I am thrilled to feature Melanie as a fit mom guest blogger on my site. Read Melanie’s perspective on back to school time. Learn more about Melanie on her blog, seemommyrace.com, and her Facebook page.  

Get out your hand sanitizers mommy, the kids are going back to school!

My first thought for back to school is back to normal schedules, kids in school, I’ll be able to get more workouts in! We get to be a little bit too lax here in the summer months. Kids staying up too late, which of course means mom is staying up too late, and then not wanting to get up early to work out, and we all know that if it doesn’t happen in the morning, sometimes it doesn’t happen at all!

So pretty soon it is back to it! Back to early bedtimes, early wake up times, get ready, hurry hurry, eat breakfast, get out the door, don’t forget your backpack again! AND back to getting on a regular workout schedule, at least that’s what I keep telling myself the plan is….

Do you have a new workout plan for back to school?

Or does your routine stay the same throughout the year?

My kids are still little so I am not completely free. My 2 oldest are going to be in school full time, but my youngest is starting pre-school and will only go 2 days a week. I am hoping to start going to the gym (they have a great childcare) while everyone is at school but my youngest, and possibly run on the 2 days she is in school. I used to run in the evenings after my husband got home from work, and didn’t really ever do any other kind of workouts. While I will definitely miss them when they are away all day, I am appreciative to have the option to get things done during the day. Also as the kids get older, weeknights and weekends fill up with their sports and other activities. If I worked full-time outside of the home like lots of women do, I would have to find other time. Possibly getting up at the crack of dawn to run, and go to the gym on my lunch hour. They say there is always a way to make the time for something that you really want to do if you want it bad enough!

How does your kids schedule affect when you are able to work out?

Is it easier for you, or harder, to balance taking care of yourself and your family when the kids are back in school?

That brings me to the next “back to school” planning idea. Meal Prep! For me, meal planning is pretty easy in the summer. I go to the store with a 1/2 planned list, because if I forget something, no big deal, I’ll just go back in a couple days. During the school year, time is precious. I will have to start planning ahead every day, and shopping for everything I’ll need for family dinner, kids school lunches, and quick early morning breakfasts. There are tons of great ideas online for planning meals for a week at a time or more, crock pot meals, or make ahead and freeze meals. (Who LOVES Pinterest? This girl LOVES Pinterest!!!) I seriously would have the most boring bland food if it weren’t for the internet, there are SO MANY OPTIONS! I have found that planning the meals to a T is the best way to keep your diet on track. If I don’t have a plan for what I am making (and the right items to put it together), I’ll end up ordering a pizza or eating frozen chicken nuggets, yuck! Now that we are getting back to our routine, I definitely plan to make more “doubles” of our meals, and freezing a batch for another week. Our crock pot also gets a lot of use, since then the meal is essentially ready when you are. On the days that both my husband and I workout in the evening, we would eat at different times, and when I have something in the crock pot, I also get to have a hot dinner ready, hours after they have all eaten. (Although I am hoping to resolve this by getting my own workout in during the day so we can all eat together!)

How do you plan your family meals?

Are you able to all sit together, or are the after school activities too crazy?

Alright moms! Now that we have a plan in place (or maybe, a plan to make a plan?!?!) lets get to work and kick off the school year the “FIT” way! Happy healthy moms taking care of happy healthy kids makes everyone !