Happy, Fun and Healthy Mom Life
I’ve been a wellness business builder for over 7 years, and live a happy mom life. I want to help others to find the same fun spark within their days and their hearts. You CAN live a happy and healthy life.
So here’s some of my ideal daily routine. Now, I am a human mother, so of course I don’t get to everything on this list every day. But if I can, I do. If I can’t, I give myself grace.
This routine also helped me to lose weight, and continues to keep me healthy post-partum.
Read & take from it what inspires you.
1. A Good Night’s Sleep, Even for Mom
In mom life, it can be hard to get good sleep. Right?
According to Dr. Amy Shah, The Circadian Rhythm governs our sleep, hunger and energy. These steps 1 and 2 are just a little bit about the circadian rhythm and how it can help you.
So, it’s funny (and perhaps frustrating) to start this article off with sleep, but waking up from a good sleep is what it’s all about.
I’ve been through periods in my life with a hard work schedule where I was on different sleep cycles, sleeping only 4 hours a night, and taking a long nap later on in the day. My circadian rhythm was so off. That miserable cycle eventually lead to insomnia.
I was eventually able to change my schedule around, and now I find myself so much more energetic and happier having a full night’s sleep, which for me is between 7-10 hours.
And, it’s normal to wake up throughout the night. Even with my baby who still wakes up to nurse beside me as we co-sleep in a safe and healthy way, I wake up every several hours. I try to stay in bed as long as I can before I start my new day, taking my time to wake up without rush, even as my baby may wake me up from sleep.
Sleep literally helps you to be happier in the day, because while you sleep, your brain is processing emptions. If your sleep periods are shorter, you’ll tend to be more negatively reactive throughout the day.
Studies show that people who get less than 6 hours of sleep each night have a higher risk of weight gain and obesity more than those who get 7 or more hours of sleep every night,
Can you find a way to adjust your schedule so you get more sleep? Can you go to bed earlier to prioritize a healthy slumber?
2. Gulp Water & Feeling the Sunlight
Did you know sunlight can shrink lipid droplets, making them released from the cell? Meaning – when sunlight touches your skin, it can help release extra fat. Vitamin D changes cholesterol in the body.
This is according to a study by the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry that was published in the Journal Scientific Reports, sunlight can help with weight loss by shrinking fat cells.
This is great news for weight loss hope for mom life! I think most mom’s would be ok with this.
As the sunlight hits your skin (using sunscreen is still ok) consider using the power of your mind to visualize and welcome it to shrink your fat. I am a strong user of visualization techniques.
Sunlight increases our circulation and increases serotonin to be released in the brain, so getting sun on your skin is great for energy and vitality.
When waking up, after taking care of my needs and baby’s needs, I’ll take my baby outside on the deck (as protected from the sun as I feel like) for a few minutes of morning air and sun.
If I don’t get out in the morning, then I try to do it some other time during the day.
If it’s a cloudy or rainy day, then your own in-home lights can help you feel more alert in the morning by gazing into the lights. But know that more health benefits will come from 5-15 minutes daily of natural sunlight. Twenty minutes three times a week minimum.
But make sure to hydrate in your mom life! All day.
Keep in mind, when the mouth is dry, you are dehydrated, which can make you feel moody and sluggish. Not your best self.
I’ll make sure to drink as much water as possible in the morning (Can I mindfully gulp down 24 oz?). This water helps to wake up the body, hydrate, and energize! Drink as much as you can.
Hydrating will provide your body with lots of energy.
My favorite clean and healthy drink to provide extra hydration is here.
3. Short Yoga Stretch Session with Baby
Yoga has been an important part of my life since after college, and especially so for the last 7 years of my life. It’s keeps me calmer and more mindful, and has deepened my spiritual practice and my physical flexibility and strength.
And now, in my mom life, I recognize it can be hard to get it in every day with the baby among the different things we do, but I try my best to squeeze in a short energizing yoga session that gives my back and legs the stretch it needs to feel good the rest of the day. I try to fit this in in the morning, but if I need to do it some other part of the day, I will.
This session is so short, about 13 minutes. If I could go longer, I would. But this is just fine for me in my day right now. Baby is beside me on the mat, watching me stretch, and able to move around, stretching out from the night himself.
Feel free to find a favorite yoga video from my personal sessions on YouTube at Celestial K. Yoga and subscribe if you resonate.
If you’re not into yoga, do some nice stretches with deep breathing. Giving yourself a stretch break in your work day will give you a needed boost of energy.
4. High Protein Breakfast
Choose high protein for breakfast. Protein should be prioritized every meal for weight loss. It keeps you full, and reduces your appetite and cravings. It may also help you lose fat over time.
In my mom life, I drink My Healthy Shake, which is my healthiest meal of the day filled with nutrients, probiotics, prebiotics, mood boosters, and protein.
