Lean Mom, Fit Family

It's nice to see a fitness book out there specifically for families. Because the entire family gets involved in the decision-making process, everyone is held accountable for his or her own actions and, therefore, more deeply invested in getting healthy. The weekly plans are fairly easy to follow, implementing small changes each week in both fitness and nutrition and giving families a checklist for setting and reaching goals.

It's nice to see a fitness book out there for families, specifically one that helps moms integrate a healthy lifestyle for everyone. The 6-week plan is based on 7 Principles: exercise, portion sizes, protein, fiber, fats, calories and drinks. He briefly discusses each principle before moving on to the plan. He suggests, first, you set up a family meeting to set goals and determine how to reach them. The Fit Family Quiz helps you determine your family's 'fitness profile' and shows you where you need to improve as a family, encouraging everyone to keep food diaries and fitness journals, which could be a fun activity if you do it right. He then breaks things down into a 6-week plan. Each week, you'll focus on a specific task (e.g., healthy breakfasts and snacks, preventing back pain, etc.) and you'll have meal plans with several options for eating out, eating in and/or eating at school. You're encouraged to set up weekly exercise routines (which get progressively more involved), keep up with journals, meet each week to check in and plan fun family activities. He includes some great strength exercises for adults and for kids of different ages kids and provides a checklist each week to make sure you're on track. Overall, this is a great idea and, if you make it fun, kids will love being involved with the decision-making process. It may be a bit complicated for a busy family, but it's worth it to spend more healthy time with your family!