Get Fit as a Family

Do you ever think that eating healthfully and working out would be easy if it weren't for your spouse or kids? I hear different versions of the same problem all the time: "My kids won't eat fruit or veggies."

"I have to keep cookies in the house for them."

"My husband is a meat-and-potatoes guy, so I have to cook two separate meals, and I just don't have the time for it."

"I have a young child and have no time to work out."

But there are ways to have a family and be healthy! Check out these tips on how you can make your diet and exercise routine work with your busy family life.

Level with yourself.
It's possible that if your husband or kids didn't give you a reason to skip the gym or break from your healthy-eating plan, someone or something else would—the holidays, your schedule or your job, for example. Why we undermine our own efforts can be a complex issue, so I recommend that you try to understand yourself a little better. In other words, know your motivations and how badly you really want to lose the weight.

Ask yourself a few questions like: Are there other reasons, such as stress or emotions, that cause you to go off your healthy program? Do you have a need to please other people at your own expense? Sometimes the answers to these and other self-analytical questions can tell you if you really want to do what is necessary to permanently lose the weight. Knowing yourself better leads to self-acceptance, which in turn helps to motivate you each day.

Be patient.
In the beginning, your family may have a hard time giving up some of their unhealthy favorites, but slowly, you can expose them to healthier versions of these foods, and they should start to come around. Your taste buds have to be retrained, in a sense, and that takes a little time.