Keenan enjoying a leftover rib from our 4th of July feast!

Happy Friday! Was it me, or did this week feel a little weird, since the holiday was in the middle? It felt like a mini-weekend in the middle of the week!

Today is all about catching-up from the holiday, doing odds and ends and squeezing in a workout, before heading to my parents’ house for the weekend. Since we are leaving for vacation with my family in a week, I want to squeeze in as many workouts as I can (since I’m not sure how many opportunities I will have to work out, while we are on vacation). There is a CrossFit (CF) box (CF lingo for “gym”) a couple of blocks away from where we are staying, so my husband and I are planning to catch a few workouts there. It will be fun to see another box, too! Speaking of working out, I’ve received some questions in regards to how I find the time to exercise and prepare healthy meals, so I thought I would address them here.

How do you find the time to work out? 

Working out has always been a priority in my life. It is as much a part of me as brushing my teeth or taking a shower. If I don’t exercise, I don’t feel like myself or feel at my best. Instead of finding the time, I make the time in my schedule to work out. At the beginning of the week (Sunday night), I look at the calendar to see what we have planned and then I schedule my workouts accordingly. Since I do CF, there are only certain class times, so I have to plan my schedule around the CF schedule. Before scheduling anything, such as play dates or Keenan’s music and swim classes, I plan when I will work out first and secondly, plan our days’/weeks’ events. By putting exercise at the top of my list, I know I won’t miss a workout, since it is penciled-in on my calendar!

Even when I worked (before and after I had Keenan), I always scheduled my workouts for the week (either first thing in the morning, before work, or on my way home), making it a priority. If I worked out in the morning, before work, I made sure to go to bed early the night before. It was all about planning ahead, which I still have to do now (even more than before!).

How many days do you work out in a week?

I work out five days a week, Monday through Friday, giving myself the weekend to rest and recover. If I can’t make it to our box one day during the week, I plan to go to the Saturday morning class, to make-up for the workout I missed during the week. Or, if I cannot make it to our box a couple of days during the week (on the rare occasion), I will take Keenan on a 3-5 mile jog (he loves to ride in our BOB Revolution Stroller!) and once we are done jogging, I will do air squats, push-ups and sit-ups.

Do you cook every night?

Yes, my husband and I cook pretty much every night (at least 6 days out of the week). Since he works all day, I cook Monday-Friday and he likes to take over on the weekends. Since we are living off of one income (since I stay-at-home with Keenan), we limit the amount of times we eat out to 1-2 times (max) per month. We have a monthly grocery/food budget, so all of our food (including meals out) comes out of it.

How do you plan for and prepare healthy meals for you and your family?

At the beginning of the week (Sunday), I plan out all of our meals for the week, using new recipes that I find, or having some of our “usuals,” such as grilled chicken with whole wheat pasta (using my pasta sauce) and a veggie, one-pot meals (with protein, whole grains and veggies) turkey meatloaf, or chicken burgers with oven-baked sweet potato fries. We always include lean protein, a whole grain and lots of veggies in each of our meals. After I have a game plan for all of our meals for the week, I make a grocery list and head to the store to purchase everything we need. Since we have a monthly food/grocery budget, I only buy items (including fresh produce) that are on sale, but now that Summer is here, we try to go to our local Farmer’s Market every Saturday for all of our fruits and veggies (Keenan loves to pick out produce at the Farmer’s Market!). Since I limit our purchasing to sale items, I sometimes have to modify our weekly menu, substituting certain ingredients. In the end, it all works out and we are still able to eat healthfully and inexpensively.

How to you plan/prepare your family’s meals? Do your kids eat the same meal as you and your spouse? How do you find the time to exercise?

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