The Busy Mom's Survival Guide to Staying Consistent (When the Newborn Stage Is Over)

 

Hey hey beautiful human! This one is for the mom who made it through the newborn stage, finally feels like herself again, and is still somehow struggling to stay consistent with her health and fitness.

Because here is what nobody tells you. The school age years are their own kind of hard. Your schedule is no longer just yours to manage. It is dictated by school start times, pickup windows, sick days, and a never ending stream of things that need your attention right now. And the strategies that worked before kids, or even in early postpartum, were never designed for this season.

So if you have been blaming your discipline, stop. This is not a you problem. It is a season problem. And in this episode I am giving you three practical systems for staying consistent when your schedule belongs almost entirely to everyone else.

What's Discussed:

  • Why this is a season problem and not a discipline problem

  • The definition of consistency that is making women in this season feel like they are failing when they are actually not

  • How to anchor your workout to something that already exists in your day

  • Why shrinking your workout before skipping it changes everything

  • Why the movement that does not look like a workout counts more than you think

  • What to take away from today and how to stop letting a disrupted week convince you to quit

Ready to find a program that makes it easy to show up consistently even on the weeks when life is full? Head to movementwithjulie.com to get started inside the Movement With Julie app. 

If you loved this episode, you'll also love: Episode 516: The Do’s and Don’ts of Nourishing Your Body Postpartum. It pairs perfectly with everything we covered today.

If you want more from me, be sure to check out… 

Website: www.juliealedbetter.com

Transcript

(0:00) Hey, hey beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, (0:06) but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Reel with me, Julie Ledbetter.

(0:13) I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honouring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. (0:19) Stay tuned if you're ready to Embrace Your Reel. Let's get it, let's go.

(0:24) Hello, and welcome back to the Embrace Your Reel podcast. Today's bonus episode is for a very specific woman. (0:37) And if this is you, I want you to know that I see you completely.

You are past the newborn stage, (0:42) you are out of the postpartum fog, nobody is waking you up every two hours anymore, (0:47) and your body is yours again, at least in theory. But somehow staying consistent with your health (0:52) and fitness still feels as hard as it did in those early months, maybe even harder, because (0:57) now the chaos is a different kind of relentless. Maybe you've got school pickups or drop-offs (1:02) after school activities, and that somehow just takes up every weekday evening, homework that (1:08) needs supervising, meals that need making, a household that needs running.

And somewhere (1:13) in the middle of all that, you're supposed to find time to work out, to eat well, (1:17) to take care of yourself. And most days that just doesn't happen. In today's bonus episode (1:21) of Embrace Your Reel, I want to give you a practical survival guide for staying consistent (1:27) when your schedule belongs almost entirely to everyone else.

And we're just going to dive (1:31) right into it. So first, I just want to validate something because I think a lot of (1:36) women in this season beat themselves up for not being able to make the same things work (1:40) that they used to work. And I know that you need to hear this, like the strategies that (1:44) worked pre-kids, or even in early postpartum, are genuinely not designed for the season that (1:49) you're in right now.

Before kids, you had autonomy over your entire time. Like you could (1:54) schedule a workout and actually do it. And you could schedule a workout literally in the (1:58) middle of the day, and nothing would hinder you from actually getting it done.

In early (2:03) postpartum, the challenge was like physical recovery and sleep deprivation. Hard, but at (2:08) least somewhat kind of predictable once you found a rhythm. But the school age years, (2:12) this is a completely different beast.

Like your schedule is no longer just yours to manage. (2:17) It's dictated by school start times, pickup windows, activity schedules, (2:21) sick days, school holidays, a never-ending stream of just things that need your attention right now. (2:27) And the window for a workout can just disappear in an instant.

Plans fall apart constantly, (2:32) and the mental load of just managing everyone else's lives on top of your own is exhausting (2:37) in a way that's hard to even explain. So if the 5am workout schedule stopped working, (2:42) or the lunchtime gym trip just became impossible, or the evening session that (2:46) just keeps getting swallowed by dinner and bedtime routines, that is not a discipline (2:50) problem, this is a season problem. And it calls for, in my opinion, a completely different approach.

(2:56) Before we get into the practical strategies, I want to challenge the definition of consistency (3:01) that most of us are holding onto because I think that that's the thing that many women in this (3:06) season feel like they're failing when they're actually not. So consistency doesn't mean the (3:10) same workout at the same time every single day. That version of consistency is a fantasy (3:16) for most moms of school-aged kids, and chasing it is what leads to this all-or-nothing spiral.

(3:21) Like you miss one session because someone got sick and suddenly the whole week just feels (3:26) like a failure. Real consistency in this season looks like this. You just keep coming back.

(3:31) Not perfectly, not on a rigid schedule, but you just keep showing up whatever way you can, (3:36) as often as you can, and you stop letting a disrupted week convince you to quit altogether. (3:40) Three workouts one week and one workout the next is still consistency. It's still progress.

It's still (3:46) so much better than nothing. And when you release the idea that it has to look a certain way to (3:51) count, everything becomes possible again. Okay, so let's actually get into the strategies because (3:57) validation is a great, but I know that you came here for practical help too.

