Guest Post – Get Fit for 2012

By Nikki Wetherell from Fit & Fabulous Maternity.

It's always hard to juggle motherhood and being & feeling "you". Yet it is possible with a little bit of juggling and putting yourself on the "list of things to do" As a mummy it's natural to put everyone else first. It's what we are good at but you’re important too. If you feel good and happy about yourself everything else seems to run along much more smoothly as you will be naturally less stressed.

I am sure many of you have new year's resolutions about having some "me time" or losing weight and toning up among many other things. How about not making it a resolution that is inevitably going to be broken but decide to make a permanent lifestyle change for the good of you and your family. 

It doesn't have to cost loads of money, require baby sitters or loads of time. It's about making small but manageable changes.

There are many ways you can keep fit for free or next to nothing.

Here are a few tips to get you started in the new year.

• Set yourself long, medium and short achievable goals.
• Prevent injury my making sure you warm up, cool down and stretch.
• You Could buy an exercise band that you can do many exercises with and work the entire body, they are very small and will fit in your bag.
• Working out at home will fit in easily with the children, you could even get them to join in. Perhaps doing a DVD. My kids love joining me to do some press ups sit ups and stretches with when I come back from a run.
• Get some music on and all jump around dancing for half an hour.
• You could start to go jogging. Before I became a fitness instructor I lost nearly 4st. I couldn’t even run for 1 minute at the beginning but built it up slowly and after 18 months managed to run six and a half miles.
• Perhaps you could pair up with a friend and take it in turns to look after each other's children whilst you each for a work out.
• Alternatively take the children out with you. Go on long walks at the weekends or have a kick around the park.

For improved health aim to be active for half an hour each day. This can be doing anything at a moderate pace. Limit the amount of saturate fats you're eating and get those five fruit and vegetables per day and don’t forget drink plenty of water. I am often guilty of getting to the end of a busy day and realising I have only had a cup of tea. Being hydrated in very important part of your health

To lose weight and improve fitness you need to aim to do twenty minutes to an hour of high intensity exercise of your choice three to five days per week.

If you need any advice or information about how I lost weight and got fit feel free to contact me though my website. Your local sports centre or gym will also be able to offer you plenty of help and advice.

Getting fit and healthy isn’t necessarily going to be easy, it’s a physical and mental challenge but you will be so proud of yourself and your achievements when you reach your goals and feel fabulous.

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