Calories burned walking when you walk 100 kms adds up to a significant calorie deficit and weight loss! This video is indicative of a fun attitude from these women doing the Oxfam Trail Walking Sydney for 2010. This fundraising program operates in several Oxfam countries around the world and exemplifies an opportunity for serious walking to lose weight people to combine fun, team work and philanthropy.
Pedals and Pedometer Steps recommends including activities to enhance your pedometer steps counting and to keep your interest alive for your pedometer steps program. This example of a special event walk demonstrates the opportunity to build pedometer steps and a walking to lose weight lifestyle.
Why is this such a good idea?
Pedometer steps counting is a great example of the tried and true method to not only losing weight but keeping the weight off once the activity level developed through walking for weight loss is continued as a lifestyle.
To develop your exercise or activity into a lifestyle choice requires building interest and variety, and friendships or family relationships into it. The charity or fun walk is a perfect opportunity to do this. What is appealing to me in this video is the fun attitude the girls have taken when recording the promotion. This Sydney event is in August.
The event began in 1981 as a military exercise for the elite Queen’s Gurkha Signals Regiment in Hong Kong, and has since grown into one of the world’s leading sporting challenges. Oxfam TRAILWALKER is a global event, taking place annually in New Zealand, UK, Hong Kong and Japan.
Emotions are not taught intentionally often. The ‘rule’ book does tend to promote action over feeling which means we can keep our inner most self hidden. Pedals & Pedometer Steps has written about the benefit of watching outstanding performers (athletes, dancers, The Biggest Losers) closely to learn about handling emotions positively, and for success. This is important for those introducing exercise, weight loss or pedometer steps counting, as tiring, injuring and depleting the body, has an emotional affect.
Everyday people must cope with this on top of their job, family commitments and other frailties. If your life is independent and successful then you may find that a period of extra commitment does not create a strain on your existing arrangements. One also suspects that you may already be on top of your fitness, health and well being also.
Many are not in that situation. Overwhelm in a number of areas may be the catalyst for the over weight lifestyle. Someone trying to add an exercise program into an over committed life can’t be blamed for wanting it to be fast and easy-and not cost much. These commitments may be for your time or even your emotional energy.
Handling the emotion of the exercise is also about handling the emotion of the lifestyle change. Although most people hope it can be a temporary change it requires a permanent change. That’s why we generally want it to be fast. Like a pill which we take until the problem is healed. With a lifestyle problem the only pill which does work is a belief that changing creates a better lifestyle.
Sometimes it seems better not to know the extent of the changes you will need to make until you are ready for each of them. Then the next step becomes obvious. Trying to rush and anticipate changes to come may rock the boat before you are able to contemplate the change with ease.
Long term weight loss with activity based, diet moderation style programs work effectively with ongoing commitment to this lifestyle which has resulted from the change. A friend was an avid pedometer steps counter and big eater for a small girl, but balanced the two successfully, from her family home and at work. She conscientiously monitored her weight and exercise and any weight change was quickly obliterated. A great success.
Then she got married. Yes the motivation for her intense interest in her waist measurements. She had loved the lifestyle and her fiancee was fully aware of it. He was not a problem. So she moved her home location and travel times increased. Her new family (in laws) had different criteria of behavior (food must be eaten), time away from her husband was questioned.
Again lifestyle change is necessary. This is not a difficult thing to do once you have a basic understanding that it requires a lifestyle plan. With the same dedication she has previously shown, she is now applying herself to making her schedule around the new requirements in such as way as to include activity. The style has to be modified and she is doing it so she can continue enjoying well being within a new lifestyle. The important point is that lifestyles do change many times over a lifetime. While there is a tendency to cling to one which is particularly satisfying it is better too move on. The new lifestyle can be sculptured to be even more satisfying, perhaps in differing ways.
Becoming a pedometer user introduces much more activity into your daily life. This can be tiring. Pedometer steps counting is addictive and it is great to get the target you want. Over time your resilience increases and you can do more without getting over tired. The best way I have found to get through any difficulties with pedometer steps within your normal daily framework is to follow some of these tips:
If you have made a mistake of some sort, move on. Do not dwell on it. You’ll do better when you can.
