And you are so much more than a number. It’s ok to lose weight, it’s great actually. But have it be the by-product of switching to healthy, active living. Stop making the number on a scale your goal.

Right now I am running a challenge on my blog, #BackToYou, and on the Core Expectations Facebook page. Follow-along, chime in with how you are doing, how you feel and what you are thinking. Those who share right along with us, are entered to win a FREE personal training and nutrition package from Core Expectations.

It’s not enough to say, “Oh, I’ll take a break from work and the kids later;” “Oh I’ll start to eat better tomorrow;” “Oh, next week I’ll join a gym.” Stop. Right. Now. And put YOU first. Your kids will thank you for it.

Samantha Montpetit-Huynh is a certified personal trainer and the owner of Core Expectations, an in-home training and nutrition company in the Toronto area specializing in the needs of prenatal and postpartum women. She is co-owner of Bellies Inc., which offers a postpartum and preventative solution to Diastasis Recti (mummy tummy). She has been profiled in the media numerous times for her experience, passion and knowledge of women’s health and is the fitness expert on the television show, The Marilyn Denis Show. Her two girls just call her “Mom.”