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TAKE ASSESSMENT

6.

Tell participants:

  • It is one thing to understand the benefits of physical activity.
  • It is quite another to have a practical plan you can use to increase your level of physical activity. 
  • Today you are going to make this plan.
7.

Ask participants to take out their completed FOOD AND ACTIVITY RECORDS and to turn to page 2.3 in their notebooks. Explain:

  • Before you can make a plan to increase your level of physical activity, you have to know your starting point.

Review the instructions for completing Where Are You Now? and allow participants a few minutes to finish the task.

NOTE: The system for classifying activity level used in Where Are You Now? has been adapted from the 1989 edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances.
8.

Continue by pointing out:

  • All activity burns calories. Even activities that are classified as Light or Very Light burn calories. But they do not burn calories as quickly as the physical activities in the Moderate or Heavy categories.
  • How many of you have most of your minutes in the Light or Very Light columns?
  • How many had most in the Moderate column?
  • The Heavy activity column?

 

  • Right now it is not particularly important for you to worry about which category your activity falls under. This information is primarily to help you know at what level of activity you are starting.
  • You may not be active at a level that would provide all of the benefits mentioned earlier, but you can gradually increase your activity to a level that does provide a number of these benefits.
  • Incidentally, if you golf or do any other Light activity, don't give it up. In their own way, Light activities contribute toward your weight loss. Remember, all activity counts.
  • On the other hand, even if you are busy all day long, if you only do Very Light activities, you are not burning many calories.
  • Research has shown that 30 minutes per day of moderate activity can provide significant health benefits, as long as it's done consis- tently on all or most days of the week. The 30 minute total can even be accumulated over the course of the day, as long as the activities are about the same intensity as brisk walking. This level of physical activity develops a healthier heart, helps decrease blood pressure and cholesterol level, and reduces the risk of osteoporosis, colon cancer, and diabetes.
  • So, if you want to work a little harder, start with short 5 or 10 minute segments several times a day. You can gradually lengthen them and reduce the number as you become more fit.
  • Today each of you will have a chance to make a plan to increase your level of physical activity.
NOTE: If you have a participant who is doing more than three hours of heavy activity per week, talk with that person. The two of you may decide that this person is doing a sufficient amount of physical activity already.