Getting regular exercise is very important to me and unfortunately it has been the one thing I have neglected in my life since falling pregnant and becoming a mom. I am done with the excuses now and I am ready to get back to getting some exercise in my life. I’ve had to change my strategy though because of some life changes such as: I have very limited time to myself and we have moved house so I don’t have the luxury of living across the road from a park anymore. I have come up with new plans to help me get my backside moving and to become overall fit and strong again.

Early morning workouts
My newest thing is to workout in the morning before work, this is when the house is the most quietest and I can do my thing in peace. I’ve decided that I don’t want to drive out of the house to go to gym/run but instead I have opted for in-home workouts. This is where YouTube came in where I found a load of 30 minute workouts of varying intensities, I prefer dance workouts because I find these so much fun. I am currently aiming for 2 workouts a week, it hasn’t been easy but I am powering through until it becomes second nature to me and I can increase the number of workouts per week.

Getting my steps per day
I recently bought a FitBit Charge 2 and it has been instrumental in getting me to get my butt moving. I use the step tracker to tally my daily steps, even though my job is 60% desk bound I do try to get in a minimum of 5000 steps per day (hello Discovery Vitality Rewards points). My BFF and I also challenge each other to see who has the most steps a week, so I am always kept on my toes. Some of the ways in which I get my steps in: I use the stairs instead of the lift/escalator, I park my car as far as I can from my office and I break up tasks into individuals instead of multi-tasking… it’s not very efficient but it gets the job done.

Doing a park run on Saturday
My preference is to exercise outside in nature and ParkRuns help me to do that, so I try to do them as much as I can. If I am taking my baby girl with me I go for the NorthBeach ParkRun and if I’m by myself I go to the KwaMashu ParkRun because it is not pram-friendly but I enjoy the route. My most favourite things about ParkRuns is that I am forced to start my day early on a Saturday and I get a 5km walk/run which leaves me energised for the rest of the day.

Toddler-robics
As a mother to a 16 month old I am always been kept on my toes. Mpilo has me running after her, picking up her toys all day long. On a regular basis, we go for a short walk in the morning before I go to work and I chase her around the living room just for fun, she loves being chased – it helps her to practice her walking/running skills and helps me to get some exercise.

This is how I manage to get moving on a daily basis. I am always aware that things do change and sometimes I don’t manage to get in 5000 steps or to go for a ParkRun but I quickly forgive myself and strive to do better the next day.