Wait- we have to do math while we exercise? What? Let’s step back and think for a second. The way you begin to make progress toward fitness is by doing a little bit more than you did the day before. When we see all of the brand new, shiny faces entering our classrooms each year, one of the first things we do to help them grow as learners is assess them. Why do we do that? Because we need to know where they are to help them set goals, and we then make a plan to help them achieve success. The same things goes with exercise.
The new devices that we wear now make it really easy to measure our movement. On last Saturday’s run, I wore both my Fitbit and my Garmin. I wanted to capture my steps for my weekly Fitbit totals (I love to compete with my friends) and I wore my Garmin so I could measure the distance of how far I ran.
I don’t wear my Garmin every day, because for me it’s too big. I’m waiting for a new Fitbit model that has GPS technology “on board” so I don’t have to wear both. If one already exists, please comment on my blog so I can go get one!
Years ago at a school where I taught, we made a big chart in the teacher’s lounge with everyone’s name and how many steps that we took. It was pre-Fitbit days when we had to wear pedometers. Each day we wrote down our steps. What did that do? It did many things! We suddenly became aware of our movement, we started grabbing friends and walking together, started walking more, and we started losing weight. I lost 10 pounds at that time in a short period of time. Our brains started making connections that more steps= weight loss. Walking more doesn’t hurt, take too much time, and isn’t difficult. But if you take a few more steps each day than you did the day before, you will see results. Once you see results, you get that pure rush of happiness and confidence because your begin to transform, and then you want to exercise more.
More movement is just one piece of the puzzle, however. What you put into your body is also extremely important as well. One of my pals, Deborah Hayes, or as many of us know her as the TPT Author, “Happyedugator“, has had a major transformation by re-thinking that way she eats, and she has lost a HUGE amount of weight. This is Deb and Elliott at a prior TPT Conference. We’re so excited that Deb will be presenting at this year’s Conference, and her session is called “Keep Fit andTPT: My Story”.
Here blog link is: http://happyedugator.blogspot.com/ and she is collecting your favorite, healthy recipes and weight loss tips. She’d love for you to comment on her blog with your favorites! You can also comment on our blog and I’ll get them to her. We are both working together to help inspire our family and friends to work toward health and fitness. Deb has a wealth of knowledge on recipes and healthful eating, and my passion is exercise, so together we have become fitness partners!
Let me know what you think!
Carol