Start 2017 off with National Family Fit Lifestyle Month!

It is time to get you and your family excited because January is National Family Fit Lifestyle Month! Family Fit Lifestyle Month is the best time for the whole family to create healthy lifestyle habits together.

Life can get busy but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop being healthy. It is recommended that children should be moderately physically active for 60 minutes a day. To kids, that may seem like a long time, so as adults, parents and caregivers we need to lead by example and get the whole family moving together.

It may seem hard to pull everyone away from their electronics and off of the couch during these cold winter months, but there are many ways to get the whole family involved in physical activities that can benefit everyone.

Here are tips and ideas on how to achieve a fit lifestyle for your family:

Break up TV time: Make commercial breaks, movement breaks. During each commercial break, as a family, do something active for 1 minute. Here are some active and fun ideas:

Jumping jacks

Dancing

Racing up and down the stairs

Sit-ups

Stretching

Jogging in place

Push-ups

Set family goals: Working together to achieve fitness and health goals is easier to do than working alone. Why not use your family as that support system? Try and hit a family goal once a week, such as walk over 50,000 steps together per week.

Keep the fun in fitness: Encourage your kids to go out and play in the snow, have a snowball fight, build an igloo or get the whole family to help shovel the driveway as an effective way to work those arms!

Make a fit bucket list: Encourage everyone to come up with a fitness bucket list and try to finish the whole list by the next year as a family! Some ideas include: a 4 hour hike, go for a 5 mile run, master a handstand, do 10 pull ups, work in 5 times in one week, etc.

Get Groovy: Dance, dance, dance! Blast the family’s favorite song and dance like no one is watching. This will get everyone up and moving and will be so much fun!

Studies show that when you (and your kids) get moving, you’re more likely to feel less stressed, feel better about yourself and maintain a healthy weight. You will also build and keep healthy bones, have strong muscles and joints and even sleep better at night!

Your turn to take action: How can you and your family participate in Family Fit Lifestyle Month? Let me know in the comments below!