I have benefited most from others’ attitudes and advice more so than instructions and techniques. Getting instruction of pedometer step’s counting, walking or running, is easy on the web. Easy diet advice abounds. It is often the daily advice of what to do when…which is most helpful. Talk to other pedometer steps users.
Stop and take a breather if it suddenly seems too hard. Think of as many positive reasons for doing it and having fun with it that you can. This is not the time to throw up your hands and say I may as well overeat now. Have a small indulgence then look at Step 1.
As usual Pedals & Pedometer Steps wishes you well on your lifestyle journey.
Where you are, compared to other participants depends upon where your walking fitness training starts, and like other things in life, it has a tendency to repeat or cycle back at a different level i.e. spiral.
The number of pedometer steps to target for you is dependent upon several factors. This is why Pedals & Pedometer Steps generally recommends you wear a pedometer for several days prior to entering a fitness program. Doing this ensures you know what is the real starting point. Average pedometer steps are often taken to be 3000 steps in 30 minutes as a recommended walk. A taller, fitter person, walking on a pathway will probably number more steps in the same time. By noting your pedometer steps results each night over 3-5 consecutive days, totalling them and them finding the average, you will have your personal ‘level’.
For someone who has not exercised in some time this starting point may be disappointing. Pedometer steps increase rapidly though. Just watch and enjoy as the numbers keep on going up. Finding your level, starting at your level, is not failure in advance. It sets you up to rocket up the results chart. Success breeds confidence a major factor in exercise and weight loss.
Just in case you’re wondering-doesn’t confidence breed disrespect i.e. now I’m so wonderful I don’t need good health or to lose weight?
Confidence helps you to reach your goals. It enables you to stretch your efforts beyond what you would have done. This can be called over-confidence but unless you have made a ridiculous commitment, it is not, it is finding your limits. Again this allows you to position yourself in such a way as to make the changes necessary to achieve and again make rapid progress, towards your unchanged goal.
Over my lifetime I had a tendency to see any ‘failure’ when trying for bigger and better results, as a sentence: The end. When I attempted smaller and better though, I found the results were like rungs of a ladder. Easy to climb to the top!
Pedometer steps counting is truly a feature of the modern age. Walking itself as a leisure activity or necessary means of transport has been with us forever.
As with technology of other sorts the pedometer is a means of increasing our satisfaction with the ongoing process of walking for health (weight loss in particular) or fitness (training). Logging pedometer steps whether online or in a journal is part of the self interest movement of the last 20 years. We are more engaged with a process when it not only relates to, but includes, us. On the one hand it acknowledges that “we” make a difference, at least to our own results. On the other hand it streamlines the process to fit like a glove.
The weight loss dream has far too many components for easy assessment. We all know the nightmare of the scales and its lackluster performance as a guide. For some twenty years have gone by without the right combination of the stars and good fortune. Well the time is now. Never have we lived in such a choice- full, abundant society where many more suffer the diseases of excess than lack. Over whelm when it comes to finding the ‘right’ weight loss program is more likely to be the difficulty. Copying someone else’s successful process can have limited success for weight loss in the short term but for longer lifestyle choices then the changes must be one’s you choose.
The New Walker will be my new walking for weight loss e-letter. It is a combination of news and anecdote, thoughts, questions and answers and philosophy of life. Pedometer steps are my favorite way to get someone hooked on the new wonder ‘drug’ of exercise and activity as an anti-depressant, stress relief, mental and creative stimulant and mood enhancer. This is not to mention the other feel good benefits to the body and disposition.
One of my ‘new’ discoveries has been the benefits of walking after eating a meal. In the books of the 1800s and early 1900s, it was often mentioned that the family but particularly the head of the household would go for an evening walk after the meal. It aids digestion and generally makes me feel good by adding pedometer steps. If for some reason (!) you have eaten too much it also is one way of lessening any guilt and even reducing the effects of any excess calories.
The new walker does have most of the characteristics of the old except that the deliberate introduction of activity into a lifestyle previously devoid of much exercise from necessity, is different, because to exercise or not is now a choice.
