Ok mommas, we all know that back to school time can be crazy. You might be running around chaotically trying to get back in a routine. You might have your entire family going in different directions each day. You’re trying your best to make sure everyone has what they need, when they need it, for whatever they’re doing that day. As a homeschool mom, all the planning and organizing and getting ready for the year is happening, and we are the momma + teacher, all day, everyday. And as exciting as it can be, it can also be overwhelming and cause us to really get off track with our health.

It’s super tempting to want to order takeout or grab some drive-thru food on the go. It can be really difficult to muster up the energy to get to the gym, do our home workouts, or go for a run. Even if we ENJOY fitness and being active, those activities require ENERGY, and we get depleted of it by everything else going on and a lack of proper nutrition.

But here’s my #1 tip…

KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Make your healthy lifestyle as simple and uncomplicated as necessary to fit into your lifestyle. If you’re running around like a madwoman trying to keep everyone and everything together, now is probably not the season in your life to be making gourmet healthy dinners that look like they came from a fancy restaurant. Although the internet is full of “easy” healthy recipes that take 20 ingredients (15 of which you’ve never even heard of), forget all of that. Stick with what you know. Keep it simple. Here are a few more tips to help you if you’re stuck…

1. Create a weekly meal plan and STICK TO IT

Might sound like more work at first, but I promise you… if you spend 15 minutes creating a meal plan that works for you and your family, you’ll end up saving yourself a lot of time (and money) in the end.

      2.  Buy prepackaged, or super easy to prep, healthy snacks

No, I do NOT mean those 100 calorie packs of cookies. I’m talking about baby carrots and individual hummus packets. Fruits that you can easily grab and go with (apples, bananas, baggies of grapes, etc). Make little packs of prewashed veggies and cubed cheese. Grab some packs of dried fruit or trail mix (the ones with no chocolate candies… even though I’d prefer to be able to eat those all the time!). Get a healthy protein shake (check the ingredients to make sure it’s not full of garbage) that you can grab and drink on the go. There are SO many simple healthy options that don’t require a lot of time. 

      3.  Prep on the weekends

You don’t have to spend the entire weekend cooking (And you shouldn’t! You need time to relax!). If you take just a couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday to prep ahead for the week, it can save you a lot of time and energy on weekday evenings. Here are some really easy prep ahead items:

• Wash and cut up any fruits or veggies that are not pre-washed or cut already
• Throw a bunch of chicken on the grill or in the oven
• Sweet potatoes (wash and bake 1 hour at 400 degrees… no peeling or cutting)
• Quinoa or rice (can be eaten alone or mixed with other things)
• Spaghetti sauce (saute some frozen pre-cut onions and peppers with garlic, add a jar of sauce, add cooked meat if you prefer, and throw it in your fridge or freezer so all you have to do is boil noodles when you’re ready to eat it)
• Chili
• Salad! Have your veggies ready to throw together and you can have a salad ready in 5 minutes (great for lunch!)

      4.  Schedule in your workouts

Treat them like they’re meetings with your boss, or a date with your significant other. You wouldn’t blow them off, so don’t blow yourself off. If you schedule it in, SHOW UP. And if you only have 30 minutes, find a 30 minute workout that you enjoy doing. If you prefer getting out of the house to workout and you have the time and resources, go for it. If you don’t, there are many workouts you can do from home (aside from running, home workouts are the only workouts I do). Dance, run, lift weights, do some insane cardio in your living room… just DO IT! (I love Nike for that saying)

AND LAST…

But CERTAINLY not least… don’t forget in the midst of all the chaos and trying to take care of everybody, that you are a priority too. Yes, you. You need to fill your cup in order to be able to pour into others. You need to use your oxygen mask before you can fully help anyone else. Life is crazy, and chaotic, and that is never going to change. But we can better handle it if we are taking care of ourselves and functioning at our best health.

You can’t give your family 100% if you’re not at your 100%. And taking care of yourself is taking care of the mother of your children (my momma taught me that one). If you want them to be taken care of as best as possible, you need to be taken care of as well in order to be able to do it.

We have been assigned the greatest responsibility ever… raising tiny humans created by a God who has a plan and purpose for their life. That’s pretty huge. So let’s do this mommas. 😉 We’re all in this together!