Great start to Week 3 of Fitness in Citrus - 2013!

EXERCISE TIP
One of our Fitness Challenge team leaders is Monica Payne, the Family & Consumer Sciences agent at the UF / IFAS Citrus County Extension Service. She teaches several classes, including a weight management program.  She gave permission for us to adapt tidbits from her class information and her regular newspaper columns to share with other Fitness Challengers. Thanks, Monica!

Many people sign up for Fitness in Citrus because they want a little boost in carrying out their new year resolutions. Typical goals include eating healthier, being more physically active and losing weight.

Great aspirations, all. But remember that success comes through setting and working toward realistic, short-term goals. The real payoff comes for those who make healthy, lasting lifestyle changes. Fitness in Citrus is about incorporating physical activity into your daily life, but it goes hand-in-hand with practicing such other healthy lifestyle practices as a nutritionally balanced diet. That’s especially important for Fitness Challengers because we need the right fuel for our more active lives!

In the Fitness Challenge, we each can set realistic weekly goals. Team members support each other, and act as accountability partners. As you progress, revise your goals as needed. You may soon find yourself doing easily what was more difficult at first.

Before you began the Fitness Challenge, your team chose one of two tracks: walkers are happy with the Steps Challenge, and those who enjoy doing a variety of activities are happier in the Minutes Challenge.  Choosing an activity you like will encourage you to do it more regularly.

Remember to reward yourself with non-food rewards, such as getting a massage or going to a movie, or just having a fun team get-together. The great news is that it's never too late to make positive changes in your life, and you don’t need to change everything at once.  Any change in the right direction can have positive benefits! 

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 I hope your team is enjoying the Community-Wide Fitness Challenge!
The last couple of days of cold weather may have slowed some of us, but the forecast is for a very nice week, so ...

 Keep Moving!