Naturally sweetened to taste yummy (if it’s not yummy, forget about it!), my favorite flavor is chocolate, but there’s also vanilla and strawberry.
I often like to make my healthy shake into fun and tasty ice cream or chocolate cake and enjoy having sweet and healthy dessert for my meal. You can substitute any protein powder you want in these recipes.
For more added health enjoyment, I add my boosting powders. For a full serving of veggies, my veggie powder. For more digestive health and regularity, I add my fiber boost. For mental focus and energy, I add my healthy energy powder. And of course, I have to have healthy skin, so I add my healthy collagen boost.
5. Pre-workout, Yummy and Healthy
Being a mommy (or human) can be tiring, so any extra energy we can get that’s actually healthy is a winner in my book.
Besides, if we know working out is so important, what’s a great way to get us to start th workout?
My mom life secret is pre-workout juice.
After digesting and getting some things done on my computer for the day, teaching my online classes and tending to my websites and anything else work-at-home wise, all while tending to my baby’s needs, of course, I prepare to exercise.
Maybe during my last class, I’ll consume my pre-workout energy drink. It’s so yummy, it tastes like lemonade, but I know it’s so healthy for me. With one sip, My energy is all revved up! And I’m super pumped to workout after 30 minutes of drinking it. It’s also motivating for the times I don’t feel like moving. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.
6. Mom Life Exercise!!!
Exercise makes more mitochondria in your body, giving your body energy.
So, you should work out even if you’re dog tired.
People who exercise every day also live longer than those who don’t.
Exercise also releases feel good chemicals like serotonin and endorphins, which helps make you happier and lifts your mood.
So please mama, carve out a few minutes of your mom life for your work-outs. It’s ok if it’s at home with baby in the room. Mine are.
When I’m done with work, it’s time to exercise! First, I’ll make sure to put on some cute work out clothes so I feel good!
I love to pick my workout for the day with my baby in my arms. Through these 7 years, I’ve gone through many workout programs, and different ones that called out to me at different times.
For me, I love yoga, dance, barre and these kind of bodyweight workouts. When I started working out again post-partum, there were these short “5-ers” of 5-minute workouts that I started with. The baby beside me, I see if he let me do 5 minutes worth. Then I added on more time if he let me do more. But lately, with the baby, I’ve been studying how weight-lifting is also so great for you.
So I’ve been incorporating a program called Job1 where I have a short workout, less than 20 minutes, of either some weights, a HIIT, or cardio, where my baby is near me in his walker. It’s perfect timing and I get the perfect short but effective workout in.
In today’s tech world, you can get any workout you choose in any category at the press of a button. With my streaming service, live workouts are also available to join in the fun. If you can join a live one, that’s t he most motivating experience of all. On this diverse streaming platform, if you choose, you can even go live to show up on the screen with the fitness instructor able to watch you and speak to you.
During the workout, I’ll make sure I stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water and my healthy extra hydration drink. Yum!
7. Sweet Post-Workout Time
Celebration! I finished my workout and feel that post-workout high! This feeling will help me keep returning for more.
After I finish my workout, feeling accomplished and sweaty, I’ll make myself a chocolate drink that tastes like chocolate milk. It’s a healthy protein drink that tastes so divine and helps my muscles recover from the workout. Just shake up that powder with water and ice real fast because my baby is hungry, too!
Then, I’ll listen to one of my Mindset Programs or Meditations that’s also attached to my workout program app, as I hold and breastfeed my eager baby. It keeps me calm, healthy and happy having a strong mentality in my personal mom life.
Try it for yourself!
8. Mindful Dinner
I’m doing my best to eat more mindfully than I’ve done in the past, which is tied to happiness, health and weight loss. Starting with gratitude for the food, and blessing the food with thanks.
A prayer over the food can change the energy of your food, which goes into your system.
In my mind, on a usual day, I have eaten healthy most of the day, so whatever I have for dinner is guilt-free. I focus on the veggies and protein and as I chew and taste mindfully, I’ll fill the moment with thoughts of how my body is being nourished by the food.
If I can remember to eat and chew slowly, I’ll do that.
The more mindfully we eat and are aware of the food, the less stress and more calm we’ll feel.
9. Grace in Mom Life.
If I can get in an evening sun down moment on the deck and/or a wind-down yoga stretch or yin yoga, then more power to me. But that may not happen like I want, so I give myself grace.
At night before I fall asleep, I’ll consider what my favorite part of the day was and embody that feeling for a moment,
Whatever I couldn’t accomplish today, I know that tomorrow is a new day, a new chance, and it’ll be a great one!
I hope you resonated with something, Which part of my routine might you incorporate?
~Sarah Van Buskirk (AKA Celestial K.)