Workout

My boys are off registering for the upcoming lacrosse season. Ah, I can just envision it now. My cute boys whacking the opposing team with stick as I yell, "Knock that kid down! Come on, you're bigger than him, take him out!" Lacrosse does not bring out the best in me. I am not a competitive person. I usually think I'm pretty nice, but put pads on my boys and a stick in their hands and I turn into some kind of evil, yelling spectator. Step one is being aware of the problem, so maybe this will be the year that I'll get in control of myself on the sidelines.

Monday's workout was a fun one. We grouped lower and upper body exercises so warmup and then do 20 reps of the lower body and 10-12 of the upper body, repeat through it all 3-4 times then cool-down and stretch.

Lower body - Box jumps, lunge forward and back onto a platform or bench, step-ups, one-legged dead lifts
Upper body - Bicep curls, overhead triceps extensions, pushups, reverse fly, lateral raise

Thanks for stopping by!

Race Pictures

A couple of pictures of me got posted online from recent races. When I saw this first one from the finish line of the Smithfield Half-Marathon I was feeling okay about myself:

Then I saw this one from the Stomp the Mud Run:

Not feeling so good anymore! But my boys are cute (on each end) right? That's all that matters anymore if the boys are cute and having fun!

Vacation

Home from vacation and so excited to tackle life again! I love how vacation just reenergizes me. I'm all excited about running, writing, being a more fun Mom, and cleaning those toilets until they shine. Okay, I'm just kidding about the toilets. The boys halfway job of bathroom cleaning is just fine with me! But I am excited about spring and having a fresh, happy attitude.
Hope you all have a wonderful Easter and enjoy Cadbury to the fullest. Those people are saints, I tell you.

Keeping up with boys

My 18mo is 38 pounds and thinks the best spot on earth is in his momma's arms. Of course Momma must be standing up, none of this sitting down and enjoying holding him. I'm glad he loves me so much. I wonder how on earth I would keep up with him if I didn't exercise. But then I'll have that awful little thought that maybe if I didn't exercise so hard I'd have more energy for him and his big brothers. Quite often by bedtime I feel like I've been run over by the garbage truck.

What about you? Does exercise help you through your day or does it sometimes zap your energy?

A kid's meal?

A friend told me yesterday that every person in her family, but her husband, orders a kid's meal when they go out to eat. Wow. I have four boys. My 13yo and 9yo order the largest meal available and if they are given permission will order an appetizer or an extra meal. My 5yo will sometimes eat a kid's meal but quite often he is hungry when we get home. The 18mo does okay with a kid's meal but still eats off of my plate. What in the world? Are we just a bunch of gluttons? My boys are healthy and thin so I don't limit what they eat. The problem is that I like to eat also. I love to workout hard and eat healthy but I am not one to starve myself. I will usually bring half of my meal home from a restaurant (if the boys aren't with me to help out) but I still like to order a full, yummy meal.
What about you? Could you be satisfied with a kid's meal or do you enjoy a bit more?

Guest Post - Hot (Sweaty) Mamas

Five Ways to Get Fit as a Family
by Kara Douglass Thom

I don’t want my kids to grow up thinking exercise is something grown ups “have” to do. For many adults the process of starting an exercise program can seem monumental and looked upon with dread. Isn’t starting anything always the hardest part? And often, adults don’t start exercising because they sincerely want to for the love of fitness, but because of health concerns or to lose excess weight. But if a child grows up with fitness as an integral part of his or her life, there’s no need to start. As parents we can remove what is most difficult about being fit: getting started.

When my daughters were very young I became aware that fitness needed to be included in parenting. For fitness to be a family value in our home, I had to make fitness part of their world, too.

In the book, Hot (Sweaty) Mamas: Five Secrets to Life as a Fit Mom (Andrews McMeel 2011) an entire secret is devoted to mentoring. If you’re a parent, whether you’re aware of it or not, you are your children’s “fitness mentor.” When parents exercise, their children are more likely to grow up to be active adults. I think we can raise those odds when we also exercise together. Sure I still find time to exercise on my own, but I also seek out ways for my kids to join me when possible.

