4 tips for keeping up with an *active* child (or friend or life-partner).

Oh Miz.  I get tired reading about how you play with the Tornado. This makes me terrified to have kids because it looks exhausting!!!  I need motherhood tips now LOL

Im not a super young mother.

This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing – it just is.

Because of this, however, I’m confident I spend more time thinking about how I can keep up with my seven-year-old’s boundless energy than my mom-peers in their early 30s.

Right now I’m doing ok.

Tomorrow? I have that covered as well. (3 cheers for the ease of playground play!)

The years to come?

The years where she’ll only get faster, busier & (with any luck) more focused on movement?

You’d better believe I have a plan for staying fit, feisty and fabulous(ly active) as I move toward 50+.  (<—ACRONYM ALERT! ACRONYM ALERT!)

My secret weapon is K.I.D.S

A four-pronged approach applicable for young-at-heart & young-in-age parents alike.

Keep up with interests. The Tornado loves gymnastics & I can still contort into a backbend.  As interests change, I may no longer possess the ‘skills.’  This isn’t important. What is important is staying in touch with her passions. Notice what your child loves.  Learn about the hobby. Talk about what he’s doing/playing. Communication & strong parent/child bond boosts health as much physical activity.

look out 3013 Olympics!

Invest in you. Put yourself first & make time for exercise/healthy living. It can feel as though takes you away from your child, but helps you keep up with them & *able* to active-play later.

I exit this EARLY to snag me-time.

Do new things! A large part of staying healthy as we age/playing an active role in children’s lives resides between our ears. Keep your cranium stimulated with new athletic activities. This prong also has added benefit of making you the coolest parent on the cul de sac when you gather the kids for a day of slack lining or pogo stick’ing!

This game tests my brain!

Start or Stay in shape.  Fallen off the workout wagon? Thought of child-chasing all afternoon sound exhausting? Make today the day you start a workout routine. Even something as *seemingly* basic as opening the front door and walking outside ROCKS for increasing energy! Already exercise? Don’t stop. Exercise begets energy and is our best line of defense when it comes to keeping up with our kids.

ExerciseEnergy gives LifeEnergy!

There you have it.

The K.I.D.S. ACRONYM I lean on during days I feel freakin wiped out less than super-energetic.

Now you.

Please to add a letter to my acronym! What do you do to stay ENERGIZED with your child, life-partner or friends?

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Why Hello Old Friend: 5 Reasons Why I’m Going Old School with my Food Journal.

See that notebook up there? That’s my latest food journal. Yup,  I’m back to good old paper and pencil and I’ll tell you why.

Actually, I’ll tell you 5 reasons why…

I needed a change. Over the years I have food journaled a plethora of ways: paper, spreadsheet, email, twitter, instagram. All work great but if I’m bored with the technique then I tend to start slipping. Sometimes simply changing my method re-energizes and motivates me.It works for my current situation. Each one of the methods I listed above was born out of necessity. When I taught at the community college emailing was perfect because I was always on a computer but  never MY computer. When I worked in an office, a spreadsheet was perfect as I was on the same computer all day. Twitter and Instragram are perfect when you’re on the go, but now they feel like overkill being home. When I’m with the kids, I’m home. When I’m working, I’m home. It’s super easy for me to have a paper and pencil on the counter ready to jot something down and pre-plan in the morning. Speaking of…Makes daily pre-planning easy. When I initially changed my diet and lost 70lbs I would take 5 minutes every morning to plan dinner, make my lunch and jot everything down all while eating breakfast. I found comfort in knowing what I would be eating later in the day. It took the guess work out of it and made it easy to stick to my own daily plan. You may notice dinner listed at the top above. Pre-planning daily has always worked for me. I want the accountability but not stress. If you haven’t noticed, I share a LOT online, and for a long time I posted food journals. More recently I’ve been using instagram, but publicly posting adds more pressure for me. Self-imposed but still very real. I know food journaling works, I like to do it, but I don’t want to worry about snapping the perfect photo or making a bowl of cereal look pretty. I still plan on snapping food photos because I’m a geek, but it won’t be my main form of journaling.I want to reach my goal and I KNOW this works. I know losing “the last 5 lbs” isn’t my most popular goal but that doesn’t change the fact I want to reach it. I refuse to do anything drastic or unhealthy to get there. My philosophy hasn’t changed since the day I started this blog: If I’m going to lose weight I have to do it on my terms, eating things I want to eat, exercising the way I want to exercise and enjoying every step of the journey. Food journaling was a huge part of my success. It’s a simple way for me to be accountable and, well, I know it works.

What’s your thoughts on the food journal? Do you keep one? How?

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