Physical Activity Recommendations
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Children should receive at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily.
Cardiorespiratory Endurance – 30 to 60 minutes of moderate activity 5 days per week or 20 to 60 minutes of vigorous activity two to three days per week.
-Walking on a treadmill or outdoors
-Indoor bicycle or outdoor trail riding
-An elliptical or fitness class
Resistance Exercise – Train major muscle groups 2 to 3 times per week. Two to four sets with 8-12 or 10-15 repetitions to improve strength and power, 15-20 repetitions to improve muscular endurance.
-Resistance bands
-Medicine balls
-Machine weights
-Free weights
-A resistance fitness class
Flexibility Exercise – Train two or three days a week and hold each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds to point of tightness or discomfort. Repeat each stretch 2 or 4 times.
-Stretch major muscle groups
-Hamstring stretch
-Calf stretch
-Arm cross body stretch
-Butterfly stretch
Neuromotor Exercise – 20 to 30 minutes a day. Exercise should involve motor skills such as balance, agility, and coordination.
-Yoga
-Tai Ji
-Pilates
-Karate
Click here for a printable copy of the above fitness recommendations.
When Starting a Healthy Lifestyle
Things to know:
-Know that results are gradual, a diet is temporary. A lifestyle change should be for life.
-Identify your fitness goal, and decide if it’s safe, effective, and legal.
-When you do not see number on the scale go down after a couple of months of healthy living, do not get discouraged. The first couple weeks of weight loss is due to water loss. Fat will be harder to lose, if you have hit a plateau reaching your fitness goal, increase your FITT. (Frequency, Intensity, Type, and Training)
-Make fitness a family affair, set time aside throughout the week to reach fitness goals as a family.
American College of Sports Medicine Recommendations for Weight Management
-A diet should provide minimum of 1200 calories per day to meet nutritional requirements
-The diet should include food that is acceptable to the individual in terms of nutritional needs, sociocultural background, taste, cost, and ease of acquisition and preparation.
-The difference between energy intake (food going in) and expenditure (energy lost during daily activities) should provide a negative caloric balance that does not exceed 500 – 1000 calories per day and results in gradual weight loss without metabolic abnormalities.
-Weight loss should not exceed 2.2 lb. per week.
-Behavior modification should be instigated in order to identify and eliminate dieting habits that contribute to improper nutrition.
-New eating and physical habits should be reasonable, manageable, and appropriate. This is important if such habits are expected to be continued for life.
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