Pedometer Steps and Walking to Lose Weight are my favorite blogs to write as the benefits of walking have helped me feel good every day. Am I claiming a happy ever after scenario? I am claiming the processes and tools to being happy every day in a healthy and loving work, home and family environment. The process requires implementing, adapting and using those tools with as much enthusiasm as possible. The New Walker is one way to get some input into your new lifestyle in a comfortable manner.
Please sign up for the FREE e-letter, The New Walker, in the column on the right if you’re open to making changes over time which will enhance your life, give you confidence and the desire to live your life lovingly,
Intensifying your workout with pedometer steps is easy.
The benefit of doing high intensity exercises is that it increases the calorie burn and this is the attraction of the more extreme exercise sessions that dominate weight loss exercise since TV’s The Biggest Loser has become so popular. Calories burned must be greater than calories consumed for the weight loss to begin. The higher the calories burned the more weight lost.
In light of my last post where I point out that for weight loss to be effective over the long term i.e. the results last, the every day for a lifetime approach is more likely successful than a cramming effort reminiscent of school exams.
Having said that I do not mean that pedometer steps is limited to low intensity calorie burn spread out daily. There is a lot of positive effect in the strategic use of high intensity exercise.
For most people continued active living results in effective ongoing weight management after weight loss, therefore this needs to be established as a normal routine in your life. For this to happen it requires a consistent process done often enough to become a pleasure and desirable activity.
When enthusiasm for the desired results (quick weight loss) over rides ignorance about the level of activity then failure can often result. If you are not normally active then taking on exercise without finding your limits first can cause overload and giving up.
Measured use, and enjoyment of high intensity exercise, is a great way to stay in shape and increase the variety and options in addition to pedometer steps counting.
If you do want to try some fancy high energy program then:
1. prepare for it-find out what physical stressors are likely, and build up stamina, particular muscles to be used, and prepare by training in these areas.
2. alternatively take the class or do the event at a slow pace, gradually increasing until your fitness reaches the desired level i.e. over several sessions.
3. add high intensity to your pedometer steps by- walking hills; carrying weights (groceries in either hands are good); walking faster in sections by taking smaller steps more quickly (do not lengthen your stride); walk longer; add stairs; carry a child!
Many more options exist to make pedometer steps and other exercise a delightful, varied, favorite activity in a healthy lifestyle.
This is a vital strategy decision for anyone who wants to do regular exercise. Pedometer steps counting is less likely to be injurious and this is one of the reasons that walking is a great exercise choice for me.
I’m not a fan of bravely working out by ignoring a pain. With that, however, I do continue to exercise and use a pedometer while walking and being active. In fact pedometer steps can also be of assistance in keeping on the right side of ’enough’ exercise.
If walking, or pressure on the ground, is affecting a leg injury then having a cut off point can be helpful. Say your normal day is 10,000 steps then a decision to cut back on walking and other leg movement can be monitored with the pedometer. I might feel that 5,000 steps will be a maximum until I get a feel for how it’s healing. Once it’s on the mend I can slowly increase the number of ’steps’ judging how the leg is feeling and knowing exactly the strain I have put on it that day.
You might not get this right the first time, I didn’t. However over time as pedometer walking became a standard part of my lifestyle : I became less likely to be injured; my philosophy about injury changed. An inactive person tends to have only two ways of dealing with it- 1) “I’ll fight it. Can’t let it stop me.” or 2) coming to a halt. These are not the only tactics available and , in fact, are not likely to be the best for most injuries.
It all depended upon my starting point. When I first started exercising again by walking I was recovering from illness and my general condition was not resilient. Although frustrating injuries meant a stop-start approach to walking. As my resilience rose, an injury became less likely, and less restrictive. I became a better judge of how much this “incident” could affect my ability to move through a normal day, which for me, includes counting pedometer steps. I also substitute other exercises which I can do without affecting the injured part.
An understanding of the normal daily activity level for yourself or a convalescent, by counting their pedometer steps, enables you to monitor closely how much exercise to allow them to do. The person themselves is unlikely to be a good judge. This is not about aggressive target increases but avoiding over or under exertion.
