Maintaining a healthy lifestyle when juggling two kids and full-time jobs

When your hands are full with two kids and a full-time job, how do you create a sustainable routine for your family that promotes mind and body health and does not come with too many sacrifices?

Over the last 3.5 years after the birth of our first daughter we managed to create a sustainable healthy routine for our family of 3.  We were able to have time to do things we loved as a family, as well as individual activities or hobbies, such as exercising, personal development, meeting with friends, travel, etc. After our second daughter was born last December, we had to adjust a bit. And with some planning and effort, we again started exercising regularly, continued cooking and eating healthy meals, spent quality time together and had some time for ourselves.

Then about a month ago I went back to work after a 4-month maternity leave. At that point we realized that our day-to-day routine as a family with two full-time working parents and two kids needed a little shakeup in order for us to be able to maintain the lifestyle we were used to. Here I'm going to share some tips that have been helpful for our family so far.

Remember, though, that whatever routine you develop, you shouldn't expect it to fit your lifestyle forever. As your family and interests evolve and kids grow up, you will need to make adjustments. But even if it makes your life easier for a few months, it is already a big win.

Exercise

1. With your partner or other family members, create opportunities for each other to exercise. For example, pick a few time slots in the week when one of the family members watches the kids while the other one can exercise.
2. Provide support by encouraging each other to workout, focusing on how great the person will feel afterwards. Every workout brings you a step closer to your final goal!
3. Exercise early in the morning. If you do it in the morning, you are done for the day and don't have to think about it anymore! Even if you are not a morning person, this is a habit that can be developed. When you have kids, there are always unexpected and unplanned things that can come up later in the day. And the more you have on your plate, the more tired you get and less likely you are to exercise later.
4. If for any reason going to the gym to exercise is not an option, find a structured exercise program that works for you and that you can commit to. For example, after both pregnancies I committed to the 60-day BeachBody Insanity program. I couldn't yet figure out the best routine where I could regularly go to the gym. But I could manage to wake up at 5:45 am and do Insanity workouts while kids were still sleeping. In reality, however, the kids don't always wake up at the times we expect them to. That is why it is really important to be flexible and have a backup plan. For example, a few weeks into the program my younger daughter started waking up at 6 am or earlier (exactly around the time I started exercising) instead of 7 am. So my husband and I agreed that if she woke up before 6:15 am, I'd feed her and then exercise, but if she woke up later, he'd take care of the baby while I worked out.
5. If you can't dedicate 40+ minutes for a daily workout (such as Insanity) or don't yet feel motivated enough for it, start small with shorter high intensity workouts. There are plenty of options, such as YouTube videos or phone apps that offer 10-20 minutes HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts. If done regularly, they can be very effective. My favorites here include an 8fit app and YouTube channel by Lauren Hefez.
6. Engage your kids in your workouts. Depending on the age of your kids and the type of workouts you do, you can, for example, do some exercises with the baby on you in the carrier, or with an older child 'doing' some exercises with you. It's actually quite fun to do. And you also serve as a role model showing your kids from early age the importance of exercising and healthy lifestyle.
7. Join a parents support group or any other exercise group. Working out with other people, in person or virtually, is fun and extra motivating.
8. Sign up for some future sports event that requires preparation and commitment, such as a race, marathon or triathlon. I know some people who signed up for a marathon to get in shape even though they were never runners before. That's quite some commitment!

Food

1. Start meal planning. As we now have even less time on the week days for cooking, I try to minimize time spent on thinking what to cook. To do that, I like to think of a few meals to cook during the week and make sure I have the right ingredients for them when we do grocery shopping. I usually come up with a list of meals when I unpack our vegetable box that we get delivered on Wednesdays. 
2. Make it a habit to think of what you could potentially cook tomorrow before you go to sleep, especially when it comes to foods that you keep frozen. For example, if you prefer to have animal protein on your plate, get some meat, fish or chicken out of the freezer into the fridge at night. That way you'll at least have your protein ready to cook when you come home from work.
3. Make some time for meal prep on the weekend, to save time during the week. If possible, on Sundays I try to make a couple of bigger meals, roast a bunch of vegetables and clean and chop some other fruit and veggies that I can then easily use during the week (you can read my earlier post here for more specific meal prep ideas.) For instance, one-sheet-pan roasted veggies have become very popular in our family over the last few months. They are super easy to make - just chop a bunch of different veggies, sprinkle them with olive oil, salt and paper, and roast at 425 F for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the vegetables you use. They can be eaten for a few days, warm or cold, as a side or added to salads and other meals.
4. It is also very convenient to have a repertoire of quick week nigh recipes, such as stir fries or big salads, for the days when you are really in a time crunch and don't have any leftovers or made-ahead meals. And in fact we almost never order takeout or delivery as I can almost always come up with some quick easy and healthy meal from whatever I can find in the fridge (my so-called 'fridge-clean-up' dishes.)

Sleep

1. Making sleep a priority. How often do you tell yourself that you only check Facebook for 5 minutes and then go to sleep, but instead end up spending an hour or more on your phone? Believe me, the benefit of that extra hour of sleep is so much higher than what you can get from scrolling through your social networks feed or watching one more episode of some TV show. It's especially true when you have a baby and can't always plan for uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep.
2. Creating sleep 'shifts' could be a good idea when you child doesn't sleep through the night yet. In the first couple of months when our kids were born, my husband and I used to alternate and have one of us be in charge, for example, from 9 pm till 3 am and the other one - from 3 am till 9 am. And then whoever was responsible for early morning hours would go to bed at 9 pm or even earlier to catch up on some sleep and recharge. 

Personal time

1. Having dedicated time slots in the week for your personal time. For example, I made it a tradition to have my 'beauty' hour on Sunday nights. That is when I do my favorite facial masks, nails or something else to take care of my skin and body. 
2. Separate nights out or trips that you and your partner do with other people rather than together, such as girls' or boys' night out or separate mini-vacations. As much as I love going out with my husbands and having our date nights, I really always look forward to some activities I do just with my girlfriends, such as a theater performance, morning yoga class followed by a brunch, or a girls night out. Three years ago we also started a tradition of annual trips that my husband takes with his friends and I do with my girlfriends. For me, it's such a wonderful way to do some things that are fun to do with just girls, to catch up on all the 'important' stuff and really distract from all the day-to-day responsibilities and obligations of being a parent and a partner.

There is no doubt that making some of the things above happen is much harder when you have kids and full-time jobs. However, it is possible with some effort, planning and dedication. More importantly, it is really helpful to keep you happy and feeling good about yourself. And when you are happy with who you are and how you feel, it definitely makes you a better parent, partner and friend. 

I would love to hear about your successes and struggles with maintaining your healthy lifestyle and managing to do things that are important to you after having kids. I know we all can make it happen!