How To Stay Fit As New Parents That Work
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The True Story About Staying Fit As Busy Parents
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, we answer a viewer question who asked about how to stay fit as new parents that work.
This was an older question from #AskLiveLeanTV Ep. 008.
But we wanted to do this episode a little different since this original question was asked of us when Jessica was pregnant with our first child, Kyla.
So we originally answered the question in the context of how we think we would survive our fitness career after having kids.
Based on this, we thought it would be cool to re-watch our answers from 4 years ago, and provide commentary based on our current experiences of now having 2 kids.
Remember, when we originally answered this question back in 2016, we had no parenting experience, and no idea what we were in for.
So let’s look back at what we were predicting would happen, and then provide some commentary along the way, to share if it actually did happen.
As we jump back and forth between our answers from 2016 and 2020, we’ll indicate it by starting the section with either “2016” or “2020”.
Here’s today’s viewer question:
Clare W on YouTube says: Loving the return of the #AskLiveLeanTV Q&A series. Would love to know how you guys are preparing for the 4th family member?! Have you figured out how you will both get in your workouts? Who will do the cooking? How will you stay motivated when you’ve had no sleep? Ultimately, I’m curious about how to stay fit as new parents that work?
First of all, we’re glad you’re loving the #AskLiveLeanTV Q&A series.
To clarify, when you referred to adding the “4th family member”, we assume you were referring to our dog Bruno, as being the 3rd member 🐶 ❤️.
2016:
Good question.
So have we figured out parenting before having kids?
The answer is obviously no.
Especially since everyone keeps saying, “Oh, you guys don’t know what you’re in for”.
Of course we don’t.
Which is why, just like most things in life, we are going to take the new responsibilities of being a parent, day by day.
2020:
This statement was so true.
You can be told a million times, that parenting is going to be one of the hardest things you’ll ever have to do in life.
However, you’ll never know until you know.
Also, for people who haven’t been parents yet, a lot of times all they see is the fun side of parenting.
This was definitely true for Jessica
A lot of times you don’t see all the struggles of parenting, since most parents are dealing with those issues privately at home.
What you mostly see in public is parents are having fun and joyful times with their kids.
Of course, you see some temper tantrums, but you’ll never experience the realness of having kids, until you actually have them.
So while answering this question back in 2016, we obviously didn’t know any of the realness.
But we did know that we didn’t know.
Meaning we were open to all the learning that was going to happen.
And this is exactly what we did after having kids.
We took it day by day.
2016:
I’m so ready for the challenge of parenting and proving people wrong.
You can be a parent while still being fit.
I’m so fueled and amped up to set an example and show people that we did it.
In a way, I’m almost more motivated to be a fit parent because people say you can’t do it.
2020:
Anytime you want to kick your butt into action, think about all of those people who thought you couldn’t do something.
I’m fueled by the haters.
In my life, anytime someone didn’t believe in me, I use that as fuel.
I keep that fuel in the back of my head, to remind myself to keep going and moving forward.
In 2016, when I said that I wanted to prove people wrong, let me clarify this.
I wanted to prove that it was wrong to think your fitness has to take a backseat, or go away, when being a parent.
I wanted to disprove the myth that you can’t do both
You can have a fit life and be a parent at the same time.
Both Jessica and I feel really good at how we’ve managed this, and figured out how to get our workouts in as a new mom and dad.
We are now proof that this is true.
Plus, there are a lot of other amazingly fit parents out there.
It comes down to making a choice.
Even with little babies, it’s definitely possible, and we’ve proved it.
2016:
During filming, we were 7 1/2 months pregnant and Jessica was looking great and wasn’t experiencing any crazy mood swings or cravings.
She was eating a reasonable amount without gorging on every piece of food in sight.
Jessica was really doing an incredible job, so we were confident we’re confident that we’ll be alright after the pregnancy.
In fact, I guarantee we’ll be alright because of our positive mindsets and knowing how to overcome tough situations.
2020:
We are definitely alright, even 4 years later with a 4 year old daughter and 18 month old son.
Even though this stage of our life has been super challenging and one of the most difficult in terms of balancing family, work, and fitness, we’re still doing so well.
I’m not saying our life is perfect, but we’re doing well.
Also, one thing we wanted to note here is the reason why Jessica wasn’t having any crazy mood swings and cravings was because of her solid diet habits that were established before pregnancy.
We think a lot of people struggle during pregnancy because when their appetite spikes, they are not used to eating enough calories from healthy foods, to make you feel stable and satiated.
This makes you much more susceptible to those crazy spikes in hunger cravings.
That’s why we feel so grateful that we started Living Lean, and established healthy behaviors, before going into pregnancy.
We truly feel that this made the whole parenting experience smoother.
So if you’re planning on having kids in the future, there is no better time than right now to start getting healthy.
To get started with your Live Lean journey, go take the Live Lean Body Quiz.
Go into your pregnancy when you’re already healthy and Living Lean
By doing that, you’ll have a much higher probability of having a healthy pregnancy, and post pregnancy, like Jessica did.
Also, one last thing is don’t treat your pregnancy as a reason to binge eat.
That’s a very common mistake.
2016:
However, I’ll admit that when I don’t get my sleep, I feel like I’m hungover.
Sleep is going to be a hard part and something that we’re not really prepared for because how can you even prepare for that.
2020:
The number one thing in my life right now, that is lacking, even 4 years later, and will probably be like this for a few more years, is sleep.
When I don’t get my sleep, I don’t feel as active of energetic.
But even with a lack of sleep, I’m still feeling pretty good right now.
So I can’t wait to see how I’ll feel when I do get back to my regular sleep schedule.
Boy watch out 😂 !
