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Busy Girl & Fit Mom Holiday Survival Guide

Thanks to Busy Girl/Mom, Nancy for sharing her tips with all of us!  Nancy is a very BUSY mother of 5 who holds down the fort, has a demanding business and is an incredible transformation story!  I think you will love hearing her tips below.  Be sure to look at her jaw dropping before and afters on her site!  Can you say inspirational hot momma?

Busy Fit Mom Holiday Survival Tips

As we all know holidays can be super hectic and oh so stressful, especially when you have children. Making it through in one piece, with your mental game still intact is a feat in itself. Here are my 5 tips for coming out of the Holidays stress free and feeling great!

  1. SLEEP! This is one of the hardest things for a mother to acquire. Not only are we running around not knowing which direction to go first but we are often times dealing with activities, shorter days, sick children and more demands which makes everything a bit tough. Add children and we all know that lack of sleep really takes its toll on our mental and physical being. Schedule your sleep just as you schedule things for your children. Make it a habit to not allow the craziness of the holidays take over and really focus on your own needs as well as everyone else’s.

  2. Proper Nutrition! We all hear this so often but it is so true, especially during the Holidays. When you eat food that is not nutrient dense and full of the vitamins and minerals needed for optimum performance you cannot deal with many other things. What we eat affects mood, sleep, activity levels and our body image. If you eat great and really make an effort to give the body what it needs, you won’t crave things that make you feel worse or make you crash. You won’t see yourself as someone you don’t know anymore. You will feel great even if you feel like you are not where you want your body to be.  Eat well and you will have the energy and mental clarity to hit January ready to go!

  3. Time alone! We all know that with children there are those days where you want to go hide in a closet or change your name. Time alone or a night out with your spouse is crucial for having that much needed downtime to recharge, reflect and take time for you. Sure we need to be there for our children but we are better parents when we take at least one day a week and spend that without any distractions. Even if you go sit in peace at the local coffee shop, go enjoy doing nothing.

  4. Friends! Oh how so many of us can relate to this one. We become mothers and life takes over. Many of us are doing all we can to just be that mother we envisioned when we dreamed about having children and a family.  Very often friends get left behind and having that bond is so important, especially when you feel like you are giving of yourself all day with nothing in return. Even if your friends are “virtual” friends, make time to support each other and share things going on in your life. It really helps keep everything in perspective and allows you to realize that you are not alone in a world that seems very alone, sometimes as a parent.

  5. I think you all know what is next! EXERCISE! Wow is this one tough to achieve when this time of year hits. Not only do you need to make time for all I mentioned above, now you have to find time to get those endorphins going and make time for you. There is no better feeling than feeling like you have control and have a way to release stress. It’s not easy to hit the gym or workout for an hour each day but with shorter days and more time indoors it  is so important to get out and breathe in some fresh air and at least get your heart rate up (with exercise) 😉 to really allow your body to release the stress. If you can get to the gym, great but if not at least get out and go for a walk. Something is better than nothing!

Remember that you cannot be your best and give all of you if you don’t take the much needed time to rest, reflect and recharge!

Happy Holidays to all!

Nancy Reinheardt

For more about Nancy and to see her amazing transformation, go to www.nancyreinhardt.com

What are you letting get in the way?

Hey Busy Girls!

I know we always have female guest bloggers, but I thought it would be nice to have a guest “man’s mind” weigh in a topic that we all can relate to!  I asked Nick Harder, my brother-in-law, expert coach and fitness trainer, whose clientele ranges from Dr’s, actors and musicians, if he could touch on a subject that really affects him and his clients on a personal level.  I hope you can get a few tips on how to truly get what you want out of your day and life!  If you are in the L.A area be sure to email him and take advantage of his bootcamps or hikes!  This former track star and motivational fitness coach will definitely inspire you to GO HARDER!  Make sure you check out his website and Facebook page:

Email: [email protected]

Website:  www.GoHarderFitness.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GoHarderFitness?fref=ts

A lot of people speak about what they want in life but are they being truthful to you or themselves?  If you truly want something, then you will go after it, right?  Go thru the motions to get it?  We’ll see…

It’s simple.  If you truly want something, you need to set everything else that gets in the way, aside, even your feelings.  Now, I don’t mean ignore your day to day responsibilities or not care about other important parts of your life.  What I mean is, if you truly have a desire for something, start going through the motions and steps to get the ball rolling and get what you desire.

First, I’ll break it down to something simple that we do each and every day.  “I want to have clean teeth.”  Ok, great!  Now what does that take?  Nothing, I just brush them right?  Wrong!  Yes, that is a step in the process of attaining clean teeth, but that’s not all.  Ok, stay with me here.  First, you wake up and DECIDE that you are going to brush your teeth.  You move the covers out of your way, TAKE ACTION and swing your legs out of bed, stand up and walk to the bathroom.  Then, you TELL YOURSELF to reach up, open the cabinet door because it stands in the way of your brush.  You grab the brush, toothpaste, open the cap, squeeze the tube, turn on the faucet, wet the brush, open your mouth and brush your teeth.  Success!  I’ll skip all the remaining steps here because I think you understand.  However, that DOES NOT mean you can skip ANY steps before or after while you are actually going through the process.  “Duh, of course not Nick, that’s a no brainer.”  Is it?  Lets look at what skipping a step or two might just do, because some of us think there are short cuts in life.  What if you wanted clean teeth but never decided to brush them?  Or if you just didn’t feel like walking to the bathroom that morning?  Or you looked in the mirror and said “Hmm, good enough, I’ll skip this time.”  Or told yourself, “the cabinet door is in the way, I can’t possibly move that.”  Maybe you are doing really well so far; you’ve got the brush, the paste, it’s wet, “I’m doing so great, I am going to skip opening my mouth to save time!”  Well, now you have just smeared toothpaste all over your face, making EVEN MORE work for yourself, and you still haven’t brushed your teeth.  Ok, I get this example is a little silly and extreme but if we skipped any of those important steps, no matter how small, just because we didn’t’ feel like it or didn’t want to, the end result would be the same.  We wouldn’t have clean teeth.

Don’t’ let your feelings, emotions, or a little discomfort get in the way of what you ultimately want.

If you truly want a new car, take the actions to get what you want.  Figure out what you can afford, start searching, pay the price that it is worth, and drive home.  Done, new car.  Don’t say, “no, I don’t feel like searching” but then look in your garage and complain to everyone that the new car hasn’t just shown up yet.  HINT – It NEVER WILL.

If you want to loose weight and get in shape, that’s awesome!  Eat healthy, go to the gym, exercise, repeat until desired results are achieved.  Don’t do it all once and give up saying it didn’t work.  Don’t say, “but I don’t like salads and broccoli, I am going to have this one pound burger and fries instead.”  NO PUT IT DOWN!  “I am to tired to go to the gym, I don’t feel like working out.”  TO BAD, WAKE UP, JUST GO.

It doesn’t matter if these are your feelings folks.  We all feel this way once and awhile.  I am sorry to say this, but, so what?  Get over it.  Be an adult and take action.  If those are the things that need to happen in order to get what you TRULY WANT, you just do them.  You can’t NOT go through the motions and steps and then complain that you aren’t getting what you want.  Go after what you truly want.  Put in the work, no matter how it makes you feel.  The results will be 100 times better than the little discomfort that you may have felt short term.

What do you TRULY want?

~Nick Harder

 

Picture:  Nick feeding the elephants on his recent trip to Thailand