I’m a big fan of the website FitSugar and the various fitness bits it shares. Recently, a post on 5 Ways Being A Mom Makes You Healthier came through my reader which sparked my interest. I’m here to say, there are some other reasons that having kids makes it easier to eat healthy, stay in shape, or even lose weight. Reasons beyond motherhood improving your relationship with food or inspiring you to set a good example.

13 CRAZY, BUT TRUE WAYS BEING A MOM HELPS ME STAY IN SHAPE AND LOSE THE BABY WEIGHT

1. Kids Steal Your Food. It’s like automatic portion control. Make a hefty plate of food…then suddenly half of it is gone thanks to a particular toddler deciding she wants “just oooonnnneee bite, Mommy”. One bite, my booty!

That would all be “bites” from my lunch yesterday…after she ate her own pbj with carrots

2. Playing Chase. Turn your back to do one thing and children can get into all sorts of messes. Even at 8 months old, baby B already has his sneaky ways down pat. I’m chasing that boy all the live long day. I don’t even want to think what it will be like once he starts walking! I could probably train for a half marathon without ever doing an official training run.

3. Kids are $$$$$! I’m too busy buying things like diapers to afford going out to eat all the time or to fund my daily cravings for Dairy Queen blizzards.

4. There’s Just No Time! Things are constantly go go go as a parent. And I’m constantly distracted by my children. Sometimes it even makes me forget to eat.

5. The Gym Is An Escape. You want to know why I have no problem going to the gym or on a run six days a week? Free childcare and the perfect excuse to get away for an hour.

6. It Feels Good To Say No. I don’t have the junky packages of Ding Dongs and Ho Hos going into my shopping cart at the store. And part of the reason is because I get a wee bit of satisfaction saying “NO”. After all, I have to get revenge on that hour of sleep lost last night.

7. Kids Can Make You Lose Your Appetite. Mid-dinner and I hear the biggest explosion of nasty imaginable? Then getting elbow deep in baby poo? Not really in the mood to go back to my plate of Almost Meatless Sloppy Joe after that. You get the picture.

8. Kids Have No Filter. I really don’t care to have Makenzie tell me I have a big, lumpy booty…again.

9. You Do Active Things So They Will NAP! Nap time is heavenly bliss every afternoon. And I will do my best to make sure they take good naps. Enter dancing in the living room, visits to the playground, and going on walks.

10. You Become A Pack Mule. The amount of baby stuff to keep up with everywhere you go blows my mind. I can easily leave the house to go somewhere for 15 minutes having to carry three bags, a 16 pound baby, and dragging a 25 pound toddler. Let’s not even get to the amount of squats I do in a day bending down to pick them up.

11. Burn 1000 Calories A Day Cleaning. Kids are messy. Really, really messy. There’s always something to clean or do. Teddy bears to run downstairs and grab to bring back upstairs for bedtime. Sweeping and mopping up spills. It. Never. Ends.

12. Tuning Out Superpowers. As a mom, I have gotten very good at tuning out the whining. Sometimes you just have to. And that only strengthens my ability to tune out unnecessary cravings for a second bowl of ice cream.

13. Wine, Coffee, and Chocolate. Those three things have been shown to be “good for you”. Or so I heard that somewhere and I like that idea, so I call it truth. Antioxidants and heart health…or something? Sure, why not. All I know is that I need a little lot of each as part of motherhood. Total health powerhouse!!

So, as you can see, motherhood is my top secret way to stay in shape Wait. Hold that thought. I have to go run up some stairs to squat down and curl up my little man. Then, I have a feeling M will want to play “jumping bean” (aka me jumping up and down holding her). Yea…motherhood. It’s a pretty good secret weapon if you ask me.

• What is a random part of your life that helps your fitness/health without trying?

Disclaimer: I wrote this post in a very sarcastic manner. While the above are all true parts of motherhood, they do not mean I rarely make time to eat or think of my children as a burden.

Thank you to LUNA Protein for providing me a LUNA Protein sample pack to review. The opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint.

News Flash – I’m a busy mom. A super busy mom. I won’t go through another full rundown of my daily routine in this post, but let me give you a glimpse into all that I carry on my plate right now:

• supporting my husband and enriching our relationship
• loving and caring for my children
• maintaining relationships with friends and family
• blogging and living out my dream/passion
• training for a half marathon
• facilitating two separate adult study groups in my church
• volunteering in M’s preschool
• studying to become a personal trainer
• having some fun along the way

I think busy mom just may be the understatement of the century. I juggle all of these things because I have four areas of my life in which I refuse to settle: my growth in my faith, my relationships with loved ones, my passion for blogging, and my personal health and well-being. Just because I have a million and one things to do in a day doesn’t mean I need to forget about caring for myself. And for someone who has battled binge eating in the past, part of caring for myself is making sure I fuel my body properly.

I try to ensure I sit down and take time for balanced meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But snacks? Those can pose a challenge. Those often require grab and go options as I head out the door to whatever madness awaits me next.

My preferred snacks will always be green smoothies (Chocolate Covered Strawberry por favor), yogurt bowls, handfuls of Love Grown granola, veggies and hummus, or fruit and peanut butter. When I need something fast, though, I resort to bars.

Recently I had the offer to try out the LUNA Protein bar line. I have loved the regular LUNA bars for a long time now and usually have a stash of them for emergency grab and go snacks. I know from experience that protein does help me feel fuller longer, so I welcomed the chance to try these out for my on-the-go hunger.

The bars come in five different flavors – Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Cherry Almond. Each bar contains a dense, chewy center (that reminds me of cookie dough) surrounded in a light chocolate coating.

The bars contain 200 calories or less, 12 grams of soy and whey protein, and 3 grams of fiber. Other highlights I find in these bars:

• no artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or trans-fats
• no ingredients from genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• gluten-free (recently updated to gluten free bars earlier this year)

Now for the verdict?

I really enjoyed the flavors and texture of the bars. The Chocolate Cherry Almond and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough were my favorites! The bars were pretty small, but I found they held me over as a snack just fine for a couple of hours between main meals. I will always strive to choose natural, whole foods over processed snacks – but I can definitely see me buying these again for when I need something fast on the go. Let’s face it…it’s a must to have such options as a mom of two young kids!

Would you like to try some of these bars for yourself? LUNA is offering to giveaway a pack containing each of the five bars plus an extra small prize to FIVE winners! More chances to win equals more fun in my book. So let’s get started!

To enter this giveaway please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry option.

• Leave a comment telling me what is your favorite grab and go snack OR which flavor you want to try of the LUNA Protein bars.
• For the Twitter lovers - Tweet the following: [ I’m trying to win this #cleverLUNA giveaway from @TinaFFF - http://bit.ly/pKHWt9 ]
• For the Facebook lovers – Like Faith Fitness Fun on Facebook or let me know if you already do!

US Residents only. One week to enter – ends Friday, September 3rd at 5 pm EST.

Please click here to learn more about LUNA Protein. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #cleverLUNA