This post was sponsored by SmartyPants Vitamins. All opinions are my own. Are you a new dad looking to stay fit? Apply these five easy tips on staying fit with my New Father’s Guide to Staying Fit with a Newborn.
My life changed forever in late July. Ashley and I were working out in our shop and she casually told me that her water broke. Seventeen hours later, I’m catching our baby in the hospital room. It all happened so fast. After a few days at home, reality set in. Fatherhood was a lot different than I imagined. I was going to have to work a lot harder managing my fitness with Lily in our life.
I’ve previously written about my struggles with diabetes. Being a new father makes managing a disease and staying fit even harder. Exercise and healthy food weren’t at the top of my list as I was trying to settle into fatherhood. I realized very quickly that taking care of Lily meant taking care of myself first. Hopefully you can use this new father’s guide to staying fit to focus on your health quicker than I did.
Vitamins and Probiotics
Everyone knows that taking a multivitamin everyday is beneficial for your health. I didn’t personally know how important probiotics were until I started researching staying healthy. Probiotics are a healthy bacteria that can help aid in digestion and contribute to overall gut health. Your body’s good bacteria can be thrown off by a number of factors including stress and a change in diet. Both of these definitely have been a factor for me since having Lily come into our life.
So I started taking Smarty Pants Probiotics. They’ve definitely contributed to me feeling much more balanced. There are a lot of probiotic options on the market, but I love the Smarty Pants Probiotics the most.
First of all, they are gummies. Who doesn’t love gummies? They also come in great flavors. I have the lemon ones and they don’t at all taste fake or remind me that I’m taking a supplement. Smarty Pants only uses premium ingredients without any fillers. They don’t contain synthetic colors, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, artificial preservations, GMOs, tree nuts, peanuts OR dairy! Smarty Pants Probiotics also contain 7 times as many CFU’s as the leading probiotic gummy. Smarty Pants has also engineered their bacteria to ensure 99% survivability. This means you’re getting an effective product that doesn’t waste your money.
Be sure to check out Smarty Pants Probiotics on Amazon.
Get Enough Sleep
As a new father, gone were my days of getting a solid 6-8 hours straight of sleep. At first, Lily decided to flip flop days and nights. She liked to sleep during the day and be up at night. Even after she got her days and nights straight, there was still her regular schedule of feeding every 2-3 hours.
I learned quickly that I needed to sleep when I could. I would nap during the day when she took her naps and try to get as much sleep at night as possible. Ashley and I would discuss in advance if I was going to get up in the night to change a diaper or stay up while Lily was breastfeeding.
Exercise
Exercise has always been important for my health. The added responsibilities of a newborn made it much harder to exercise each day. There were only so many hours in the day and dedicated exercise seemed to take a back seat. However, I learned there are other ways to get exercise in with the baby.
There are a lot of great baby carriers on the market to help safely support you and your baby. Using a baby carrier has allowed me to go on walks, clean up the house, and do laundry. As a bonus, it forced me to bend at the knees which resulted in a lot of squats.
Managing Stress
Adding a baby to the family is pretty stressful. There can be a lack of sleep. There can be a lack of personal and couple time. So much changes and our lives have been really different. We’ve gotten used to being on someone else’s schedule. We’ve started to try and plan more date nights that involve Lily. We’ve also planned personal time where one of us watches Lily while the other relaxes. As long as we talk about everything, our stress levels tend to be lower.
Eating Well
When you’re low on time everyday, eating well isn’t always a big priority either. Ashley and I made a point when Lily was first home to eat as well as we could. We had made some freezer meals before Lily was born that we could easily throw in the oven when we wanted a nice meal. We also bought some precut fruit and veggie platters so we always had a healthy snack available.
Having Lily in our lives has led to a lot of changes, but they are all worth it. I love having her in my life. All of these changes mean I can be the best dad possible for her.
Let’s chat!
Do you have any other tips to add to my New Father’s Guide to Staying Fit?
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