Summer Vacation Countdown Has Begun!

June 2, 2014

Kathleen Cram,

This time of year is usually busy for us with all of the end of year school events and wrapping up the extracurricular activities. Time seems to be just flying by! The end of the organized Spring sports didn’t slow us down though when it comes to keeping the kids or ourselves active. The Fit Family Challenge has helped to get us into a mindset in which we are more aware of our activity levels on a daily basis.

I also know we are also making more conscious decisions on a daily basis with healthy eating. The kids have a better understanding of which food groups the foods they choose fall into. They are each doing well in choosing healthier items as well as understanding why a particular food might be the healthier choice. Chuck and I are doing better at planning ahead to be sure there are healthy options available regardless of how busy the schedule may get.

Our expert team was great! We learned some great things from each of them. Dr. Tara Branton gave us some great tips to deal with the allergies and crazy amount of pollen we’ve had this year. Implementing her strategies, we have not had to slow down with enjoying outside activities. She also introduced us to the exercise program Focus T25. We love that program and have been following the daily schedule for it. I know I’ll stick with it, even after the challenge ends. Kelsey Knasel, our nutritionist has given us awesome ideas for healthy, but quick meals. We have added many of them to our weekly meal list. Chris Bryan, our fitness expert educated us on the importance of starting off our day with a healthy breakfast. We’ve implemented this and definitely see a difference in energy levels come mid-morning. Kim Jacobs, our Life Balance coach helped us to realize that we need to involve the kids more in the daily and weekly chores. Although the job may not get done exactly how we might like it to, they are each learning that they play an integral role in the everyday functioning of our family. The older two girls are even starting to ask what they can do to help without even needing to be prompted! Now, that’s progress in itself! We will definitely continue to implement each of their suggestions going forward!

As a result of what we learned during the challenge, we pre-schedule things much more now. We try to make up a meal list on Sundays for the upcoming week. The list includes a meal plan for the week along with a corresponding shopping list. We also get input from the kids related to activities they would like to do during the week ,whether it be playground, soccer, bike rides, etc. We then take a look at our weekly schedule and plug these activities in. In our family, if it is pre-planned, it is so much easier to follow through with!

We found that increasing our level of activity was pretty easy for us. We all seem to have a competitive nature and were motivated by earning points for the amount of fitness time as well as for making healthy eating decisions. The kids definitely keep tabs on how we were doing on the Fitness Challenge scoreboard. They know what they need to do to earn their points on a daily basis.

We have realized that our biggest obstacle with the challenge was trying to focus on the two challenge areas of healthy eating and fitness while also taking care of all of the other aspects of our life such as work and housekeeping. Obviously, work obligations still needed to be met, but the housekeeping has not been at the top of the priority list during the challenge. We are still trying to develop our strategies to fit it all in. My Spring cleaning plans have now turned into my “As soon as the kids and I are done with school…” plans! It will eventually all get done.

The countdown for the last day of school has begun in our house! The kids are already excited about spending their days at our neighborhood pool and sharpening their swimming skills. Chcck and I are looking forward to having more flexibility in our schedule but still continuing to stay active as a family.