FITMOM's Top 5 Tips to Help You Live Your Healthiest Life in 2016

As we approach the end of another year, we will reflect on how our year has gone and begin plans for making our next year even better. Often our plans might include some high level fitness related goals, such as:

• I want to be stronger in 2016
• I want to be more fit in 2016
• I want to run up stairs 2016
• I want to walk taller in 2016
• I want to touch my toes in 2016
• I want to run my first 5K race in 2016

Whatever your own goals may be, you'll need a solid plan to reach them! 

Here are FITMOM's top FIVE tips that you can use to help you live your healthiest life in 2016:

1. Find Something you LOVE

One of the most important gifts you can give to yourself is doing something you LOVE. If you don't love it, you won't do it. It's as simple as that. 

2. Schedule it and Book a Babysitter

Whether it's a weekly class that you love or an evening run with friends, you need to put it in your calendar and block off the time. It can be really hard when you have small children to get out of the house in the evening, especially if your partner travels or is a shift worker. One of the best things you can invest in is a neighbourhood babysitter. Ask around and you'll find lots of teenagers looking to earn some extra money through babysitting. Teach them the routine and have them try it out with you there first. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner!

3. Make it Social

Find some friends and join a fitness class together. It's a great way to stay in shape and keep up with each other! One of the biggest benefits of a FITMOM class is that, even if you join with a friend, you will always leave with many more. Knowing that you're meeting a friend helps keep you accountable and gives you incentive to get out the door, even when you don't want to.

4. Track your Progress

There are many ways you can measure your progress. If you're running you can track how far you're going and how fast you're going. If you're doing a bootcamp class, you can track how often you're attending and how long it takes to recover each week. If you're doing a yoga class, you can track how hard it is to do certain poses each week. You can also take measurements periodically. If you've set a goal that you would like to work out twice a week, writing it down in your calendar will help you identify whether you've met your goal or not.

5. Make it Achievable

It's never fun to fail at something, so when you set your fitness goals, keep in mind how your life is currently working. If your goal is to get out 5 times per week for 1 hour each day, but your job is very demanding and you tend to work many extra hours, this may not be realistic. Start by thinking about what you can realistically commit to. If it's only once per week for 45 minutes, that's a great start. It's always easier to add things one at a time than to add many chunks all at once without a good plan to achieve it.

We hope you find these tips helpful in developing your own fitness plan for 2016! Leave us a note on our Facebook page to let us know how you're planning to accomplish your fitness goals next year! And check out the FITMOM schedule to see if one of our classes fits your needs. We'd love to see you there!

FITMOMs are the best!

Welcome to M.A.M.A. Month!

We, at FITMOM, have made November 

“Mental Health and Motherhood Awareness” Month – M.A.M.A.

Since 1999, when Andrea Page, founder of FITMOM Inc., had her first baby, she has been advocating for more support and awareness on the effects of mental health and its connection to Mothering.

Photo Credit: trinaphoto.com for FITMOM

Her personal experience with serious postpartum depression following the birth of her first son, Akua, makes her an ideal spokeswoman on an issue that touches so many families. Like most women dealing with mood disorders, she found a lack of support from both the professional community and her own personal network. Today, a lack of education, coupled with long waiting lists to access support, continues to be a barrier for many women to get the help they need.

Women’s Health Matters, a program operated by Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, cites maternal depression as one of the greatest threats to an infant’s development: “The first couple of years of life permanently set the stage for the cognitive, mental, and medical health of individuals. And, maternal depression is one of the greatest adversities an infant can face.”

In August 2013, a research study released found that mothers in urban areas were almost twice as likely to suffer postpartum depression (10 % of reported cases vs 6 %).

Throughout the month of November, FITMOM will be sharing stories and resources about motherhood and mental health. We want to educate mothers, along with their family, friends, colleagues and community members who connect with or support families during the first 6 years of a child’s life.

Building a strong base of support within a community is a major step in creating a mother that is healthy and strong. By creating awareness and sharing tips on how to build an effective and healthy network, we hope to shed the stigma that is attached to women’s mental health and to impact and teach communities the simple steps that can have a positive effect on moms and babies everywhere:

• A mother needs to be mothered. She needs to be nurtured by others, listened to, and cooked for. She also needs space to deal with the emotional and physical changes after birth and time to adapt to her new responsibilities as a parent.
• A mother needs extra support to sleep. Excessive sleeplessness is directly linked to postpartum depression.
• A mother requires frequent breaks from responsibility. This time away does not make her weak but rather, restores and replenishes her.
• A mother needs a community surrounding her. Historically, child rearing was a community concern. Our busy and sometimes overscheduled lives have impacted our ability to form ‘villages’ that support families effectively. Returning to these community roots has a far reaching, positive impact.
• A mother needs permission to be human. She needs to be relieved from the pressure to achieve “supermom” status. A shared responsibility to nurture with support and time to invest in self-care should be a priority. Anything else leaves a mother and her children vulnerable.

During the month of November, we'll be sharing our M.A.M.A information on our Facebook page every few days. Please look out for our posts and share them with other women who may be experiencing similar feelings. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments you might have.