Utah Mama

Say hello to quick-and-easy fitness tips & goodbye to lame excuses

Hello. My name is Emily Hill and I’m an extremely busy, sleep-deprived mother of four. About eight years ago I started taking exercise more seriously. I even did the whole Body for Life thing, before-and-after photos included. (Not included in this post for obvious reasons.) I worked out five to six times a week for a good hour to an hour and a half. If I remember correctly (after four kids my memory tends to get a bit fuzzy), I even woke up around 6:10 a.m. every weekday to hit the gym before my little ones awoke.

I’m laughing as I write this because now, eight years later, I have four children, a business, a few writing gigs and manage about six hours of sleep a night if I’m lucky. These days I make it to the gym two or three times a week and often less mostly due to a lethal combination of snotty noses (for some reason gym daycares don’t like hacking coughs and green snot during winter months) and a shift in priorities (sleep trumps a 6:00 a.m. workout every time).

Someday when my youngest are in school full time and I find myself with a few extra hours in the day (and hopefully an hour or two more of sleep at night), I’ll be back at the gym six days out of seven. Until then I’ve had to become a bit more creative about fitting fitness into my daily routine. Trust me, I miss my hour-and-a-half workouts but I also know life happens when you’re a mom and sometimes you have to improvise. That’s what Health & Fitness – Quick Tips is all about—quick tips for busy moms so you can burn a few extra calories, get a quick energy boost and regain a little sanity in your day. If this sleep-deprived, carpool-driving, overly-multitasked mom can fit in a little fitness, I guarantee you can too.

Image by Loving Earth, shared via Flickr.

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A little bit about me

I am a wife, mother, writer and entrepreneur. When I’m not driving carpool, cleaning crayon off the walls, scraping dried macaroni off the floor or hiding in my closet, I am the woman behind the ramblings on is this REALLY my life?. I’m also the managing editor for SassyScoops.com; contributing editor for Boutique Cafe. Diet Coke and chocolate make it all possible. Oh, and in a renewed effort to fit in a little fitness, I’m hoping to compete in my first sprint triathlon this summer. Wish me luck, especially because I don’t yet own a bike.