Yellow dinner is still popular...

When my kids were small, I was a stay-at-home parent.  It was both difficult and luxurious.  I learned a lot.  Some of it is even relevant in a fitness context (unlike, say, my ability to read certain picture books in the dark).

One relevant skill was meal planning.  No one wants to go to the grocery store any more than necessary with a toddler who might scream at any moment.  Making sure there was only one trip in a week required some tactics.  Surprisingly enough, it also resulted in all of us eating better, more varied meals and only the occasional resort to calling Blondie’s for pizza or the infamous and popular yellow dinner (mac and cheese and frozen corn).  If we want healthy, tasty meals, it makes sense to plan them (and maybe even cook them!) ahead of time, when we are not hungry, tired, and easily influenced by the idea of ice cream as dinner.

A useful principle that emerged in multiple contexts was that some times worked better for getting things done than other times.  Afternoons with cranky children were not the prime moments for tasks that required detailed attention, but first thing in the morning we could do just about anything successfully.  That was our rhythm; other people have different ones.  In a fitness context, the application is that we need to work out at the times that work for us.  Some people can roll out of bed and pump iron.  Others do better after work in the evening or at lunch time.

Even after I returned to paid work, meal planning and appropriate timing of tasks served us well as a family and continue to work now.  Let’s do what works!