British presenter and author Fearne Cotton fits in her workouts whenever she can—and if that means a quick yoga session on the kitchen floor, so be it. Cotton, 42, shared a humorous video of herself wearing casual exercise clothes, doing exercises on a mat. “Messy head, messy kitchen, messy tracksuit yoga. Kids on screens so I can get in half an hour of moving my bones,” she captioned the post. Here’s how Cotton approaches fitness, health, and diet as a busy working mom.
Cotton prefers shorter, intense workouts in the mornings using a fitness app. “I try to carve out 20 minutes every other day, usually first thing in the morning,” she told Fiit.tv. “At 6.30am my husband will be in the kitchen making breakfast with the kids, and I’ll go into the living room to do my workout. By 7am it’s all done and I’m set up for the day. I like to mix it up. I love fast-paced cardio classes followed by yoga. I’ve been doing Adrienne’s HIIT classes, and cardio circuits with Chessie, Steph and Lilly. I love Cat’s yoga classes and also Richie’s mobility flows. My husband does them too! I still go running and to my local yoga class when I have time.”
Cotton works out to stay on top of her happiness as well as her health. “For me, exercise is all about feeling good. Even squeezing in a 20 minute workout to my day makes a huge difference,” she told Fiit.tv. “My body feels energized and stretched, and I feel happier. The high at the end is the best! Exercise is also my ‘me-time’. Being a mum and with my busy work schedule, I rarely get time to myself. But I think it’s really important that we make space to take care of ourselves — for our mental and physical health. When I exercise, it’s like time doesn’t exist and I can focus on me.”
Cotton starts the day with healthy smoothies for the family. “I usually have either an omelet or porridge in the morning, and then usually make me and the kids a big smoothie made with spinach, sweetened with things like dates and bananas so that they don’t know it’s got loads of vegetables in it,” she told Health & Wellbeing. “I’m a real snacker, so I’ll nibble on things like rice cakes, oatcakes and peanut butter, carrots and hummus… For lunch I’ll have a big bowl of something like kale, noodles and tofu and loads of veg.”
Cotton enjoys vegetable-based meals for dinner, such as a delicious broth. “I don’t eat any meat, I haven’t eaten it since I was a kid, but I’ll have fish around once a month,” she told Health & Wellbeing. “I’m really trying to keep things fish-free because of how much we’re over-fishing the oceans and it’s a big concern of mine, so I’m really trying to eat lots of good vegetarian proteins instead, but if I’m out at a restaurant I’ll maybe eat a bit of fish.”
Cotton enjoys quiet nights at home with her family for rest and rejuvenation. “I’d be pleased with some nice food or a cup of tea,” she told House Beautiful. “Having those moments of real peace and quiet are so rare now that my kids are older. They’re staying up later and later. I want those evenings where I can just take my bra off and don’t have to worry about the kids because they’re asleep. Then, I can watch whatever I want and let my brain stop. That is a perfect night for me.”