This was me walking into the gym today with my kiddos…..but what this cute little picture doesn’t show is that about ten minutes later I got called out of my workout because of a dirty diaper that needed changed.
Whenever I do my workouts at home it never fails….I always have littles crawling on my back when I do planks, pulling on my shorts as I do calf raises, or wanting to be held as I do squats.
I used to get frustrated with my kids because my workouts always would get interrupted by, “mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mommmmmmmm” or at the gym I would have to stop when I would hear on the intercom, “Natalie Hodson to childcare…..Natalie Hodson to childcare”.
But with time, I’ve learned to accept the fact that I probably won’t have ‘perfect’ workouts for a long time until my kids are older. I have stopped wishing for the days when I could workout without interruptions because, simply put, that is just not my life right now. Once I changed my expectations and just accepted that this is a phase in my life where things rarely go as planned, I noticed I get frustrated a lot less. Once I let go of the idea that I had to do everything perfectly, I noticed I was more consistent because I did not feel like a failure as often.
Sometimes my workouts get cut short because of a fussy, teething baby. Sometimes meals get missed because the kids won’t get dressed and move at a snail’s pace in the morning. And that is ok. Letting go of the “all or nothing” mentality and accepting the fact that I am never going to be perfect has probably been the single most important thing that has helped me on this fitness journey of mine.
Just sharing some thoughts that were on my mind today. Hope you guys have a great weekend!
Your friend,
Natalie
ps – I love, love, love these tanks from Bodybuilding.com. They are the perfect length for my long torso and the capris are so comfy I seriously never want to take them off.
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Natalie Hodson is a mom of two showing how to balance family, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle. www.nataliehodson.com
3 Comments
Needed to hear this today. I have 3 boys 5 and under and it’s so easy to get frustrated because I can’t get into a solid routine. Remembering that it’s ok if I have to break up my workouts or skip a day will really help my motivation. Sometimes I feel like it’s all or nothing and that’s definitely not the case. Thanks for making me feel like I’m not alone! 🙂
I just seen you on the news and you reminded me of myself when my children were younger. My Baby girl is 15 and a half! 🙁 I raised my step son plus her two older brothers as well. Any ways, I would break my workouts up. I use to do Denise Austin every morning @7:30. Just in time to get the oldest 2 on the bus. but she would always show other things you could do throughout the day to keep up your fitness and strength training and all that. then in the afternoon I would sometimes go for walks and push the baby strollers with my neighbors from A little cardio exercise. Fast forward 15 years. I’m about to be 39 October 19th, I worked as a Pediatric nurse and labor and delivery nurse for 8 years. well I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 12 years ago and can try to be in denial of it and as time went on stress working long hours excetera, I took a toll on my body and my doctor told me that my body was aging faster than it should be and that I don’t need to work anymore. So I quit my job in May and filed for disability. I became severely depressed because I lost my identity my children are almost grown and now my career was gone. Last year I got up to almost 258 pounds because I was taking time off from work from fibromyalgia as well and I lost about 15 of those pounds but couldn’t lose anymore 15 was at home. So I did a Body Pump class for a couple weeks and I like it and it got me in to the fitness bug thing. But it was in Lumberton and I live in Port acres which is about a 40 minute drive so I stopped going I would walk occasionally and try to do a few yoga stretching just to try to keep some kind of muscle tone but I really didn’t have any. Then one day I believe God planted a seed in me, he told me Nicole get up and start running and Nicole sign up for the pleasure all in half marathon coming up November 8th. I heard these words at the end of July that’s when I began running July 28th before last year I can barely run 5 10 second straight I still have to walk in between but when I’m running and walking my average pace is between 12 and a half to thirteen and a half miles a minute. I used to be again right and believed in weight training in this little cardio but now I’ve kind of Totally reversed that thinking. Running saved my life. I’ve never been a runner. I can walk all day long, but run!?!? Lol. Now, I can call myself a runner. I have pain, but not as bad as I used to. So I just wanted to say Keep inspiring others, and if you come across someone who has autoimmune disorders like me, tell them it just takes one step at a time and one day at a time and to never give up. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me ”
Sincerely,
Nicole Duplechain RN
Correction not 258 pounds, 158lbs. Sorry. I’m using my phone and it makes me sound illiterate. Lol