Don’t scoff, that’s what a recent study done by an exercise physiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Apparently, when you get married – your workout habits are not likely to change, but when you become a parent, they change significantly. Now, don’t get upset – those of us who are parents recognize that this is a problem.
Most moms struggle with the pregnancy weight and after one or more children, that struggle becomes omnipresent in their lives. As a new parent, you probably feel like you’re on the go, all the time. You barely sleep. You are being pulled in several different directions. As the parent of one or more, you are always on the go whether it’s taking kids to their activities or running them to and from school, trying to work and more.
As a mom, you learn the very first rule of motherhood – you come last. Everything you do, you do for your kids and then for your spouse. Your workouts go away because that is time you could be spending taking care of something for your kids or snatching that extra elusive hour of sleep. You overcompensate, you drink a lot of coffee and you push yourself to your limits – until your body pushes back.
You struggle with weight that won’t come off. Your immune system gets weaker and it seems like you’ve always got a cold. What happens when Mom has a cold and everyone else does too? That’s right, Mom ignores herself and takes care of everyone else – usually making her own cold worse in the long run.
The study done by the University of Pittsburgh just illustrates this point. They followed 843 men and women with an average age of 24 for 2 years. They found that the physical activity declined for all of the participants, but the group that took the biggest hit was the new parents.
For example, they found that:
- Childless men lost about 50 minutes a week over that two years compared to their new father counterparts who lost as much as 4.5 hours per week
- Childless women lost about 20 minutes a week over that two years compared to their new mother counterparts who lost about 1 hour and 20 minutes
That’s a big difference. So Moms, Dads – it’s time to pay attention and remember that taking care of your family and your kids is important. But taking care of you is vital to making the first happen. If you’re not healthy, if you’re not happy – you’re not going to be performing at your peak or doing your best for your family.
Life changes after we become parents. We’re far more pressed for time. We know where we need to be and we know what we need to be doing. But don’t erase yourself from the equation – you need your fitness and your kids need you to be fit. So don’t let your fitness take the biggest hit and don’t assume just because you become a parent it means you’re going to end up sedentary. Make time for you – it’s time your whole family will thank you for.
How do you make time for your fitness goals?