Coach Zoe Replace your bad habits with these simple tips so you can lose weight as a stay at home mom without adding stress to your busy life.
As a mom, life is busy. We all know that! After taking care of kids, homework, hobbies, chores, meals, and everything else in between, there is a lot to be done everyday. It can be hard to implement new routines and diets while balancing all that you do. But there are a lot of little things, that are easy to change, that can be hindering your results. So let’s dive in!
Why is it so hard for a mother to lose weight?
As moms we are in charge of a lot. Kids, work or side hustles, the household chores, meals, and the general day-to-day that keeps life moving. It is so easy for our own personal fitness to take a back seat to all these are things. Especially since there are a few pieces to the fitness puzzle that we need to be successful in weight loss. These are proper nutrition, exercise routine, stress management, sleep, and goal setting. Often, if one or multiple of these elements is missing or not optimized, we can plateau in weight loss. It is important to remember, that in order to get results, you must make your needs (and health!) a priority so that you can continue to fill the role your family needs from you.
Losing weight doesn’t need to run your whole life, but developing good habits or even breaking bad habits, requires effort. Often, a lot of it. What leads to success in reaching your goals is consistency and balancing mom life and your fitness.
Stay at home mom meal plan
I am not a dietitian or a nutritionist, so I will not be giving you a typical “meal plan.” However, nutrition can be as complicated or simple as we want it to be. The easiest way to meal plan is by preparing meals with clean, minimally processed, whole foods. I have a whole post that breaks down clean eating, so check it out if you have never heard of it. Clean eating allows for flexibilty if you struggle with tracking or sticking to “diets.” But take a moment and think about your nutrition game plan. Ask yourself these questions and see if there is something you can improve on.
- Are you cooking your food or eating out often?
- Are you eating what is most convenient or taking the time to ensure your food is nutritious?
- Do you cater to picky kids or family members?
- Are you distracted during your meals or taking the time to enjoy your food?
- Do you skip meals and overeat later?
- Are you eating to compensate for an energy boost?
All of these things that can really add up. Planning your meals ahead of time and/or meal prepping can really knock out a few of these problems.
Something else I want to hit on is eating your kids leftovers. If you are like me I HATE to waste food. Even if its a few grapes. And I will find myself eating my toddlers unfinished or even untouched meals because of that. Stop it! Those are extra calories that you don’t need and easily forget about if you are tracking that can really add up. When I became a stay at home mom, I was home. A lot. And being within a room’s distance to the fridge or pantry was a challenge for me. Mindless snacking and over eating was one of my pitfalls because food was so accessible. If you also struggle with this, be sure to keep healthy snacks (especially raw veggies) on hand to minimize over eating.
It can be a challenge to be the only one in the house who is eating a specific way. How do you diet when the rest of the family isn’t? Focus on eating clean and many of these problems will take care of themselves. It’s sustainable and simple. What I like most about it is that it allows me to incorporate my eating habits into my family’s preferences and favorites.
Workout routine to lose weight as a stay at home mom
Although a majority of weight loss is done “in the kitchen,” I will never be someone that agrees or takes the stance that exercise is less important. Good health requires both. Exercise can look different for everyone. Maybe you walk 5 miles a day. Your neighbor plays sports with her kids in the evenings. Your sister goes to fitness classes at the gym. Whatever it is, everyone needs to get active.
If your biggest problem with staying consistent in your workouts is maintaining motivation, it’s important to figure out how to make your exercise sessions fun. My best advice is to find what you enjoy most and stick to it. Say you like walking for exercise, but it is winter and wayyyy too cold to take the kids with you. Your options are to use a treadmill or maybe an indoor walking workout at home! Don’t let any hurdle get in the way of your exercise.
Maybe your schedule varies just too much throughout the day. Try scheduling your workouts during your children’s sleep. Either early morning, nap, or after bed. I woke up at 5 a.m. for a while because I was too tired at night and naps were used for cleaning. I have also made my kids go to bed early so I could workout because I didn’t get to it early enough that day. You can also just get your kids adapted to mom’s workout time. I have some great tips here on how to find/make time to workout if you have littles!
Okay, you’ve tried it all that day but it was one hurdle after the next and no workout happened. It’ not too late, just go have fun with your kids! You can use play time as your workout that day. Play tag, run through the sprinkler, jump rope, a game of basketball, or anything that gets you moving with your kids.
Home workouts to lose weight as a stay at home mom
After becoming a stay at home mom I have found that the easiest way to stick to my workout routine is by working out at home! As a gym rat, I never thought I would enjoy home workouts the way I do.
Nobody is around to judge you, I don’t care if I am struggling, sweating, and ugly grunting through my workout LOL. You can use whatever equipment you want, because nobody is hogging it for 30 minutes straight. Plus, home workouts allow you to be comfortable enought that you may even try new things you were too self-conscious to try before. For example, I would NEVER be caught in a dance workout class. I just CANNOT dance for the life of me. But I sure did try one at home. And it was really fun!
And guess what!? ALL of the workouts I make are designed for home gyms. Whether that is your living room with no equipment. Or a large space and some dumbbells, bands, kettlebells, and a stability ball. So go to my Youtube Channel and try them out!
Manage your stress and sleep for weight loss results
Stress hinders weight loss by causing us to eat for comfort, skip workouts, and even burn out. Stress is cumulative. Mental, emotional, and physical stress all wear on you.
Adding a strict workout routine or even forcing yourself to expend more energy sounds counterproductive here. But you can manipulate your exercise to help you reduce stress and feel better. In turn making you feel proud of your consistency and motivated by your results.
We all have heard or maybe felt the “runner’s high.” That “walking on sunshine” feeling after a workout. That’s your endorphins! Starting your day with a workout will put a pep in your step and you in a different state of mind that is ready to handle the stresses for the day. It may even help you feel more patient with your kids, families, and duties. On the opposite side, ending your stressful day with a workout can help your mind let go of the day’s concerns and unwind for a better night’s sleep.
Remember when I said stress was cumulative? What about the stress of exercise on the body? Won’t that just add to the rest and cause burn out? Maybe! If you feel like your workouts leave you feeling unsatisfied, distracted, or frustrated you may need to switch it up. You don’t need to run a marathon, lift 100 pounds, or do any form of high intensity exercise to feel good after your session. Even walking, mobility, or calisthenics will give you the benefits of exercise and leave you feeling great.
Sticking to your workouts can help minimize your stress and improve sleep quality. Helping you to see results and lose weight as a stay at home mom.
Hold yourself accountable
The most important thing to successful weight loss as a stay at home mom is being held accountable. Ask your husband, kids, friends, or someone close to you to check in and help you stay consistent wiht your goals. Be sure to set realistice, specific, and time-bound goals that you can measure and keep track of. This will ensure you stay motivated and help you evaluate areas that need work.
If you don’t have someone to hold you accountable, get my FREE Accountability Chart so you can stay on track and lose weight for good! It will help you prioritize your health and fitness in a visual chart and stay motivated.
