A week into the challenge, how are you doing?

Well, it's been a little over a week. How are you doing with the challenge? Are you meeting your weekly goal? Were you realistic when you set that goal? Is that goal too easy? Too hard? Do you need to make adjustments to it for this week?

Make sure you are going to http://www.womenshealth.gov/woman to enter your progress. You should see yourself move along the map as each week passes.

There is an additional challenge this week. If you want the bonus points, just click on week 2 bonus challenge and chose one of the 4 items listed to try this week. Once you've completed the challenge, click where it says, "I certify I completed one of these" and you will be awarded your bonus points.

I'd like to know what your struggles are. Post them here or email me.
I'm finding that it's getting busier and it's getting harder for me to make time or fit my workouts in. I like to workout for at least an hour a day. I've decided that I should stop stressing about the workouts and only do 30 minutes if that's all that I can fit in. If I can't fit a full workout in, I'm also trying to throw in some crunches, squats, pushups or lunges. These do burn calories and do work. Just keep track of the time you are doing them and you'll see that by the end of the day that you accumulated quite a few and that you got in a 20-30 minute workout anyways.

Remember, we are worth taking care of. When we take care of ourselves, we are better moms, just better all the way around.

Keep working at meeting those fitness goals.

If I can do anything to help you, please let me know. I'll be checking in again soon.

Marsha

The challenge has officially started

Yes, yesterday was Mother's Day which officially starts the challenge. If you haven't started the challenge yet, go to http://www.womenshealth.gov/woman and get signed up so you can get started.

If you are signed up, make sure you go to http://www.womenshealth.gov/woman and set your daily goal either in steps or in the number of minutes you want to be active. You should enter your activity daily or every few days during that particular week.

Remember, along the way we will be given bonus challenges, so watch for those.

I challenge you to do 20 minutes of some type of activity at least 3 days this week. You can walk, jog, run, bike, dance, workout, or play a sport. If you have Dance revolution or the Wii.... that counts too!! 20 minutes of activity 3 days is a great place to start. If you are already active and can do more, that's even better. The weather is getting nicer and getting outside to enjoy it doesn't mean we need to sacrifice our workouts. Gardening, biking, walking, and cutting the grass all burn calories. Let's all work together and meet our goals for a healthier you.

Good luck to you all and I'll check in with you in a few days.

Marsha

What do I do?

You are probably wondering what to do and how to get started. This is NOT going to be hard. You don't have to be going to a gym or even do actual workouts to join us on this challenge. You can join us by walking or logging any kind of physical activity, including sports and anything that gets your heart rate up and a sweat going. Here's what you need to do to get started....



1. You need to go to http://www.womenshealth.gov/woman to sign up and join a team. I am leading the Turbo Addicts team if you'd like to join us.



2. You'll set a goal for the week. It is important to consider your current level of physical activity and any impairments you may have when doing this. Set goals that will challenge you, but that you are able to achieve. They should be realistic goals for your lifestyle.



3. At the end of each day, you'll go and record the number of minutes that you were active that day or the number of steps on your pedometer. You will watch yourself move across the country on our virtual map. Your movement on the route is based on whether you met your goals, and the teams movement will depend on if they team met their weekly goals. There are bonus challenges thrown in about every 2 weeks, so watch for those.



4. Now this starts on Sunday, May 11th, which is Mother's Day. You DO NOT have to be a mother to join us. You also do not have to do something every day to join us either... just do something according to the goals you are setting.



I look forward to you joining us and I will post here regularly and through email.

Come join us and have fun as we travel "across the country" an d make this journey to good health a little bit more fun.



Marsha