To that extent I've become a firm believer in the family fitness triad: being a fitness mentor to my children through my own workouts, helping my children discover their own fitness passions and finding time to be active together.

Need some ideas to include kids in your workouts? Here are five ideas for family fitness:

1) Is your child or children taking lessons? Sign yourself up, too. Whether it’s swimming, rock climbing, martial arts, or tennis, learning or perfecting the same skills that your child is working on gives you a common fitness goal—great for conversation at the dinner table.
2) Do you workout with a personal trainer? If you have teens or tweens, schedule a group session together every once in awhile. Request a workout that you can repeat together at home or the gym.
3) Is there an upcoming event you can train together for as a family? If your children are too young to compete, include them in the training process by telling them about your event and your preparation. Simulate an event for them at home or in the park.
4) If you have kids who play in the childcare center while you workout, take advantage of programs like Kids Play, which is a great introduction to “group fitness” for kids. Also, after your workout is over, take 10 or 15 minutes to shoot baskets or engage in a different kind of active play in the kids area before you leave.
5) Share your favorite workout with your kids. They probably know how much you love Zumba or Boot Camp or (fill in the blank with your favorite activity). Create a pint-sized workout for them so they can see what it is you do when you go workout and why you like it so much. The ulterior motive, of course, is that they’ll grow up to be your favorite workout partner.

This guest post comes from Kara Douglass Thom, a triathlete, freelance writer and mother of four. She and Laurie Kocanda are the co-authors of Hot (Sweaty) Mamas: Five Secrets to Life as a Fit Mom.

Healthy School Lunch?

My 9yo begs me every day to make home lunch. I usually try to make him a healthy lunch but some days it is just too crazy and he has to eat school lunch. I hated school lunch as a child but I'm always arguing with my boys that school lunch is tastier and healthier now (but my memory isn't always too reliable).

Next week is National School Lunch Week, "Let's Grow Healthy". My 9yo brought home the schedule of lunches for the week. As we reviewed the menu we both laughed and laughed. Four of the five days the main dish was grease - pizza, corn dogs, deep-fried chicken sandwich, and breaded beef patty. Some of the side dishes were nutritious but not all. My 9yo said, "They think that's healthy!"

We're not big deep-fried fans. Ice cream may be essential but you'd be hard-pressed to find corn dogs or chicken nuggets in our freezer (there's no room with all the ice cream). So I had to concede that my son only had to eat school lunch on spaghetti and meatballs day (guess I'll have to be more organized in the morning).

I've heard that for some children school lunch is the healthiest and most complete meal they eat all day. That's a bit disturbing when you look over the menus.

What are your thoughts? I know children enjoy deep-fried foods. Am I being too extreme to hope that they would be the exception rather than the rule at school lunch? How does your school lunch rate?

Donate books to families in need

I'm collecting new and used books for women and children escaping abusive situations. If you can help out, please go to my book blog, read up on the details, and post a comment. Thanks!

Balance

It's easy for me to become obsessive about exercise and eating right. I realized the other day we were in trouble when my 5yo held up his Honey Nut Cheerios and asked, "Does this have too many calories?" I think it's extremely important to teach children how to live healthy but there's a balance. For me it works best to schedule my exercise. I can workout in the morning, but the rest of the day is focused on my boys. I also try to keep it real with meal planning and treats. We will eat healthy meals most of the time, but it's okay to go out on Saturday night, or plan a meal that has cream of chicken soup in it every once in a while (you should see how excited my boys get at those dinnertimes), or eat a bowl of ice cream while we sit around and chat at night (we try not to do it every night, I promise).

How do you keep a balance between being healthy and enjoying life?

5yo worries

My 5yo asked me, "Mom, how do I exercise so I can lose some weight?"

Oh, no. Looks like Mom needs to stop talking about losing the baby weight.

I believe it is crucial to teach children to enjoy being active, offer them healthy food and instill good health habits, but when a 5yo who is completely healthy is worrying about losing weight? Mom and Dad probably need to watch what they are saying and focus on being healthy rather than losing weight.

