Diet & exercise with kids

petrinasupler

I need serious help in this area. Maintaining exercise and diet goals are easy when there's no one around challenging them, like a husband or kids. How do you integrate kids? Or do you? How do you overcome the challenges with maintaining their meals and yours?

Train4Foodz

Hey there,
Seeing as eating as a family is a huge part of most families daily routine, maybe this is a great time to look into those meals that won't blow your macros out of the water but at the same time are tasty for the whole family. Including plenty vegetables and some meat is usually a great call.
There are so many options, if anything it should keep you challenged and motivated.. No meal needs to be the same!! You got this!!

Check out the recipes forum for some great ideas, just because food is more health friendly definitely doesn't make it any less tasty!!

slindsey137

I find that Pinterest is my friend in this area! So many kid friendly healthy versions of favorite meals. If it's feasible, I also find mine more willing to try new things if they are able to help pick it out and prepare it.

The_Sandra

I have a husband and three kids, and I find that making health a priority for the whole family helps a lot. I treat this as not "mom on a diet", but rather, our family as a whole values our health, and finds ways to incorporate that in to our daily lives. I prepare healthy, balanced meals and when the kids (or husband) want a treat, we talk about it: have we already had a treat today, or is there something like a birthday party coming up later in the day? Maybe my son wants a cookie after dinner, so we look at the choices he's made throughout the day - so if he had potato chips with lunch, I would encourage him to take that into consideration when deciding whether a cookie is a good idea. I really want my kids to value their health and to make balanced eating and activity a part of their daily lives so that they don't ever have to struggle with their weight as adults. We don't talk about calories, but we do talk about nutrition and how your body needs proper nutrients to function.

Also, I don't ever make separate meals. The rule in our house is that mom makes dinner, and if you don't like what is being served, you're welcome to make yourself a sandwich. I bet on my kids being more lazy than they don't like what I make and it almost always works

_runnerbean_

If I am having a family meal we all have the same meat and veg. I then skip the pasta/rice/potato element. I'm not doing a deliberate low carb diet but I find this keeps down the calorie count of the main meal. I have cereal at breakfast and bagel for lunch so have plenty of carbs daily anyway. Occasionally I have a microwave weight watchers meal instead of the family meal because I get tired of counting calories in recipies ( I work and have two school going children so get lazy occasionally!) If I can't get out to the gym I pop the boys in front of a tv programme in the lounge and do 30 day shred in the hall on laptop.

tulips_and_tea

The_Sandra wrote: »

I have a husband and three kids, and I find that making health a priority for the whole family helps a lot. I treat this as not "mom on a diet", but rather, our family as a whole values our health, and finds ways to incorporate that in to our daily lives. I prepare healthy, balanced meals and when the kids (or husband) want a treat, we talk about it: have we already had a treat today, or is there something like a birthday party coming up later in the day? Maybe my son wants a cookie after dinner, so we look at the choices he's made throughout the day - so if he had potato chips with lunch, I would encourage him to take that into consideration when deciding whether a cookie is a good idea. I really want my kids to value their health and to make balanced eating and activity a part of their daily lives so that they don't ever have to struggle with their weight as adults. We don't talk about calories, but we do talk about nutrition and how your body needs proper nutrients to function.

Also, I don't ever make separate meals. The rule in our house is that mom makes dinner, and if you don't like what is being served, you're welcome to make yourself a sandwich. I bet on my kids being more lazy than they don't like what I make and it almost always works

Very good advice. Children are (generally) not taught nutrition and physical health in school. That is YOUR job as a parent, so all of you should learn together what to eat, how much, how to be active daily with a variety of activities, etc. It's great that you have young children to teach and mold so that they aren't as likely to face weight issues when they are older.

Be active as a family. Learn to cook and shop together. Look at it as a positive, rather than a negative. It's all about balance, too.

Laurend224

I generally always cook really nutrient dense, healthy meals. My kids are a part of this. They are always in the kitchen with me. My 9 year old chops veggies, my 6 yr old kneads bread, an My 3 yr old mixes things. Make it fun, include them! And when you're done, get them to wash the dishes

petrinasupler

Maybe I should mention we're not all home until 6pm every day, so we almost need to eat right away to avoid it being a late night meal thing.

I'm going to try Pinterest and hopefully get some quick easy recipes for us.

Laurend224

petrinasupler wrote: »

Maybe I should mention we're not all home until 6pm every day, so we almost need to eat right away to avoid it being a late night meal thing.

I'm going to try Pinterest and hopefully get some quick easy recipes for us.

You could do big batches on the weekends and freeze.

samthepanda

Slow cookers are great too. I use ours on nights we are not in til 6, or are in and straight out again! Some nights we are all eating at different times but take stuff out of slow cooker when ready so all eating same thing. Having something ready stops that temptation to munch while you're preparing food as you're hungry too.


In terms of exercise do whatever you can when you can. I'm fortunate my 11 yo wants to walk everywhere and at moment toddler will still go in pushchair so we can do this. Sometimes I have made a game out of laundry so we carry she carries it piece by piece to bottom of stairs and I run up the stairs with it one piece at a time! Last year I was training for a sprint tri and we were on hols just before it, on afternoon we went to the beach and tide was out so kids played in the shallows and I ran around them - 10 m circuits! Got a few funny looks but who cares it all counts!

petrinasupler

does the food still taste good if you freeze it like that?