Yasmin Timm is the Fitness Manager at the Peggy & Philip B. Crosby Wellness Center inside the Center for Health & Wellbeing and shares her lessons on fitness in motherhood.

I have two sons: Miles, 4, and Logan, 1. I can honestly say my favorite part of the day is picking them up and having my four-year-old burst out of the classroom screaming MOMMY and giving me a hug. Your day immediately becomes better.

It took me a good amount of time after my first born to accept my body and realize that I was no longer the college athlete I once was. I am also extremely lucky to work in the position I am in which includes teaching the occasional group exercise class so I can count that as workout for the day.

In term of exercise, I love routines and to do-lists, but as a mother of two little ones they don’t understand your daily agenda so understanding the need for flexibility is important. I try to get my own workouts in before anyone walks up, which usually involves running. However, when everyone else decided to wake up at 5 a.m. your plan goes out of the window and that is fine too. Find ways to be active as a family and even make it a game. We regularly go on walks after eating dinner and to keep my four-year-old entertained so we may play tag as we walk, play eye spy or do a scavenger hunt. And, even if it is just one hour a week, do something for yourself that you enjoy ALONE, whether that is going for a walk, gardening, crafting, or reading. With everything going on in the world today we have come to a greater understanding of taking care of our mental health as much as our physical health.

Lindsay Kist is the Communications Manager at the Winter Park Health Foundation, co-owner and primary developer of the Center for Health & Wellbeing, and shares her experiences being a first-time mom.

One of the things I have found most useful in this first 18 months of motherhood is remembering that health and taking care of myself is so much more than how I feel or present physically. It’s our ethos at the Center for Health & Wellbeing, and it proves true time after time, in almost every situation and stage of life: a healthy mind begets a healthy body begets a healthy spirit. And of course, it’s hard to prioritize the many things on my personal and professional to-do list, but without my physical or emotional health, I am half the mother I want to be to my daughter. So, I try to be very regimented and structured with the things I do to support my wellbeing – scheduling workouts, taking time for walks around the block during the workday – and when it’s time to be in “mom mode,” I can be fully engaged and present. 

Cherish the moment and remember that all difficult stages are just that – stages. Look to the future with hope and excitement when times seem tough. I used to dread washing bottles every night. I would stand at the kitchen sink, exhausted from a day of work and caring for an infant, with tears in my eyes as I washed what seemed like an endless supply of bottles and their parts – in reality, just six – but don’t tell a new mom she is exaggerating! But just like that, the bottles are a thing of the past and we’ve moved on to other, different challenges. The bottles are a good metaphor for being a mom in general…just when you think you can’t handle one more bottle washing, boom…life changes and it’s on to another “bottle.” 

Deborah LaClair is a staff member at the Welcome Desk inside the Center for Health & Wellbeing and shares her experiences on being a mom and grandmother.

I have enjoyed and loved watching each year of my daughter’s life and now being a grandmother has even given me more wonderful experiences to enjoy. Being in either of these roles has given me a perspective I was not expecting, that includes the good with the bad. It sure makes life not boring!

Managing to take care of myself is my biggest challenge I face each day. This is probably the hardest thing for me to do. Not only am I a mother and grandmother, but I am also a caregiver for my 92-year-old mother. It is very hard to tell any of them no. I am working on it, but it is a work in progress.

The one thing that helps me the most is creating a working schedule for the upcoming week. My family knows that if I do not record the event, or need, on my calendar then it most likely will not be done or attended.