Give yourself permission to take “You Time” and get in shape

This is a guest post from Kristin, a busy mom with two young boys. She is also a personal trainer who offers virtual training over at Virtual Fitness. You can get fully customized (and affordable) nutrition & workout programs designed to help you achieve optimum results. It would make the perfect gift for yourself or someone you love this holiday season! Email Kristin at KLMastre@gmail.com for more details and pricing.

As a personal trainer, I hear every excuse in the book from my clients as to why they skip their workouts. The most frequently used is “I don’t have time”. Before I had kids, I used to hear this all the time from mothers and often wondered “how do you not have time?”. Now as a mother of two small boys, I’m eating my words. I know all too well how difficult it is to juggle family life, work life and personal life all the while trying to make time for a workout. I still stick by my old adage that you have to make time but since my second son was born, I realized why it’s so difficult for moms to get that workout in and how to overcome that obstacle.

Moms are the most selfless people. We take care of our homes, obligations and families way before we take care of ourselves. Many of us try to be Super Moms and do it all, often forgetting the most important person to take care of – You! I think we tend to forget to make “You Time” because we feel guilty if we do. Shortly after my baby was born and we thought he had colic, I know I felt guilty for going to the gym and often decided to stay at home to attempt to comfort his constant cries. I felt like I just couldn’t find the time to go workout.

Fortunately, I have a supportive husband when it comes to helping me find my motivation to workout. After he came home from work, he would almost push me out of the door to go to the gym while he took over and tried his hand at being the baby whisperer while wrangling our 2 year old at the same time. At first I felt horrible for not only leaving my husband to do the parenting for a couple of hours, but I would come back to find that the baby still upset from when I left. This made me want to stay home even more but my husband never stopped urging me to workout. I was almost offended at his attempts thinking that he just wanted me out of the house. He knows me and knows how important my gym time is to me even if I sometimes don’t know it myself. One day it clicked:

I have to let go. I have to give myself permission to take time for myself.

Once I gave myself permission to workout, I went to the gym guilt-free. I knew my kids were fine with their Dad. Sure, my baby was probably crying, but he was being taken care of and loved. Soon, I began making the time to workout every night after the kids were in bed and leaving the baby duty to my husband. Not only was I able to workout guilt-free, but I was able to leave the gym feeling like a million bucks from the intense routines I was able to do. Each night I was getting closer to reaching my fitness goal and coming home home revitalized and feeling like a new woman.

So, the secret I found to finding the time to workout is to let some things go. Let the dishes sit in the sink a little while longer. Let Dad take care of the kids for a couple of hours. Give yourself permission to focus on You.

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