About Heart disease in women Center

Week 8: Finding Community Resources

If you are looking to find new opportunities to stay challenged and enlarge your circle of support, create a "search party" to discover facilities and opportunities in your city. You'll be surprised at what you find. After you discover what your city parks and recreation department has to offer, try several of the resources below.

American Hiking Society's "Hikers Info Center"

American Volkssports Association

eXerciseFriends.com Network

National Park Service; Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Trails and Greenway Clearinghouse

Some community support can also be found online. Try the following Web site for online chat rooms, and community bulletin boards.

www.ivillage.com

www.ediets.com

"When you get into a tight place, and it seems you can't go on, hold on, for that's just the place and time that the tide will turn." – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Get New Toys

If you haven't tried using a step counter or pedometer, you may want to experiment with one. It's a great way to keep track of the number of steps you're walking every day. It's also fun to keep a record and to increase the number of steps every week. The whole family will enjoy it, and it makes a great gift any time.

Zap Your Stress

Stress can sneak up on us if we don't prioritize tasks and take time each day to do something fun. Keep a fun journal and record the minutes in your week that you had fun. All work and no play can make you very cranky.

How about your snacking habits? Are you planning ahead and making good choices about the fuel you're putting into your body? Go back to Week 4 and review the nutritious foods that can be substituted for high-saturated fat, high-cholesterol foods.

Make New Goals

You're ready to consider some new short-term goals if you're accumulating at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most days of the week. Think about something you've always wanted to try (maybe not skydiving just yet) and go for it. You can do it, just like you've reached your current activity goals — one day at a time.

Record Your Progress

Compare your input in this week's log sheet with the log sheet in Week 1. You've made great progress. Keep rewarding yourself regularly because you've earned it!