At the start of the New Year we often make resolutions to better ourselves. We make the decision to be healthier or stress less. Whatever it might be it’s sometimes hard to stay true to them after January 1^st. Here are some tips to stay true to your resolutions.

Remind Yourself:

Make sure that you remind yourself of the goals you set for yourself. Whether that be with post-it notes around the house or starting your day with the reminder of the goals you set.

Throw Away Excuses:

Stop making excuses, that it’s too hard or too difficult to do. Make sure that you push away your excuses and just do it. Start talking yourself into new things instead of out of them.

Make Way:

Set yourself up for a win by making decisions that’ll push you forward and not backward. If you choose to eat healthier, make a plan as to how you will. If you want to stress less, remove things that stress from your life.

Whatever your New Years resolutions are make sure that you stick to them but also give yourself room to make mistakes. You don’t have to do it perfectly, all you have to do is make progress.

For many mums it’s so hard to juggle family and work, let alone healthy living. Often, between changing nappies or getting the kids ready for school you can forget to focus on yourself. The good news is that there’s ways to juggle it all. 

The first thing to do is to manage your eating. Dropping the bad snacks and keeping some carrot or celery sticks on hand that way you don’t resort to unhealthy foods. Planning your meals along with the meals your feeding the kids.

Healthy eating along with a good amount of exercise is the key to losing the baby weight. A great way to fit in exercise is to do it while you’re doing other things. Do some steps while you do your laundry or jump on the Lifeback2 while you spend your down time watching TV. You can also grab the kids and take them along with you. Get them on bikes while you walk the pram.

You just need to prioritize your health as well as your kids. Your kids need a healthy mum and a healthy mum can do so much more. Don’t feel bad if you don’t get it all done, you don’t always have to be supermum.

There are so many variables that go into losing weight and becoming fitter.

A few tips that can help if you struggle with this area are heading your way.

• 1.Try having smaller portions; sometimes you only eat it because it’s there. Cook up your food and serve yourself a smaller size than you normally would and if you’re still hungry then go back for seconds.
• 2.Don’t eat when you’re bored. A lot of people confuse hunger for boredom. Make sure before you head to the pantry you assess if you’re really hungry or if you’re just bored.
• 3.Get the right shoes. Your whole body relies on your feet so make sure they’re comfortable. You can get back, knee and many other problems if you don’t make sure your feet are taken care of.
• 4.Put in the effort ahead of time. Pay for your trainer or equipment ahead of time to keep yourself motivated. You’ll know when that money leaves your account that you need to be doing something.

Keep yourself motivated and see if any of these tips help you but most of all, find out what works for you. There’s no use doing something that doesn’t work for you just because it works for someone else. Do what works for you.

Summer is hot; especially in sunny Australia, and in summer we can often lack the motivation to stay healthy. The heat can drain you of all energy and that can lead to making poor and unhealthy decisions. Here are some things to do when it heats up:

Avoid the junk: Over the holidays it’s so tempting to go for the easier option of fast food but it’s not the healthiest choice. Try your hardest to avoid processed and high sugar foods. Take the time to make snacks that you won’t mind eating when the weather heats up. Freeze some oranges or make yoghurt bark.

Stick to clean and fresh: One of the good things about summer is BBQs, it’s a great excuse to get some meat on the grill and toss up a nice salad. You can also add some nuts and seeds into your salad so that you can add a little crunch and get some goodness into your party.

Relax; Make sure you take time out for yourself and relax. Summer gets hard and really hot so it’s important to take time to wind down. Work out and get fit but make sure you don’t over do it.

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate: One of the best things you can do during summer is to hydrate yourself. Water gives you energy, helps avoid headaches and cleanse your body. It’s especially important to make sure you’re having enough water during summer time, so make sure you grab a water bottle and fill it up regularly.

If you have anything else you do during summer don’t hesitate to share. We can all use some help during this hot time of year.

Have you ever been scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and seen the perfect body and its gotten you down. You look down at yourself and can’t help but feel disappointed.

Social media is an amazing tool for many different reasons but it can also be deceiving. The perfect body of the perfect life that you see someone else living isn’t necessarily all it appears to be.

Several different Instagram users have debunked what we see and the real reality. If you ever get the chance, have a look at these users:

@annavictoria

@jenwiderstrom

@emilyskyefit

@plankingforpizza

…And there’s many more. These ladies have all shown that good lighting, the right posture and a filter can change the way someone looks. There are also other users who have come out and said that Instagram isn’t reality. The photos you see are posed and set nicely which make it hard to measure up.

The whole point of this is to say any work you do it good work. Don’t be disheartened by lack of progress or women you see on Instagram because it’s not entirely real. Do you, take it a day at a time and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Focus on you.

When you’ve just had a long day at work or can’t really be bothered to cook it’s easy to reach for the Cheezels or Malteasers but there are other, easier and much healthier options. It doesn’t have to be a chore to make snacks.

Grab a piece of fruit. An apple or a banana is healthy and absolutely no prep needed. You can also pre cut up fruits like watermelon or pineapple and keep them in the fridge for an easy snack.

Or, if you’re not a fruity person, you can have some vegetables. Cut up some capsicum, cucumber or carrot. Super easy to cut up and easy to snack on.

Another great snack is nuts. Almonds are great because they’re full or protein and ward off hunger. Try to avoid salted or sugar coated nuts that won’t help your health.

Kale chips. Super easy to make, all you need to do is break away the stems, add some olive oil and salt and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.

And finally, a smoothie. Smoothies are a great way to fill yourself up and still be healthy. Add some of your favourite fruits and milk to create something that’ll tide you over.

There are always options when you’re trying to be healthy. Give these a go and see how much better it is for you.

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Summer is coming and with summer comes scorching heat, which makes working out less than appealing. If you’re not someone who loves getting up at the crack of dawn to beat the sun then you should jump in the pool.

It’s a great way to cool down and still keep yourself fit. Even if you don’t have a pool, head down to the nearest one and gives these exercises a go.

Using a pool is especially good if you have injured yourself or are pregnant. It also stops you from overusing your joints and prevents injuries.

You can always stick to the good old swimming laps but if you ever get bored or just simply don’t like swimming laps, here are some exercises you can do.

• 1.Jog. Do as you would if you were to jog anywhere.
• 2.Tread water. Head to the deep end and see how long you can last, just treading water. If you want something harder, hold your arms under you armpits.
• 3.Push up. Place your hand on the outside of the pool and push your body out of the water to work your abs.
• 4.Grab a noodle. Place the noodle between your legs and ride it like a bike.

With summer coming, these are great options to cool down and still get a workout in.

A foam roller probably isn’t something you often think about, but it can have great benefits. If you don’t already know, a foam roller is a cylindrical piece of foam that can be found in most gyms.

A foam roller can be used for many things but its mainly used to loosen up your muscles. It is a soft tissue therapy, which involves working the muscles repeatedly through massage.

To do it, you simply have to place the roller on the ground and roll your body over the desired area, to begin working the muscles. It might be painful to begin with, but after time you’ll see results.

There are different types of foam rollers that can be used for different reasons. They come in a various colours depending on the intensity you want for your massage. For example, the white foam rollers give you a soft massage and blue or green gives you a medium level.

Why use a foam roller?

• Gets rid of aches and pains
• Helps you sleep
• Loosens muscles to give you energy
• Reduces the risk of injury during workouts
• Boosts your immune system
• Increases agility and flexibility
• Improves muscle imbalances

Foam rollers have many benefits and they are great to use before or after a workout.