Being Healthy - What this looks like for me...

With Thanksgiving just days away, the season of eating is here. Delicious hearty foods, desserts, candies.. YUM, YUM, YUM.

At my work they have a wellness club that promotes different health activities throughout the year. This week started a new challenge, "Maintain Don't Gain". For this challenge we are encouraged to do some sort of physical activity for 150 min/ week. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to go run 5 miles everyday.. walking, yard work, playing some sort of recreational sport.. all of these count. The point is just to get you to be active.

I like these sort of challenges b/c this is good to incorporate into your lifestyle on a daily/ weekly basis anyways. Obviously some weeks are busier than others... and missing days happens, that's just a part of life.

Almost a year ago Matt and I joined a health club. It has been such a good thing for us. My personal goal is to be at the gym at least 3 times a week. I usually run 1-2 miles on the elliptical,lift weights (arms and legs) and do an ab workout. My goal is not to turn into some crazy fit person.. I'm just trying to be healthy. I have felt so much better by making this part of my weekly routine, I even feel less tired than I used to.

Now, don't feel that you have to join a health club to exercise or to practice an active lifestyle. My mom is very into exercising but she never had a gym membership (until recently). She LOVES to walk though... and a great way to do this is to grab a friend and walk around your neighborhood or if its cool around the mall or some other large indoor facility. There were even ladies at my church growing up that would come and walk in the church gym...

Another part of being healthy has nothing to do with working up a sweat. Try this holiday season to not get stressed, get some sleep and just enjoy being around your family. This might mean delegating a little more by asking others to help if you are feeling overwhelmed, trying to exercise patience with out of town guests/ family you haven't seen in awhile.

So...throughout the next seven weeks I will try and post weekly on this challenge that I am participating in. I'll let you know the activities that I am trying to incorporate into my week that promote a healthy lifestyle. This week I will *try* and be active each day in some way. I will try and eat a healthy breakfast each morning and grab healthy snacks when hunger strikes, rather than grabbing a bag of potato chips. I will also try and work out in my yard this week. It is amazing the kind of workout that you can get from just raking/bagging leaves! (besides.. Matt and I really need to finish up this project anyways) So those are my plans for the week... nothing much... but every little bit helps.

**Oh and one more thing.. these pictures are of two of my favorite girls... This is a day that Matt and I took them to a park, a great way to get exercise.. not only for the kids, but for you too! You know what I'm talking about.. "PLEASE PUSH ME!"