Being healthy, when you think in terms of a lifestyle, is not one, huge thing. It’s little steps over a lifetime that add up to brilliant health.
This is what I’m realizing as I have been staying true to my commitment to get up from the computer and start up a scheduled workout DVD or program. It’s not this big, huge difficult thing – which I think in many ways makes it easy to say no. One work out won’t make a big difference one way or the other, right?
But those little 30 minute workouts, all put together over the course of the past two weeks, have helped me begin to rediscover my body. My strength. My flexibility. My enjoyment of good health.
I used to be a swimmer – I always enrolled in the swim classes at college just for the dedicated time to swim laps, and a great coach who was helping me improve my butterfly stroke. Between that and my work coaching gymnastics, I had scheduled, dedicated time to exercise on a regular basis. As a mother nothing for myself was scheduled anymore. I had to change that first and foremost.
I have now been setting an alarm on my phone to remind me to workout. It might seem like a small thing but it’s been really helpful. As a result of actually SCHEDULING my exercise times I have met my goal of working out 3-4 times per week for the past three weeks!
I’m grateful for the Quaker Oats Heart Health Challenge for reminding me that it is important to schedule healthy habits into our day. Have you joined in the MapMyFitness Challenge? It’s time!
I’m probably never going to be able to coach gymnastics again. And I don’t live a 5 minute walk from the swimming pool anymore. With kids underfoot I’ve had to get more creative with my workouts but that doesn’t mean I should use them as an excuse to stop exercising. That’s not fair to myself and it’s not fair to them either.
So I accepted the challenge to work out more often and take those little steps towards improving my health! What about you?
February is National Heart Health month. Even if it’s only 5 more minutes a day, what extra step will you take to stay fit?
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats Company. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.
