1. Make exercise a part of your day. Exercising is as important as brushing your teeth, it needs to become a part of your day.
2. Set aside time on your calendar. Plan your family workouts. Be sure to check everyone’s schedule and put up a family calendar to remind all family members of this time.
3 .Choose the right exercise. What’s the best exercise in the world? The one you love the most. Find out what each family members favorite sport, skill or drill is and teach everyone in the family to do it.
4. Drink water. The human body is made of over 80% water, and you need to keep replenishing it. You should drink at least 1 litre of water a day. Your body sweats a lot of that water so you need to put it back in.
5. Willpower and motivation. Believe in yourself and support each family member.
6. Eat a nutrient dense diet. See www.cookinglessonsfromhome.com
7. Recognize — and accept — that, occasionally, eventually, things happen. The most important thing in any diet/exercise plan is knowing how to cope when you make a mistake. When you fail, accept it, embrace it and move on.
8. Focus on small changes.Even on those days in which nobody wants to get up off the sofa and move, just a walk around the block or a game of basketball will burn more calories then sitting on a sofa watching television. So, small steps done well are what make it happen.
9. Find a substitute “crutch” for eating. We eat for a lot of reasons besides hunger. If what drives you to crunch and munch is anger, sadness or boredom, you’ll need. Exercise does double duty — stops you from eating and burns extra calories — so long as you’re not swigging high-calorie energy drinks as you sweat.
10. Stick together as a family. Family are people you can lean on when the urge to sit on the couch with a quart of double-fudge ripple and a spoon gets overpowering. We propagate this fiction that we have to be able to do it purely on our own. Will power alone cannot do it, any more than will power alone will let you hold your breath under water indefinitely. Be accountable for each member of your family.
