I joined my husband in a challenge to intentionally exercise 30 minutes for 30 days. We just finished our 90th day on Whole30, which means our nutrition is in check, but our fitness is WAY off. If the 30 day challenge will be as effective as the Whole30 challenge was, then I am very excited about what my life is going to become within the next 30-90 days (I’m sure we won’t stop at 30–those days are over.)
I have the challenge of working full-time (like most people), and then picking up our toddler who wants every bit of our attention, which we love to give. The problem with that is that it gives little time for us to focus on fitness. Today, I found a way to accomplish my goal of exercising for 30 minutes while entertaining him at the same time.
I decided to use the Wii Fit Plus Running exercise to begin getting myself used to moving faster than a walk. There are many benefits of doing this. 1) My son loves cartoons, so he watched intently thinking it was one of his shows. 2) I was able to exercise without him pulling on me to stop. 3) I hope it will teach him to exercise with me. 4) As I progressed in the game, I opened longer distances, allowing me to fill my 30 minutes with running. 5) I am building my endurance, so I can take it to the road.
I plan to pick this back up tomorrow. Let’s see what happens when he sees the same “cartoon” again. Do you have a story to share about incorporating fitness when you have children? Share in “Comments.”
Fighting FAT 
I love this! I don’t have children, but I’m around children all the time. It’s easier to incorporate activity when the kids are older because you can ride bikes, go walk trails, play tag, etc, but when they are younger it’s a little bit trickier. I think your idea is a great one, for all the reasons you listed.
I’m a nanny, and I used to be a nanny to three children under the age of three. I tried to be active with them as much as possible, and a lot of this was just putting them in the stroller and taking long walks and then chasing them around the park.
With the kids I have now—twin 6 year olds—I can play outside with them and run around, but I also incorporate activity just by running around the house to put away laundry as fast as we can, or by playing Simon Says (Simon Says run in place, do 30 jumping jacks, etc).
Way to go Margie!
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🙂 I will remember those games then to use when he gets older. He is a runner already, so I think he will gladly run with me when I get to that point. I almost said, if, but then deleted and changed it to when!!
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yay! not if, but when 🙂
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