I find one of the most interesting things to read on blogs is how people eat and move throughout their day. There are often little gems and ideas to be found, like a new recipe, a different way to organize your day or a meal prep idea I hadn’t thought of. And since this is one of the few aspects of adulting that I think I have, like seriously, mastered, I figured I’d share what I do, with all of you. Keep an eye out, ‘cause I’ll try to post one of these “day in the life” records regularly.
As a new mom, eating well and getting regular exercise can be really challenging. I didn’t realize how much that was true until my little man was here. I mean, I have always prioritized healthy eating and movement, so how hard could it be? Well, some days I don’t know where the time goes. It feels like we wake up for the day and then all of a sudden it’s 5pm and I’ve only just managed to change out of my pajamas. When your little one nurses every 2 hours (sometimes more), and needs to be helped to sleep 4 times per day, and most of the rest of the time is spent playing with him to encourage healthy development, there isn’t much time left for anything else.
I’m lucky that my partner (the Kinesiologist) works from home about 50% of the time, so I sometimes have an extra pair of hands (or eyes) so I can shower, eat, and even get to the gym. Even still, it took some effort to get back into a regular routine and system to ensure I was able to prioritize my own health as well as my baby’s.
So what do I do? Food prep, food prep, food prep! A couple of times a week, either with baby playing on the floor at my feet, wearing him in his sling, or playing with daddy. I eat while he’s sleeping (since food is usually ready to go), and I do quicky workouts while he sleeps, yoga with him, or gym while daddy is home. I don’t workout as much as I used to, but I make do. All in all, I feel good and life is beginning to return to normal.
Here is an example of a Friday. The Kinesiologist had an appointment first thing in the morning, then he was working from home the rest of the day, so I had a bit more flexibility.
8am – Wake up, change baby, get him settled on his play mat for some independent play.
I do last nights’ dishes while I boil water for coffee. Baby is sensitive to caffeine so I usually drink a coffee that is half regular, half decaf. Hubby has already made regular coffee in the machine, so I make my decaf in the French press.
8:30 – Sit down with my coffee (with 2 tablespoons full fat coconut milk and 1 teaspoon maple syrup) and Baby A. The intention was to drink my coffee while baby nurses, but he is 5 months and interested in everything around him, including hot coffee cups. So, the coffee is put down again until he finishes.
9:00 – Baby A is playing on the floor, so I sit next to him and sip my coffee and eat a couple of baby carrots. I’ll eat breakfast in a few minutes when he goes down for nap #1.
10:00 – Baby is asleep and mamma gets to eat! I throw together a quick bowl of kale, shredded beef roast and salsa, and finish my coffee finally. This quick meal took me less than 2 minutes to put together, because, food prep. The other day I cooked a pot roast in the slow cooker with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, and also prepped a whole head of kale – chopped it up and massaged it with lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Stored in the fridge, it’s ready to eat whenever I need it. Finished my meal with a banana.
11:45 – Green smoothie downed quickly as I get ready for Crossfit. This one had kiwi, banana, ground flax, coconut milk and vegan vanilla protein powder (since Baby A is sensitive to all dairy, I have to keep it out of my diet).
12:15 – Workout time! Since The Kinesiologist is home for the rest of the day, I’m headed to the lunchtime workout at my box. This is my second Crossfit workout back since I had the baby. Up until a week ago, I’d been strictly lifting weights at the gym, slow and steady. I’m finally feeling ready to add some conditioning work, so back to Crossfit I go! Today’s workout was a good one:
- Strength: 4 rounds
- 6x heavy bench press (I used 65lb. Wasn’t feeling ready to go much heavier.)
- 12x double kettlebell swings (I used two 8lb bells)
- Metcon: Benchmark Workout! 3 rounds Michael
- 400m run
- 30 weighted good mornings (15lb)
- 30 weighted situps (10lb)
I modified the heck out of this one and ended up with what you see above, but it was a good little workout nonetheless.
2:00 – Came home to a crying, teething baby, so I quickly forgot how hungry I was. Ate a cashew Lara Bar.
3:15 – My partner took a try at getting Baby A to fall asleep and I took the opportunity to ram some cashews, walnuts, cranberries and coconut manna down my throat. Lots of fat and a bit of carbs to keep me going. We’ve eaten all the prepped foods! Once the baby goes down I’ll cook some stuff up.
6:30 – Baby A is in bed for the night and supper is on the table. We are pretty low on groceries so I whipped together: a mushroom and canned salmon omelet, with a side of sauerkraut and steamed sweet potato. Coconut oil on my sweet potato and butter on The Kinesiologist’s. Oh, how I miss butter…
7:00 – Baby wakes up, cranky as can be (thanks, teething)… and we spend the rest of our evening trying to get him back to sleep with no luck.
9:00 – I had plans to make Swedish chocolate balls for a healthy dessert, but a cranky baby made that impossible. Instead I drink a mug of chicken bone broth and have another couple of spoonfuls of coconut manna.
So that’s a day of nourishment and movement for this new mamma. A little light on calories and protein, but I’ll make up the difference tomorrow. I don’t subscribe much to the X amount of calories, carbs, fats and protein per day theory. I have a target range, sure, but I don’t sweat it if some days are off kilter a bit. The important thing is to make sure your nutrition balances out over the week. Incidentally, this is exactly what babies do, intuitively, when they start eating solid foods! They’re smart little nuggets, those babies!
