So far this semester, I have been doing my best to exercise regularly and stay active. My Nike Fuel Band has been helping to regulate how many steps I take and how many calories I burn per day. On days that I walk to class, I walk so much that it is easy for me to hit my goal for the day (which is 10,000 steps). But on the weekends, when I don’t have to walk as much, I have to make a conscious effort to get outside and do something active. I am making sure to go to the gym or go for runs this week whenever I can find the time. But next week is going to be another story. Next week begins spring break for the University of Florida. I will be in Key West with ten of my friends and although I am very excited, I decided to take some precautionary steps to make sure that I don’t get too far off track in my steps to be more healthy and active. Vacation can be a very hard time for people to exercise and eat healthy. I have experienced this firsthand. It is easy to make excuses like “I’m on vacation! I’ll exercise when I get back to the real world”. Next week, I am not letting myself make excuses like that. I am setting goals for myself so that I can make sure to hit my fitness goal every day of spring break. In the Keys it will be so warm and beautiful outside so I will be taking a short walk on the beach everyday of spring break. I will walk either in the morning when I wake up or in the evening as the sun is setting. I have put reminders in my phone so that I will be sure not to forget my goals. My friends and I have also signed up for some cool activities to do during the week. One of them is a bike ride around downtown Key West. We found an awesome bike rental place where you can rent bikes for the whole day for only $10. The other activity is a cool snorkeling experience at a coral reef. We booked the snorkeling trip through Sunset Watersports. I know that both of these activities will help me to stay active and moving during the day instead of just lounging around by the pool. These are just a few of the precautionary steps I’m taking to ensure I don’t deviate from my exercise plans! Of course eating healthy can go a long way too. Vacation is a good time to spend lots of money on unhealthy foods. But, I have decided to kill two birds with one stone by packing some healthy snacks for our trip. I have encouraged my friends to do the same! I am packing a cooler full of fruits, veggies, lunchmeat, and cheese to make sandwiches. I am bringing Gatorades, bottled water, power bars, and trail mix. This way, when we are at the hotel and start to get hungry, we have healthy snacks waiting for us. I think this will save my friends and me a lot of money so we don’t have to go out to eat as much. I hope these ideas will help me this spring break to keep my healthy promise in mind! I know it might be tough, but setting these goals aside will definitely help. Who knows? I might end up doing one of my favorite abs exercises, too! But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves!