MU Step Up Challenge Ends

November 24, 2015 ~ So I thought the MU Step Up Challenge ended yesterday but apparently we still had one day to go! This was a fun event the MU Health Care put on in an effort to help anyone that signed up for this FREE challenge to become a little healthier! Since a group of us ladies were walking every night we figured it would be a great idea to get signed up. I love challenges and couldn't wait to see what we could with this challenge as our motivator!

This 11-week challenge started out by challenging each person to get 5,000 steps per day. Each Tuesday the weekly step goal would go up 1,000 steps until the final week when you would get 15,000 steps per day. I'm not even gonna lie... this past couple weeks wasn't easy! In the beginning it was super easy because our nightly walks would help us reach nearly 10,000 (including what we did during our normal daily routine) but as the weather changed and the number of steps increase it was really a challenge!  

 So many people gave up on this challenge once the steps go above 10,000 per week but I've gotta say that I am so proud of our team for not giving up! It was hard and some days you just didn't really feel like doing it but every single person did the best they possibly could and turned in their steps every single day until the end. The overall goal of this challenge was to take 770,000 steps and the "Midway Walkie Talkies" all reached and exceeded the 770,000 step goal! {insert high five here}

I think many people lost the idea of what this challenge was intended to do which was to move you, motivate you and inspire you!  This was based on you being honest and not cheating your way through the challenge and not giving up. It's supposed to be hard... that's why it's called a challenge. If it was easy then everyone would have done it. Changing your lifestyle to become a little healthier is meant to be done in baby steps and while in the beginning it may seem super easy it does become harder and makes you think about your activeness on a daily basis. Why not take the stairs instead of the elevator to get more steps or perhaps parking your car further away from the door of the store/mall/office? If you can stick to these habits within a few weeks you don't really even think about them and you just start doing them. 

Thank you MU Health Care for having a challenge like this. You pushed me, encouraged me and inspired me! (Of course I am glad I don't have to get 15,000 steps per day! Ha!)