I searched the internet for good articles on the subject. There were many on childhood obesity and how to help children lose weight (which are sadly important subjects) but there weren't as many on positive body image and one I found (that I really liked) had an ad for quick weight loss pills right next to the article. Empowered Parents had a good article, "Body Image Concerns in Young Children" by Abigal Natenshon.

What do you do to make sure you're sending healthy body image messages to your children?

Eat like a baby

My 7mo is teaching us some great lessons about how to eat. Though we might not want to aspire to his chubby physique, we would like to be as uncomplicated about food as he is.

#1 - Fruits and veggies are amazing. Phoenix downs any kind of fruit or veggie placed on his tongue. I love fruits and veggies as well, but pureed prunes? That's pushing it a bit far.

#2 - You don't have to clean your plate. When Phoenix is done, he's done. There's no sneaking in one more bite. It really is okay to throw food away or save it for another meal. Let go of the guilt and the extra calories - toss it in the garbage.

#3 - Don't eat it just because it's fun. There's always an uncle, cousin, grandma, or brother who thinks it's fun to feed the baby dessert or dairy (before a year) and see how the baby likes it. It's okay to eat sometimes for fun, but for the most part eating should be to improve health, increase energy, and sustain life. Sorry to be the party pooper but if a food is going to hurt you in the long run, it's not really fun.

#4 - Slow down. My husband loves to shovel Phoenix's food in as quickly as the little guy opens his mouth. I cussed him and now we're both taking it slow. Me because I need to run around the kitchen and do ten things between each bite. My husband because he knows I'm watching! As a mom it's easy to rush through eating. Don't do it. Slow down and savor each bite. You'll eat less and you'll enjoy life more.

The older I get the more food issues I find myself dealing with. Keeping it simple and uncomplicated may just be the key to getting over the unhealthy behaviors.

Get Healthy as a Family, Dance!

Kathleen Thomas from Primrose Preschools asked me to share this fabulous post with you. The boys and are working on our dance moves so we can shoot our own video. My 4yo can really move it!

Dance can be a fun, easy way to introduce physical activity into a child's life. As a provider of educational day care, Primrose Schools has recognized and is actively fighting against the childhood obesity epidemic. Childhood obesity is a critical issue for young children in America. The Family Dance-off supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit organization that raises funds for more than 170 children's hospitals, which collectively treat 17 million children annually for every illness and injury imaginable.

Through their annual Family Dance-off event, families are encouraged to record and submit a 30 second video of themselves dancing to promote fitness and strengthen family ties.

Participating in the Family Dance-off is easy:
1. Record a 30-second video of your family's best dance moves. Don't be afraid to let loose and be silly!

2. Visit The Family Dance-off site and upload your best take by March 19.

3. Share your video with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

4. View and vote daily (you can place five votes per day) for your favorite family dance video!

What would a competition be without prizes? Primrose Schools is providing prizes that aren't only great for your family but for your whole community, with $65,000 in donations to local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals:

• Grand Prize: $5,000 and Primrose will make a $30,000 donation to a local Children's Miracle Network Hospital

• 2nd Prize: $3,000 and Primrose will make a $20,000 donation to a local Children's Miracle Network Hospital

• 3rd Prize: $1,500 and Primrose will make a $15,000 donation to a local Children's Miracle Network Hospital

• All 14 Finalists will also receive a FLIP camcorder

Visit The Family Dance-off site for details on how to take part in the fight against childhood obesity, participate in the competition, and view past competitors!

No TV for a week?

Next week is No-TV Week for my sons' schools. We decided we're giving up all multi-media. I'm turning off my computer for an entire week. Oh, my. Hope I survive.

I've got a whole list of the fun things we're going to do as a family. Check it out here.

Getting children active is such a huge issue with today's childhood obesity and other health scares related to a sedentary lifestyle. We love and protect our children from so many things, I hope we can protect them from health issues by increasing their activity and offering healthy foods.

I'll let you know how it goes next week!