As if your to-do list wasn’t long enough already, now add maintaining the holiday gathering calendar, planning/prepping more meals, and making sure your kids experience family traditions...phew, it’s no wonder our perspective on fitness changes a bit this time of year. Here are a few reminders as we approach the holiday season.

January is not your start date: From November through December life gets busy and fitness might be a lower priority, but do yourself a favor and don’t see these last two months of the year as pointless when it comes to workouts. Sure it’s easier to ramp up fitness in January, but you don’t want to enter 2022 feeling like you’re starting over or that you’re “getting back on track”. If you know the end of 2021 will mean less consistency with exercise, instead look at it as your off-season; a chance to maintain what you’ve built, try different types of exercise, enjoy shorter movement sessions, and prepare your body for a surge in a couple of months.
Embrace the dark (and cold): whether you work out early in the morning or in the evening, chances are it’s going to be dark and cold. Acknowledge the challenge, but don’t let it become an excuse. Brighten up your home workout area, enlist an accountability partner, lay out your clothes the night before...whatever it takes to embrace the change of season and not let it sabotage your goal to stay active.
Exercise is not an exchange for indulging: During the holidays meals tend to be heavier and alcohol might be more frequent. Indulging a bit more is often part of tradition and good times with friends and family. If you’re choosing to indulge, it’s important to be OK with it and not fill yourself with guilt and stress. Don’t fall into the thinking that exercise is there to make up for eating more than usual. Continue to fuel your workouts with good nutrition and if you’re making the choice to have that extra dessert or glass of wine, accept it and enjoy it, knowing that your healthy habits over long periods of time will help you maintain your baseline.

As you can see, for your fitness routine to survive the holidays, it takes a little bit of a mental shift and recognizing that this is a temporary time period and adjustments should be made. So enjoy the family traditions, acknowledge the challenges, and change your perspective on what fitness means to you during this time. If you’d like some guidance with your holiday fitness plans or want to set yourself up for success in the New Year, schedule your personal exercise consult.

Family hikes, holiday 5Ks, vacation swims, and weekend bike rides. Many of us have that vision of being a strong and healthy mom so that we can enjoy those activities with our kids. So how do we create the active family lifestyle we dream of? The truth is that it starts early, and it starts with you. Here are a few tips I’ve discovered in my professional and personal journey to encourage physical activity in kids and my daughter:

Speak positively about your body and your physical ability: Comment on what you’re good at. Don’t equate body positivity with perfection. Set a good example of appreciating what your body can do physically. They’re always listening.
Do home workouts: Honestly to get a full workout in with your kids in the room can be frustrating and can take years to get to a point with no interruption, but it’s well worth the effort. Model prioritizing your health and fitness and eventually they’ll be your biggest cheer leader, or better yet, they’ll join you!
Give them space at the playground: It’s easy to worry about their safety as they’re learning to climb and run, but it’s important for them to build confidence in their own abilities. To be a physically active “big kid”, they have to learn to trust their bodies at an early age. Rather than telling them “be careful”, ask them if they feel safe, or comment on the slippery surface and ask them if they feel comfortable they won’t slip.
Educate and complement: Don’t wait for health class. Use meal time or trips to the playground to educate them. For example: “your bones are going to get stronger with all of that jumping”, “your heart is going to be healthy with all that running” Make connections for them that their personal actions are responsible for their health.
Play the games: it can be oh so nice when your kids reach the age of playing independently, but on occasion it’s important to get out there with them. Hopscotch, swing pushing and tag may not be your dream family bike trip, but you have to start somewhere. Make those activities enjoyable now and they’ll be receptive to your ideas later. Make it about the fun and not about the exercise/activity.
Being physically active as a family is great for physical/emotional health, fun and bonding. Put these strategies to work and you’ll be running a Turkey Trot with your 7 year old in no time.

3 Holiday Fit Tips

Five Tips To Raise a Physically Active Child