Nine of 10 Women Attempt Exercise Goals After Initial Failure, Su...( Survey shows many women set but don'...),Health

Survey shows many women set but don't reach exercise goals; American Heart

Association launches Choose To Move Countdown to help

DALLAS, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sixty-nine percent of women set a goal around exercise during the past 12 months but only 22 percent achieved theirs, according to a new American Heart Association survey.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071016/DCTU003 )

The survey showed that exercise goals -- particularly New Year's resolutions -- are a high priority for women, but that most do not commit time or use the best tools to succeed. Those who succeeded used tools that were easily accessible and free. The association also found that:

-- Women who work on their goal for more than six months have a better

record of achievement; whereas, about half of those who fail stop

trying in the first two months.

-- Women who achieved their goal to exercise more wrote down their goals,

used calendars to manage their time and tracked their progress with

paper charts and online trackers significantly more than those who

weren't successful.

To encourage women to set and achieve goals, the American Heart Association created Choose To Move Countdown, a downloadable desktop tool that participants access at GoRedForWomen.org. The Choose To Move Countdown includes daily exercise tips, words of encouragement and nutrition advice for 84 days/12 weeks -- long enough to help women develop healthy habits that can result in positive lifestyle changes.

"Today's busy woman needs a program that is flexible and attainable to make a permanent shift to a healthier lifestyle," said Jennifer Mieres, M.D., spokeswoman for the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women campaign and director of nuclear cardiology at New York University. "The American Heart Association's Choo
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