Weight loss is a challenging journey, especially for busy moms who juggle multiple responsibilities. However, shedding the extra pounds can help you increase energy, reduce niggling aches and pains, and help you feel more confident.
Use these tips about weight loss for busy moms to help you lose the weight HEALTHILY and keep it off long term.
Let’s be honest, weight loss brings out a bounty full of complex emotions in moms. As a Certified Strength Coach and Nutrition Coach I’ve seen it all.
And as a mom of three, I’ve experienced the crazy that comes with feeling squishy when you don’t want to, frustrated by how clothes look, and annoyed that you don’t have more “discipline”.
Hot tip: relying on motivation to get you through your weight loss journey will leave you pissed off at the world. Here’s how motivation is killing your goals.
So, what’s a busy mom to do?
Use these tried and true tips to maximize healthy habits!
What To Avoid When It Comes To Weight Loss For Moms
Listen, our gut instinct when it comes to weight loss is to stop eating more than 1200 calories a day and run, run run.
Then we burst into tears when the scale hasn’t budged two pounds.
Stop repeating that cycle.
While reducing calories will result in very short-term weight loss, after about two months your body flips the middle finger, and losing weight gets harder and then non-existent. It’s not you.
It’s not your lack of discipline, your hormones, or anything else. It’s just too little food.
Your body needs legit fuel and will cease weight loss if you hang out too low.
And since cardio only burns calories while you’re performing it, in order to see the weight loss you need to do more and more.. and really, how much can you run each week?!
There are better ways.
Weight Loss Tips For Moms
The below tips are what you need to lose weight.
Together, they are your weight loss program (along with these healthy habits for life).
It won’t be quick. It may not be easy. And it won’t be linear.
That’s how the process goes (learn more about the pillars of weight loss).
But, it will set you up for LONG TERM success. It may even be that you won’t drastically hate the process.
Implement these habits and you’ll be so much better set up.
Know that you will have to make changes to your habits and it’s hard. Take it one day at a time.
Move Your Body
This is so underrated when it comes to weight loss for moms. Aim for 10,000 steps per day. If that seems unreasonable, sorry!
But the little things you do (cleaning, fidgeting, laundry, etc) add up immensely, and 10,000 steps is two good walks a day roughly.
Here's how to be active outside of your workouts.
If it’s hard in the winter, do an old-school step workout on youtube.
Make this a huge priority.
Eat Protein
One of the reasons low-calorie diets fail is that people work stupid stuff into those low calories. Instead of counting calories, aim to eat 100g or more of protein per day.
In my Protein Power Snacks E-book I actually give you a two-day plan to show you exactly how to get 100 grams of protein per day.. without hating food.
It seems like a lot of first. It also keeps you full and then reduces how much you eat of the other stuff naturally.
Here’s how to increase your daily protein.
This is step one I use with every single client and it works like a charm. Eat meals that both give you fuel and results.
Drink Water
Not coffee, not juice, not fizzy something. Water.
Aim for 2.5L of water a day so that your body can do its job and move stuff through you! Simple habit, big results.
Here's how to drink more water.
Strength Train
As I mentioned, cardio only burns calories at rest.
Strength training builds muscles that burn calories all day long while you do nothing.
It's not about how to burn fat but more about the long-term solution.
It’s not as quick as cardio but as we established, there’s only so much volume you can do.
Learn more about the benefits of strength training and resistance training tips for beginners.
Moms who focus on strength training have less back pain, lose weight, feel more confident, and have less injury risk.
If you’re not sure where to start, this is exactly why I created SMASH Fit For Life. No burpees, no deadlifting your body weight. Just regular strength training workouts moms can do at home to feel strong.
Create a stronger, healthier you with minimal space and money! Check out the 4 best home workout equipment to rock your at-home fitness journey.
Have A Plan
Finding time to work out is a mess for a mom. Don’t waste the time you DO have aimlessly doing squats and trying some push ups on your knees.
Have a game plan when it comes to workouts. Focus on building lean muscle to help you out. Even if that means 5-minute workouts each day. Make the time you do have COUNT.
Change Your Mindset
Mindset comes into play more than you think in terms of weight loss.
First off, stop expecting losing weight to go smoothly and results to be quick. They never are.
Second, start thinking in terms of your LIFE and not just right now.
The BEST swap I ever made was to stop working out to look good and to work out to get strong instead.
The hilarious irony is that when I made this swap I lose weight easier and look one hundred times better.
The scale fluctuates 1-6lbs DAILY for women. So, attaching your emotions to it is silly. Think of the long-term game.
I'm not going to lecture you on sleep and stress, these are things you know. (heads up these products for natural stress relief can work wonders!). My mentor always told me that “knowing isn’t doing” though and those words hit hard.
The truth is, within these habits, it’s the consistency you need.
Weight loss isn’t easy but if you can nail down daily habits that you don’t hate, it’ll happen.
Ditch the All-or-Nothing Trap
The Kickstart & Thrive Bundle is where busy moms keep things simple with quick, strength-building workouts you can actually fit into your day, plus protein-packed snacks that give you energy and taste like dessert but don't add extra time in the kitchen.
Frequently asked questions about weight loss for moms
Our bodies were made for storage and weight gain (child birth). Couple that with the fact that women naturally have a slow metabolism and less muscle mass than men and it makes it challenging for moms to lose weight.
The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to stay consistent with the following healthy lifestyle habits: eating enough protein, drinking 2L of water, moving your body daily, and scaling back on all processed foods but especially sugar-based processed foods.
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