Also, it’s okay to have some bad days, and it’s fine to feel groggy for a day if you didn’t sleep well.
When it comes to parenting, you can’t expect great sleep for the first few years.
So you have to manage your expectations.
That’s one thing we both had to really shift.
It’s important to not get so frustrated or mad when you have a difficult night.
Just learn to let it go and focus on the future by making the next night better.
2016:
We don’t know what our baby’s temperament is going be like.
2020:
LOL 😂 .
We’ll just say that Kyla was challenging.
When it comes to temperment, Kyla was a level 10.
Our second child, Cody was not as much, even though he’s starting to be a little more challenging now.
2016:
We wouldn’t know how to prepare for dealing with a fuzzy baby because how would you?
So when that time comes around, we will then figure out strategies to deal with it.
But for now, it’s not like we are making a list of plans or anything like that.
However, it is something we’re thinking about.
Another thing I am concerned about is our business, while we have a newborn
However, we have been taking steps to hire help to carry us through it.
That has been great as we’ve hired our first full-time employee.
2020:
Shout out to Carolina, as she’s still rocking with us to this day.
2016:
We’ve had a lot of part-time employees up to this point, but until now, nobody has been full-time on growing the business, like Jessica and I are.
But we’re now doing it.
I’m also looking at getting an office outside of the home so I can get some focused time away from our future crying baby, and build this empire.
So there are a whole bunch of things that we’re going to work through.
2020:
To date, I’ve had 3 or 4 different offices, but I’m now back working in my home office again.
Another important thing about parenting, especially for working parents like us, is nap times.
Nap times have been everything and so valuable to get work done
When your baby’s young, they usually nap 2 times a day.
Then when they’re a little older, they may nap longer one time per day.
So as working parents, you have several hours each day that are quiet.
For the type of business that we do, where we’re doing video, we need those quiet moments, and we seize those opportunities.
That’s been really powerful for us to keep our business and our health and fitness going.
Make sure you strategically seize opportunities when they’re possible.
Then when the kids want to play, we play, and when the kids rest, we work.
Last night was a prime example of this.
Working late at night, even though we’re lacking sleep, we just have to do it.
This gives us another chance to work once the kids are down
After I finish my work at night, I can then rest my head on the pillow and go to bed feeling accomplished.
This way I don’t go to bed with anxiety, knowing when I wake up the next day, I’ll be thinking of all the things I have to do.
If I don’t work at night, I know I’ll feel less satisfied and accomplished than if I do work.
So for me, even when I don’t feel like it, I know it’s important to finish my work at night.
This also applies to completing your workouts as well.
2016:
The viewer also asked who is going to be doing the cooking?
We’ll both be doing the cooking.
Plus, we’ll also probably ask our parents to cook every time they come over.
2020:
Yes, even 4 years later, we both cook.
We have a really good system going right now where I make breakfast and Jessica makes lunch.
Then we’ll basically flip the coin on who makes dinner.
I feel like that’s a great system because you don’t have to wonder every day who’s making breakfast and who’s making lunch.
We just know.
Plus, I love making breakfast because making eggs is my thing.
Jessica also loves making lunch which is always a big salad, which is great.
Then for dinner we just alternate and it works great.
Communication and assignments.
2016:
We also may use a meal prep service as they are getting really popular and are very helpful.
2020:
In the past, we’ve used meal prep services.
SunBasket has been the best meal kit service that we’ve used most consistently and has always been the most delicious.
So if you are looking for a meal kit delivered to your door, that you have to cook, here’s a link to check out Sunbasket.
It’s fun cooking the meals and the recipes are delicious.
Another thing we did when our babies were first born was prepping food in bulk so we would have tons of containers of already made food in the fridge.
That helps so much, and we still do that today.
Leftovers is where it’s at.
Everybody should do that.
2016:
There are a lot of ways to make things work as new parents.
We will manage.
We’ll also take you guys along for the journey.
I’m happy to share everything that we do.
If we find success with parenting, we’ll share that with you.
2020:
I love how Jess said “if we find success with parenting”, even though she said she knew we would.
So here we are 4 years later, and I feel like giving my baby momma, Jessica, a high-5.
We did it and we’re still doing it.
With everything that we have going on with:
- being entrepreneurs
- working from home
- having two young kids
- managing our health and fitness
Not to brag, but I think we are crushing it.
Being fit parents, takes a lot of work, but we’re making it a priority.
I feel like we’re doing really well.
Hopefully you enjoyed this flash-forward video where we can provide some commentary on what we said back in 2016 versus what actually happened in reality, from 2016-2020.
If you are thinking about becoming parents, or you’re already parents, just do the best you can do.
We don’t want you to think that we’re just showing you the highlight reel of being parents and hiding all of the hard stuff that goes on.
Ultimately, parenting is the hardest thing we’ve ever done
But there’s so much love and joy in being a parent.
We wouldn’t give it up for anything.
It’s so amazing.
Also it’s been so amazing involving our kids in our fitness lifestyle.
If you follow my @BradGouthro Instagram page or Jessica’s, you’ll see the kids are usually in our workouts.
It’s also been really amazing to involve the kids in our lives by having them help us make healthy meals, and figure things out together.
Like we said, we just took it day by day, and we figured things out together, while enjoying what we do.
That’s the realness of being a parent
So we appreciate you following along for the journey and being involved by asking these questions.
We hope that you have gained some inspiration on how to stay fit as new parents that work, but also know that it’s not perfect for anyone.
It’s not perfect for us either, but we’re doing the best we can and we feel great about it.
Now I want you to go watch a video where Jessica put me through 5 minute bodyweight workout that Cody was involved in.
This shows you the dad life aspect of getting your workouts in.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.