9 TIPS TO BALANCING FATHERHOOD AND FITNESS
Fatherhood is the most important job I have ever had, it is also the most rewarding. I no longer have the time for 90 minute workouts 6 days per week, or spending a full day prepping meals. My priorities have changes and I’m sure yours have too, it is all about them.
I want to teach my kids the importance of living a healthy balanced lifestyle. In my opinion it isn’t healthy to obsess about your body, but it is important to stay fit and healthy.
As I have gotten married, grown by business, and had kids I have come to realize there needs to be a realistic approach to health and fitness. Instead of obsessing about my body I have made small simple changes to the way I live my life, and the difference has been amazing! I am stronger and leaner now than when I was 20, and work out far less.
This list has been built and modified over the years. Do not try to incorporate everything you read at once. Take your time and make changes that will work within your life. Please consult with your doctor before making any dietary changes or starting an exercise program.
1) Create routine:
Creating a consistent routine is vital when accomplishing any goal. It takes doing something every day for between 21 and 28 days to create habit. Choose small changes to make at first. Stick with it, it will eventually get easier and just become what you do every day – like brushing your teeth. The continuity will reduce stress in your life and help you become consistently more productive without trying
I find it helpful to have a productive morning routine. It is great to start the day on a positive note. Eating breakfast, meditating (or some stress relieving activity), exercise, drinking a glass of water. These are all great routines to adopt. Find what works for you and do it every day.
2) Keep your workout short and efficient
What is cardio? Cardio is anything that elevates your heart rate. It doesn’t have to be an hour on the elliptical! Find something you enjoy and do it consistently. Recent studies have shown the benefits of short, high intensity cardio workouts, between 10 and 30 minutes are more effective than long drawn out sessions. Interval training is a great way to burn calories and increase metabolism. Choose an activity (running, stationary bike, jump rope, strength exercises, etc.) perform 20-30 seconds of hard work followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is relative to your level of fitness, if you need to start with shorter work intervals or longer rest intervals that’s fine. Work your way up as you progress
Strength training:
Strength training has tremendous impact on your body composition. Obviously, the gains in strength and muscle growth are welcomed. The more important benefit is the more lean muscle you have the higher your basal metabolic rate will be. (Basal metabolic rate is the minimum number of calories you need to stay alive.) A high metabolism means you will burn more calories at rest.
It is beneficial to work compound lifts into your program as well. A compound lift is when 2 or muscle groups over 2 or more joints work together in one exercise. For example, Try chin-ups instead of bicep curls. In addition to biceps, chin-ups work the back and core. Working multiple muscle groups at once is a great time saving technique.
Twenty minutes is all you need to work out. Make sure you work hard and limit the rest.
Here are a few at home workouts you can do with no equipment.
3) Include your kids:
There are plenty of times you are not going to be able to get to the gym. In order to stay consistent, you will have to work out at home. If the kids are awake they will be interested, and they will jump on your back as you try to do a pushup. Embrace it, try to include them whenever you can. I make it a point to include my kids, its important they are exposed to health and fitness from a young age. It would be hypocritical for me to tell them to go play and be active while I am sitting on the couch with a bag of chips.
Here are a couple of videos of what working out with kids looks like.
4) Make activity a part of your everyday life.
Let’s be honest, you aren’t going to get a formal workout in every day. Doing everything you can do to get active in your day to day life will make a huge difference on the scale. I suggest buying a fitbit or another pedometer to track how much you are actually moving. A great goal is 10,000 steps per day. Here are a few tips to getting active everyday
· Park at the far end of the parking lot everywhere you go.
· Walk instead of drive when you can.
· Get off the train/bus a stop early.
· Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
· Use the bathroom on the other side of the office.
· Squeeze a couple of sets of squats in when you can.
· Get into the habit of taking an after work walk.
· Get up from your desk and walk around the office every hour.
5) Manage stress:
As we all know, being a dad is stressful. With all that we juggle it is important to find an outlet for the stress. Not only for your mental health…also for your weight.
