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Winter move and groove!

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I hear it all the time…I was so on track with my activity program and then WINTER CAME. What I say to that is “start planning now.”

Ask yourself, what does indoor activity look like to you? Look around your house. What ways can you add more activity to everyday life. Most houses have steps. Use these great heart rate risers to your advantage. Set goals to climb a certain number of steps each night when you get home from work. While watching television, each commercial break equals a climbing moment. Another easy way to elevate the heart rate when homebound is to catch some dance fever. Put on your favorite music and bust a move.  Whatever that means to YOU!

Trackers (wearable devices like Fitbit and Jawbone Up) and pedometers are great tools to keep movement on target. Remember, if you are within the Dauphin County area, you can request a pedometer in three week intervals at any of the eight libraries within the Dauphin County Library System.

When the weather keeps you from engaging in outdoor activity, use supermarkets and malls for spaces of shelter and climate control. Think about adding laps through the grocery store BEFORE you actually shop or park at a different anchor store to encourage more movement. As always, the healthy parking space is the one the farthest away. Also, think about how you are walking to these destinations. Are you strolling? Or are you “white rabbiting”?  Reminisce about the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.  He is always late – move like you are late for the most important date in your life – as much as possible!

If the cold and wind are your friends, remember to layer your clothing to adjust your body temperature when your internal thermostat starts rising.

Plan now, so when the winter wind blows, you can laugh right back! Of course, while moving and grooving!


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Gina McDonald serves as the senior health coach for Capital BlueCross. She received her B.S. in Dietetics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and her M.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion from California University of Pennsylvania.