Jump Starting Your Summer Routine
Summer, and the end of school routines, is both a treat and a hassle. For those of us working hard on personal goals like weight loss or improving our fitness, the less structured daily schedule of summer can derail the small things we do each day to get closer to our goals. Here are my 3 key strategies for hitting my goals this summer.
It’s 3 years since my son experienced his first day of pre-school. While I am a pretty routine person, the addition of a school schedule with firm time boundaries had a radical impact on my day. There was a period of transition but I quickly used that structure to help impose consistency into our home that made it much easier for me to hit the small, daily steps of making progress towards my fitness and weight loss goals.
The first summer, we PCS’d (an Army move for the non-military fluent readers) so my husband was home or had a flexible enough schedule to give me something of a break. Last year, he deployed in June and we traveled a good bit but I still found it challenging enough to get my work done that I hired a part-time nanny. Looking ahead to this summer, my husband will be home but working long hours, my business has grown, I’m chasing USDF Regionals qualification and our nanny will be moving sometime over the summer.
It’s time to make a plan.
Momentum is my “secret sauce”
For me, the hardest part is getting going – and that applies to any life change. Working out, improving the way I eat, getting enough sleep and keeping my house tidy are all much easier to maintain than get started. With that in mind, I’m going to be spending the last three weeks of school putting the lion’s share of my energy on the things that are most likely to slip in the face of time with the kiddo this summer: working out, eating for weight loss, and my regular rides.
To stay accountable with my riding, I have twice a week lessons on the calendar and am headed to our second dressage show June 5-7th. I’m super pleased with where my Elf-pony is and the progress he’s made since our first show in March, so I’m excited to see if our scores reflect the work we’ve done.
[bctt tweet=”Staying on top of my work outs and nutrition will be my number one challenge in the more laid back summer months.”]
Staying on top of my work outs and nutrition will be my number one challenge in the more laid back summer months. To build momentum and hit the ground running, I’ll be starting round 2 of the 21 Day Fix Extreme as part of the #Fit2Ride Summer Warm Up. I’ve been working hard to put together a 3 week meal plan using the 21 Day Fix Extreme Meal Tracker I developed in January and the 21 Day Fix portioning system to take all the questions out of my eating choices. On top of my lessons and 2 additional rides each week, I’m going to take full advantage of the ability to live stream the 21 Day Fix Extreme workouts to include working out in my morning routine.
Building A Tool Box
Even with momentum and the best of intentions there will be tough moments. The key to getting through the speed bumps is being prepared. Here are the resources and tools that I’ll be using this summer as my productivity tool box.
- My Whitney English Day Designer – Hands down, this is one of my most important tools. My Day Designer lets me keep my scheduled obligations and my to do list on one page. It has a specified space that prompts me to identify my top 3 priorities (which I always fill out in the evening when I’m preparing for bed). Knowing where I need to be keeps unexpected schedule interruptions to a minimum. You can try out the Day Designer pages for FREE – get it here.
- Family Wall Calendar – I use a dry erase calendar on the wall beside our pantry as our “Central Control Center” for the whole family. Anything scheduled in advance (appointments, activities we plan to go to, my meetings, etc) goes on the calendar. I also write my planned dinner on the calendar to avoid being asked! My husband is responsible for adding anything that I need to be tracking like meetings that might make him miss dinner, events on the weekends, or anything he would like us to attend. **Productivity Tip – even though I use a dry erase board, I fill it out with fine tip wet erase markers. Once they dry, they won’t smear or smudge keeping my board easily legible. **
- iPad with LifeProof Case + keyboard -The key to maintaining my sanity during the summer is the ability to be flexible in between meeting my work deadlines and hitting those must-dos (workout, nutrition, riding). My iPad lets me do my work outs anywhere thanks to Beachbody’s live streaming option – and yes, PiYo at the park can earn you some interesting conversations. It also means that when my son is happily playing outside, I can be 10 feet away working on my iPad on the back porch – productive and present.
[bctt tweet=”wet erase markers won’t smear or smudge – keeping my dry erase calendar easily legible”]
Getting It Done
Ok, let’s be real for a minute. Kind of like New Year’s Resolutions, plans for the summer break seem to fade and disappear when they run smack into the reality of every day life. Keeping my home reasonably picked up with my son around 24/7 is a challenge. Getting up at 5 or 6 am to work out when we don’t plan to leave the house will seem like nuisance from my comfortable bed. I know that if I don’t plan a way to address it, the summer will slip by in a string of “oh well, maybe tomorrow” days and suddenly it will be mid-August with a rush to get ready for a new school year. And I won’t be any closer to my weight loss, fitness or riding goals.
I don’t want to finish this summer wishing I’d done more with it. So, as part of the #Fit2Ride Summer Warm Up I’ll be participating in an exclusive Facebook group of people with similar plans for the summer – a healthier, happier summer. I don’t know about you, but when I will be sharing my success or failure with accountability partners I’m much more aware of my actions throughout the day. I know I need that so I’m building that support into my summer.
If that support would help you with your goals heading into summer, pop over to the sign up page. On top of the built in accountability of Team Fit2Ride, you’ll also get a Food Tracker Printable, 3 week clean eating meal plan, and sample recipes just for helping build momentum into a healthier summer!
