5 Ways to Avoid Homeschool Mom Body
* This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. *
Wednesdays were always my weigh-in day on my fitness blog. Since I’ve moved the whole operation over here, I wanted to make sure that my friends from there weren’t lost – or deserting me, because I still need the accountability – so I’ll be posting fitness-related posts once a week or so. They may not always be on Wednesdays, but it seemed like just as good a day as any to start.
So, Eclipsed friends, are you here? Wave to me so I can see you.
Okay, yeah, that won’t really work since I can’t actually see you, so, if you’re here, just leave me a comment to know that you’re still following along. Please.
I read a great post on ProBlogger this weekend about how to overcome “blogger body” – you know the body that’s a result of sitting around on a computer all day. Yeah, I don’t know anything about that. {ahem}
Homeschool mom body can be a danger, too. Let’s face it, homeschooling can be a very sedentary job. Even if you’re on-the-go frequently, there can be a lot of sitting and waiting time for Mom. There are lots of simple steps you can take to improve your health.
One of the easiest ways of combating being still too much is just being aware of it. This awareness will help you to look for opportunities to move. One way to get more movement into your day is to get a pedometer and track your steps (10,000 is a great goal).
Some other things that have helped me – or things that I want to incorporate more – are:
Don’t sit when you can stand
Okay, I don’t always do this one. Sometimes you just want to sit. However, it burns more calories to stand than it does to sit. So, just stand while you do some of your daily homeschool mom stuff.
Instead of sitting and letting your kids hold up their papers to show you their spelling words (yes, I used to do that), get up and walk to where they are to look. Instead of sitting on the couch to fold laundry, stand at the dryer and fold it. (Bonus: if you take things out of the dryer while they’re still warm, you can avoid ironing. Ask me how I know that.)
Start the day with a workout
I know me well enough to know that if I don’t do my workout first thing in the morning, it probably isn’t going to happen. That’s why I set my alarm and get up early to workout every day.
I try to alternate heavy workouts with lighter ones because, for one reason, it’s hard to convince myself to get out of nice, warm bed to workout. I like knowing that at least a couple of days a week, I can watch Friends while getting a good, but not-so-intense workout.
I couple that with days that I meet a friend for a good, long run to have a week that balances out, workout-wise.
Take breaks to move
My sister makes these awesome, custom-made hula hoops that are made according to a person’s height. I’ve never been able to hula hoop before, but I can with the hoop my sister made for me because it’s just the right size. Sometimes, if I’ve been sitting too long, I’ll get up and go hula hoop for a little while. It probably doesn’t burn tremendous amounts of calories, but it burns more than sitting and it gets my blood pumping.
Play active Wii games with your kids
Some of those games can really get you sweating. Just Dance, anyone? Or Wii sports games? The bonus is: you get to spend more time with your kids and they think you’re a cool mom.
Have P.E.
I don’t know about you, but in most homeschooling families that I know, P.E. is a very neglected “subject” area. It usually involves letting the kids play outside for awhile. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, but the whole family can benefit by being more intentional with physical fitness.
Family bike rides are a great way to spend time together and incorporate health and fitness into your lives.
Running together is something I really want to start doing. My husband has made a couple of attempts and Megan has told me she’d like to join me. I think it could be good for all of us. I want to start out slowly with them, like I did when I was a newbie runner and see if they don’t catch the bug.
If nothing else, I’d like our family to work out together in our home gym, go on walks together after dinner a few times a week or just make sure we’re making more time to get active together as a family.
What do you do to make sure that you’re staying active and healthy each day?
Finally, for my weight-loss buddies who were wondering, I’m still maintaining. Overall, I’m happy with that, but a little irritated that I’m maintaining at 2 pounds over the weight I’d be comfortable with as my “heavy” weight and 9 pounds above my goal weight.
Coming from where I started, I can totally live with that, but I need to buckle down and hit my goal weight.
This post contains affiliate links.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
I’ve been a follower for a while, but only of the homeschool site. I checked out your weight loss blog a few times. I think it is nice to have it here. As a homeschool mom who has lost 40 lbs and maintained that for almost 2 years…I will look forward to reading more.
Thanks! I think it’s going to be nice to have both blogs merged. It made sense to separate them in the beginning, but now that I’m maintaining and the changes I’ve made have become part of my lifestyle, it makes mores sense to be back to one blog.
I am here! BIG wave!!
{Waving back} I’m so glad you’re here, Carrie!
