As a stay at home mom and mother of three, I need to get creative with my workouts if I want to stay in shape, feeling strong and energized. I don’t have time for the gym. Heck, I don’t even have a gym membership! But I feel amazing! And every little thing helps. Sometimes (rarely) I can spend a whole hour in my garage doing a great workout, sometimes all I have is 10 minutes in my living room. Often I get to go to the playground with my kids and i use that as my gym. In any case, I truly believe that being fit and healthy comes with the kind of lifestyle that can last a lifetime. Would you rather spend hours at the gym for the rest of your life, or would you prefer to enjoy life outdoors, with your kids, grandkids? Not that you can’t do both, but the more time spent inside a weight room, the less time spent living.
I’m probably sounding anti weight room right now which is not the case. I’ve been a fitness trainer for over 12 years, spent a good 6 of those years working inside a gym. And I loved it. I loved the energy, I loved getting inspired and motivated by others. I loved the exercise classes. I loved all the weights! Truly! I could lift heavy for a woman and I felt proud. Gyms have a purpose and are great for specific goals. When it comes to living a wholesome well rounded life, I believe in finding ways to stay active and fit while living my everyday life. Now that I have 3 kids, my everyday life involves them, and they are not allowed in the weight room.
It took me some time to get on board with that. I just couldn’t seem to get as fit and be as healthy as I wanted to because I always thought I needed more. More time, more classes, more weights, more energy! More more more…… I was coming from a place of lack. When really I had everything I needed to live the life I wanted. I just wasn’t aware nor was I utilizing what I had to my advantage.
I changed that. My outlook was the first thing to change and then everything fell into place. I have become increasingly aware of the choices that I have on a daily basis. We are all, always faced with choices. It is our decisions that will create the quality of our lives. And I have decided to live a Good Life, actually, it’s a great life 🙂 Some days it’s really hard to stay on top of my decision making and I slip. But I don’t let it put me down. A bad day just is. It doesn’t have to dictate how I live my life. The beauty about being alive is that there is always tomorrow to get back up if today is too hard. I choose to get back up because life is more enjoyable to me that way. I choose health and fitness because I find it easier to be a mom when I feel great about myself. I choose responsibility because really, no one else can live my life for me.
With all theses choices, I have decided to make the most of my time while being a stay at home mom. And that includes being as fit and healthy as I can be. I will be sharing with you short videos of things I do to keep active while being with the kids, either out and about, at playgrounds, or at home. I hope I can inspire some of you and show you that you do not need a gym membership to be fit, you do not need 2 hours out of your day to feel strong, you do not need to go on 5 mile runs to slim down. You definitely do not need to push yourself until you vomit and beat yourself up because you did not lift until your muscles gave out. I use my kids in my workouts, not only are they heavy enough, but they are way cuter than a dumbbell!!
I hope you find my fitness shares useful and I am happy to hear your feedback! Here is to living a Good Life 🙂
Pamplemousse 