So (4:02) system one is to really anchor your workout to something that already exists in your day. (4:06) So stop trying to find like a free block of time in our schedule, because in this season, (4:11) free blocks of time don't really exist. So instead, I want you to attach your workout (4:15) to something that already happens every day.

So the school drop off, your lunch break, (4:20) the hour before school pickup, the moment the kids go to bed, pick one anchor and really (4:24) try to protect it. Not every day is going to work. Sick days, school, school events, (4:29) life will still get in the way, but having an anchor means you have some sort of default.

(4:34) You're not starting from scratch every morning trying to figure out when you're going to fit (4:38) it in. You already know. System number two is to shrink the workout before you skip it.

So (4:43) this mindset shift will change everything for you. I'm telling you on the days when your anchor (4:49) gets disrupted and you only have 20 minutes or 15 or even 10 minutes, do something, anything, (4:55) a shortened version of your workout, a quick walk, 10 minutes of movement in your living room, (4:59) not because it's the same as a full session, but because it keeps the habit alive. The woman who (5:06) does a 15 minute workout on a chaotic Tuesday is not behind the woman who waited for a perfect hour (5:12) that never came.

She's miles ahead. And this is exactly why having like a 30 minute option (5:18) built in is such a game changer in this season. You don't have to modify or figure out a shorter (5:23) version yourself.

It's already there. And that's exactly why I have a 60 minute and a 30 minute (5:28) option inside my Moot with Julie community. So on the days when time is tight, you still have (5:35) something that is ready to go, that's structured, effective, and actually worth showing up.

This is (5:39) also why I structure the 30 minute workouts the way that I do. So they're actually a giant circuit (5:45) instead of like super sets and single exercises and circuits like the normal 60 minute workout. (5:51) The reason I do a giant circuit is because you might not even have time to do three rounds of (5:56) that giant circuit.

You might only have time to do one round. And if that's the case, that is still (6:01) better than nothing because you're still going to be hitting all of the major muscle groups in that (6:06) giant circuit. So I always tell women, if you can't do all three rounds of that 30 minute (6:10) giant circuit, start with one, one or two.

That's still incredible. If you want to learn more, (6:17) you can go to the link in the show notes. And if you're a brand new subscriber, you get 50% (6:21) off your first month.

If you are a returning subscriber and you want to get four months free, (6:26) I do have an annual sale going on as well right now. System number three, count the movement that (6:31) doesn't look like a workout. So this one is important and I don't want you to skip over it.

(6:35) The walk to school pickup, running around the park with your kids, carrying groceries, (6:39) a dance party in the kitchen while you make dinner. None of these replace a structured (6:43) workout, but they all count towards how active you are in a day. And in a season where structured (6:48) workouts are genuinely hard to fit in, they matter more than we give them credit for.

So (6:54) it doesn't look like a structured workout or exercise. Your body doesn't know the difference (6:59) between a gym session, a workout session, and a very active afternoon with your kids. Movement (7:04) is movement.

And on the weeks when life truly is just relentless, giving yourself credit (7:10) for the movement that you are getting instead of only focussing on what you didn't do is what keeps (7:15) you from throwing in the towel entirely. So here's what I want you to take away from today. (7:19) This season that you're in is genuinely demanding and that's, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, (7:24) and the fact that consistency is hard right now is not a reflection of your commitment or your (7:29) character.

It's just the reality of this chapter of life. So I want you to reframe what consistent (7:34) means. It's coming back, not being perfect.

Anchor your workouts to something that already (7:40) exists in your day. Shrink before you skip and count the movement. That doesn't look like a (7:45) workout because it all adds up.

You're not behind. You're not failing. You are a woman (7:50) doing an incredible amount for the people that you love and you deserve to take care of yourself (7:55) too, even if it looks a little different right now in this season.

If this episode was helpful (7:59) for you, I also think that you'll love episode five 27, how to squeeze in workouts, real advice (8:05) from busy moms and working women. I'll link that in the show notes. And if you're looking for a (8:10) programme that makes it easy to show up consistently, even on the weeks when life is full and time (8:14) is tight, the movement with Julie community is built exactly for that 30 minute workouts, (8:19) new workouts every single week, a community of women who genuinely cheer each other on all (8:23) you need is a few pair of dumbbells in a small space.

You don't even have to go to the gym. You (8:27) genuinely can do it anywhere in your house. I see people do it in their spare bedroom, (8:31) in their living room, in their basement, on their deck, in their garage, wherever you have, (8:36) just a small corner and a few pair of dumbbells you can get an amazing workout in.

Make sure you (8:42) are also following the show on Apple podcast or Spotify so that you never miss an episode. (8:46) We release them on Monday and Thursdays. And if this resonated with you, a quick review (8:50) genuinely helps so many more women find this show.

All right. That is all that I have for today's (8:55) episode. You've got this even on the hard weeks.

I love you so much. I need it. I'll talk to you (9:00) in the next one.

All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that (9:14) I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gramme, be sure to do (9:19) so. Julie A. Ledbetter.

Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post-workout real talk, (9:25) healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. (9:30) The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple podcast to never miss an episode. (9:35) Thank you so much for joining me.

It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you (9:40) with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are (9:45) completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves.

Remember that beauty (9:52) goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace a real because you're worth it.

 
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