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Tips for Increasing your Activity Level and Improving Your Health
- Talk with your healthcare provider about your desire to become more active. Discuss what activity is best for you and any cautions that should be taken. Let your provider be your personal cheerleader for getting more active. Moving is medicine!
- Make a mental picture of yourself being more active with friends and family. Think of how much fun it can be. Think how it can be added to what you currently do at home and group gatherings.
- Commit to tracking your progress. The more you write it, the more you do it! Register for FIT2007, and track your progress here.
- Find a buddy or start a group of folks who share your goal to become more active. Support each other in your new habits. Celebrate your successes too!
- Anticipate obstacles and have a back-up plan. For example, if you walk outdoors and the weather is bad, go to the gym or the mall. If you find yourself too weary at the end of the day, make a rule to check your list of reasons you want to be more active, before you decide not to get moving. Or, commit to saying your reasons aloud to your activity buddy before you excuse yourself from your promise to yourself. Or, if it truly is not possible get it done, make a plan for squeezing it in on another day or time.
- Avoid obstacles, such as injury, by making sure you have the proper clothing/shoes/equipment. Be sure to listen to your body and not over-do a good thing. Exercise in a safe location.
- If you get off track from your activity goal, learn from the experience and get moving. No guilt trips, just get moving again!
- Reward yourself for keeping your promises to be more active. It could be as simple as renting a movie or putting a $1 of "fun" money in the cookie jar for every time you get your 30 minutes/day.
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