It IS hard to stay active while homeschooling! I have to admit that since reaching MY “comfortable with” weight I have also slacked off a little this year. Some ideas I have used are to wear a pedometer, go for nature walks with the kids, jog on the spot while giving spelling tests, acting out stories WITH the kids, and working out during naptime/quiet time which is now non-existant). I used to have a minimum goal of 10,000 steps a day and go crazy staying up late and jogging on the spot to reach that if I came up short. Now I use it as a gage of how active I have been. I also find that I easily reach 10,000 steps just doing yardwork and gardening in the summer, so I make a point of working at that every day that it’s not pouring out. The bonus is that my youngest son is turning into a gardener already and in his preschool workbook coloured his corn cross-pollinated (yellow with red indian corn kernels throughout)…lol
It’s so hard not to slack off once you get to a comfortable weight, isn’t it? I probably need to pull my pedometer back out. It’s great incentive.
So…I’ve mostly been reading blogs on my phone while at ballet with the little on or fencing with the boys. We got a puppy for Christmas. She’s now 7 months old and 50lbs (she was 6.5lbs when we got her). As a family, we’ve worked from walking around the block, to 2-4miles daily. The dog NEEDS this much activity. It’s been wonderful. But I have almost no computer time. I’m hoping to fix that.
For the kids, we don’t have a video game console that connects to our tv. I know there are some that are active, but we’ve just avoided it so far. I will spend money on things that involve activity. The kids all have camel backs for staying hydrated on hikes. It’s amazing what drinking out of a tube will do for kids. They’ll walk miles and not even think about it. We bought the boys skate boards this year and they’re both on them all. the. time. Last year my hubby and I got bikes for our birthdays…and we can finally ride as a family.
It’s all been wonderful, but we’ve had to give up other things in our day to make it happen. I’m hoping that we can continue this for a long time. And…I’ve been struggling to loose 20 lbs. I lost 5 when we started walking and now I’ve plateaued again. I’m convinced that this is going to be my year though.
Walking a dog is great exercise! My dogs would probably appreciate it if I would employ that technique more often. 🙂
*virtual wave* I’m still following your journey, because you have been an inspiration to mine.
I agree that working out early in the morning is key to getting it done. I also love your tips of standing when you can. I am guilty of being the lazy mom who has her children walking to her, instead of getting up.
May I ask how you have determined what your goal weight is?
I just did some searching for healthy weight ranges for my height and body build. The goal I selected was 2 pounds under “overweight” for me, so the high end of my ideal weight range. Any more than that sounded unrealistic for me, but I wanted to be able to say that I was no longer overweight, by anybody’s measure.
I have found your weight loss journey very inspiring. I can’t believe what you’ve been able to accomplish so far! I think that you’re right about how easy it can be for us to slip into a “homeschool mom body”. I have very little activity in my life at the moment.
Love the look of the new blog! I’m glad you merged the two because I had only occasionally checked out your other one, but was always inspired when I did.
Still, here, Kris……still being inspired every day!
I’m so glad you’re here, Yvonne!
I recently bought a stand-up desk for my laptop. No more sitting at the computer for me! My feet hurt a little more than they used to, but I’m hoping as I lose weight that will be true less often.
Where did you get your shirt? It’s awesome!
https://www.thehomeschoolchick.com/store/
Hello! Eclipsed reader here at your homeschooling site for the first time since your move 🙂
Yay! I was so hoping everyone would make it over. I loved having my Eclipsed site, but it was just becoming too difficult to maintain two blogs. There are still plans in the works to make a fitness-specific area on my site. Hopefully, all that will be in place within the next couple of weeks.
Still here – Waving from Eclipsed, well, I’m waving from WUHS . . . It’s so confusing when you can’t actually see me. 😉 Working hard to add 30 minutes of moving to my day without excuse. Summer comes alot easier!
I’m so glad you’re here! Yes, it’s easier to get more movement in during the summer. My biggest challenge, though, is keeping a consistent workout schedule. I thought I’d have more time to exercise, but being off our routine has actually made it more difficult to stay consistent, rather than making it easier.
Extrovert but borderline introvert with being around family all day, every day. Like you, I think the homeschooling thing pushed me over the edge (ha, ha!)
I like being alone but after about 3 hours I get antsy and missing my family. Seriously
Oops, this was supposed to go under the introvert post. Not sure how that happened…
Ohhhhhh, THAT’S what my “problem” is.. I have homeschool mom body! That’s probably why my tush is so big….
My biggest problem is that I really, really, really don’t want to work out. Really really. And I have to just get up and do it anyway — but how do I get the motivation and determination to do that when you don’t have any? SIGH.
I’m so proud of you – you’ve come so far!!
Thanks! It’s been a long road, but so worth it. Motivation and determination can be hard to come by. Mine come from the fact that I never, ever want to be obese again. Ever.