· Walk or bike one daily trip for which you'd normally drive the car.

· Get a walking buddy or take a family walk after dinner.

· Walk a child to school or participate in a Walk to School Day event.
(http://www.walktoschool.org)

· Walk through your neighborhood and rate it's "walkability."
(http://www.walkinginfo.org/walkingchecklist.htm)

· Take walking meetings at work.

· Keep a daily activity log. Estimate the mileage you walked or the minutes you spent doing something active.

· Buy a pedometer and consider wearing it all day long.

· Form a walking group with a regular schedule. There is encouragement in numbers.

Ready to start a daily walking routine? Here are some tips for beginners:

· Start slowly. Don't test your limits right away. You should feel good at the end of your walk, not exhausted.

· Add on time slowly. Never add more than 10 to 20 percent to the total number of minutes or miles you walk in a week.

· Remember that something is always better than nothing. Even if you intended to walk 20 minutes, a 10-minute walk is still vastly better for you than doing nothing.

· Add four minutes of stretching to your daily habit to maintain your overall range of motion as well as muscle and joint health.

· If you can't take 30 minutes once a day to walk, consider breaking the time down and walking 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at lunch, and 10 minutes in the evening.

· Keep it fun. Make your daily walk something you look forward to.