When we get stressed our body initiates the fight or flight response. It does this by releasing a hormone called cortisol. That may seem like over kill considering our stress is usually caused by a work meeting or the kids acting up. However, thousands of years ago our ancestors’ main stressor was worrying if they were going to eat or being eaten by a predator.
Cortisol releases additional insulin into the blood stream to prepare for the glucose that would be needed for the energy to run from a lion. The same energy expenditure is not required for the stress of dealing with coworkers. Increased insulin levels lead to an inability to process sugar properly, it is instead stored as fat.
Finding ways to deal with your stress can be beneficial to maintaining a healthy weight.
· Meditation: it may seem silly, new aged, happyish, but it helps. It helps with focus, gives perspective and helps manage stress.
· Exercise: working out is a great way to take out aggression and center yourself.
· Deep breathing: stopping what are doing and taking 10 long deep breathes (focusing on your breathing) can be therapeutic. This one is easy to do anywhere.
· Find a relaxing activity: anything can be meditative, find something you enjoy and find relaxing, do it on a regular basis
6) Nutrition:
There is a lot of nutritional advice I can give you. I am going to focus on the most important aspects of nutrition for maintaining a healthy weight.
- Protein: A high protein diet will help build muscle and speed metabolism. Protein is also filling, and will keep you full longer.
- Sugar: Avoid or limit them! Diets high in sugar will create a greater insulin response and store sugars as fat.
- Food to watch out for
- Processed foods
- Fat free, sugar free foods: these foods usually have artificial sweeteners, which have the same insulin response in the body as sugar. Be aware, read the labels.
- Artificial sweeteners
- Aspartame
- Corn Syrup
- High fructose anything
- Sucralose
- Saccharin
- Glycerin
- Lactito
- Maltitol
- Artificial sweeteners
- Processed carbohydrates like rice and white breads. Processed carbs increase insulin sensitivity and lead to increased fat storage.
- Fiber: foods high in fiber will help manage insulin levels as well as aid in digestion.
7) Don’t under eat:
Most of us worry about over eating, which is obviously important for maintaining a healthy weight. I have come to learn many people don’t understand the dangers of under eating. When we go on a diet very low in calories, it can cause a number of problems that will stall progress.
Rapid weight loss caused by under eating will put the body into starvation mode. When weight is lost quickly, the human body thinks it is starving. The hormone leptin is produced in body fat cells and is responsible for maintaining body set weight. When fat is burned too rapidly and leptin is lowered, the body will do everything it can to protect itself by regaining the weight. It will send hunger impulses to the brain and reduce caloric output by reducing the basal metabolic rate. It does this by lowering our set body temperature and our energy levels. This means we are burning less calories at rest. When the basal metabolic rate is reduced, it can be a challenge to raise it again. Be sure you are eating enough calories. Healthy sustainable weight loss is 1-2 lbs. per week.
8) Drink enough water:
Everyone should be drinking ½ body weight (lb.) in water (oz.). I weight around 180 lbs., so I need 90 oz. of water. It may seem like a lot but drinking enough water will help with energy levels, reduce headaches and muscle soreness as well as act as an appetite suppressant. Frequently we think we are hungry when we are dehydrated. When you have a craving, chug a glass of water and wait 15 minutes, frequently the craving will go away.
9) Make small changes:
The biggest problem I hear from clients is that they decide they want to live a healthy lifestyle and make too many life altering changes at once. Making long lasting lifestyle change takes time. Focus on making small changes one by one. It takes between 21 and 28 days to develop habit with any change you are making. Focus on one or two small changes at a time. It isn’t a race, take your time and make the necessary changes to live a healthy lifestyle. If it is done the right way, you will only need to do it one time.
Thank you for reading. Use these tips in your daily life and watch your body change. Remember, don’t bite off more than you can chew. Long term results are accomplished by making small changes that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Don’t try to be perfect, who has time for that?
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
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