A working mother’s guide to staying fit and fabulous

Food specialist and fitness trainer Nadia Rasheed shares how small changes in your lifestyle can lead to big and noticeable changes in your health. Introducing these simple changes can go a long way in your fitness journey and allow you to monitor what works for your body and what doesn’t!

Nadia Rasheed is a working mother all too familiar with multitasking and making sure her health does not suffer in the process. With a hectic schedule that starts with preparing her kids for school early morning and then dealing with her clients at the gym, she has learned how to prioritize her health with these small mindful changes for noticeable results

• First and foremost, it’s all about monitoring what you’re putting inside your body and every little detail can be penned down to map your progress in the long run.
• Address one unhealthy habit at a time which you think needs to be fixed first. For Nadia it’s all about inculcating change slowly and gradually. For example, if a client’s biggest weakness is fizzy drinks and their consumption of fizzy drinks is a lot, she doesn’t ask them to completely eliminate them but rather to reduce the number of cans and slowly replace them with water.Again instead of drafting a meal plan which is either too strict or is too difficult to follow, it is important to devise a plan which is doable and sustainable in the long-term. For example, if someone consumes too many carbs, cutting down their carb in-take dramatically will make them binge eat or either get frustrated and give up. It will help them get more organized and stick to it.

• Look for healthy alternatives and ones that are easily available, for desserts the most accessible options could be fruits, dates or dark chocolate. Anything which can keep you on track and make the transition to healthy eating easy.

• Sticking to your meal plan is the biggest struggle because the change may seem daunting at first. Pre-planning your meals is the best way to go about it because it not only allows you to monitor your calories but allows you to incorporate foods that you can enjoy but are also healthy. So, make that effort and make a daily diet chart. Take out few hours over the weekend to do your groceries, marinate your meat, cut/steam your veggies, make packets of portions for each meal. This will majorly help you to stick to your plan.

• Your fitness goals should have two components: what to eat and how to burn it. So, though nutrition is the most vital component towards healthy lifestyle, exercising is equally important due to many reasons. Strength and cardio combined with right amount of endurance training is the best route to fitness. You can start off with jogging/running half an hour 3-4 days in a week or something that you enjoy from Zumba to Pilates or Yoga.

• Make small changes to burn those calories and be more active like taking the stairs instead of taking the elevator – doing smalls tasks yourself instead of asking people around you. Walking to the parking lot instead of using a valet service. These look like very small changes but if we make these small changes and follow them throughout the day will help us burn extra calories and be more active.
• Do not be obsessed with the weighing scale by checking your weight ten times in a day. It only leads to dissapointment and frustration. Be realistic in your approach and check your weight and inches weekly. Record your measurements and weight ideally right after you wake up and before eating anything.

• The most important suggestion is to celebrate small milestones and to be grateful for the progress that you have made. Two keywords for your fitness journey should be POSITIVITY and CONSISTENCY – keep saying these words out loud if for some reason you feel demotivated or lazy!