As the holiday season approaches, it is more important than ever to be active during the day to stay healthy and to prevent unwanted seasonal weight gain. To assist you in these efforts, the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is offering the Team Pedometer Challenge from through Dec. 18.

“AFMC has two wellness challenges each year. You might recall ‘Spring Into Shape’ and ‘Freeze the Gain’ from last year. However, this is our first team pedometer challenge since 2011,” said CHPS Health Promotion Coordinator, Kaelynn Studebaker. “All AFMC DoD Civilians and Active Duty at HAFB can participate. They need to have (or create) an account with AFMCwellness.com, and enroll online for the challenge. Then they can bring their Team Pedometer Challenge enrollment certificate to the CHPS office to receive their pedometer.”

Pedometers are free for participants while supplies lasts. Once participants register and turn in their certificate for a pedometer, they can begin logging their steps on AFMCwellness.com. Completion awards will be distributed based on logged steps (at least 200,000 total) and attendance at the new CHPS class “Exercise and Arthritis.”

Participants who complete this challenge will receive a pack of FitDeck Cards. According to the FitDeck website, the cards are a “custom deck of playing cards that makes exercise more simple, convenient and fun. By shuffling the cards, you constantly create new and exciting workouts no matter what type of fitness activities you love.”

“The Team Pedometer Challenge aims to help the AFMC workforce learn healthy lifestyle habits for arthritis. Physical activity can help lessen the aches and pains of many types of arthritis,” Studebaker said. “I hope that individuals will take away the idea that we need to be active and move more. A pedometer is an easy way to track how much we move and as we use it, it can motivate us to keep moving. I hear individuals say that when they wear a pedometer and at the end of the day they haven’t hit their 10,000 steps, they will go for an extra walk to get them in.”

Participation in this challenge is free and teams can be made up of 1-2 people. Interested participants must bring their TPC Enrollment Certificate to the local CHPS office to pick-up their pedometer. For more information, contact CHPS at 801-586-6021.

Important Team Pedometer Challenge Dates:

Enroll Online: Oct. 6 – Nov. 12

Challenge Dates: Nov. 3 – Dec. 18

Class Dates: Nov. 3 – Dec. 18

Last day to enter steps online: Dec. 23

Incentive Award Pick-Up: Jan. 5 – Jan. 16, 2015