Fitness begins with an attitude makeover

The trick to being active is commitment "My advice for other families would be to put one adult or older child in charge of determining a fitness activity for the week or month and have them make all the plans and secure the equipment," says Whitney Glaser, 42, of Sarasota, Fla.

The trick to being active is commitment, she says. "You have to say, 'We're going to get up and get going by this time.' If you wait for people to get up and then say what are we going to do today, by then it will be too hot."

She and her husband, Dave, 44, and daughter, Sarah, 10, made a big effort to be active this summer, even in the intense Florida heat. They gardened and did yard work together and then cooled off by taking a swim, Whitney says. "Normally, Dave would be stuck with that job and I would work inside the house. It was nice what to work together as a family," she says.