Injuries from normal activity which certainly includes walking can be categorized as routine incidents from a normal life.
Learning to continue with pedometer walking and counting pedometer steps while dealing with the injury is a natural part of a resilient personality. Being aware of balancing my divergent needs to both exercise and heal has extended my options to live an active life which I didn’t have in the past.
Please comment about your own experiences in dealing with injuries.
Counting pedometer steps means making sure the typical life changes we all experience don’t interfere with our intention to make this our best weight loss routine. Every life has ups and downs and pedometer steps can be part of that life no matter what!
A successful strategy for integrating life’s changes such as moving house or job, extra responsibility at work or home, is to prepare for the change in advance. I liken this option to a child attending pre-school, to learn the skills he will need at big school but which aren’t taught at school. It is better to allow a gradual understanding of what works best to come through experience of similar conditions. Adaptation is one of the better human skills. Overwhelm doesn’t help if it results in giving up or struggling but putting a toe into the water to get a feel for what is coming helps a lot.
Using a pedometer is easy. Walking is easy. Making the time to do it is generally most people’s challenge. So plan it into your day as much as possible. When moving make sure that walking paths and beautiful environments are in your new area. It is really good to have shops and cafes within walking distance of work or home. When traveling these are also options to consider-stay within a reasonable walking distance of your venue if attending a conference, or include walking opportunities if it is a holiday; dance if at a wedding.
These are changes that can be made over time but will pay off as weight loss and well being become an accepted part of your daily life. Eventually once a routine of pedometer steps is fully integrated the pedometer itself becomes less important. Activity has become a habit.
Walking for weight loss and other activity burns calories. Be sensible about eating and your body will look after the rest.
Today I want to go over the importance of pedometer steps in my life. It could be important for you too.
This is what happens for me by using the 10,000+ pedometer steps a day exercise strategy:
1. First thing in the morning upon waking I see the pedometer on the bedside table and as soon as I am dressed I put it on. This ensures I am aware that during today I want to achieve at least 10,000 steps.
2. I quickly review my options for adding walking into the day’s program.
3.I know that if I keep an eye on my pedometer steps tally at regular intervals I can make decisions easily which are better than I might otherwise make.
4. I do have options during most days which I sometimes don’t see. I always do such and such at lunch or a friend likes to do X and I do it with her. Today though that friend might have an errand to run, say pick up the dry cleaning and I say I’ll meet her there, and I will walk.
5. Dead time becomes your friend- waiting drives most of us crazy but many times I can substitute waiting with walking time. Say I’m at the doctors and he’s running late-I tell the nurse that I’ll be outside walking (within earshot) and to give me a holler when it’s time.
Pedometer walking has some advantages over adding distinct walking periods say 30 minutes once a day. Doing 10,000 steps is probably about 5 miles walking on average. Your 30 minute walk is say 2.5 miles. What are you doing for the rest of the day? For many of us adding the 30 minutes initially is a great boost for weight loss and fitness but if you compensate by less activity at other times or, as is normal, your body adjusts to the exercise, then before long you’re not doing enough for weight loss or fitness.
Once your body adjusts to 10,000+ steps daily (on average) this activity level burns enough calories to balance normal eating and therefore maintain weight. Prior to this modified eating levels i.e. removing obvious high calorie foods or drinks and limiting calories consumed in a day, means less calories consumed (eaten) than expended (exercise) and weight is lost.
Treadmill running or walking rarely includes pedometer steps counting and so the iPhone app for use with a treadmill is a boon for those who like to do pedometer running and walking on a treadmill. Of course your existing pedometer will also do for this but as we all seem to love the iPhone gadgetry it seems opportune to talk about the specific treadmill application. The video above gives a great explanation of all the features.
It is a reminder that many recent technical updates of familiar electronic games (iPod) and essentials (watches and iPhone) now include a pedometer so there is no excuse for avoiding counting pedometer steps daily.
To further demonstrate the walking meditation technique which Pedals and Pedometer Steps uses, I have taken photos at different points in a walk to illustrate some of my thinking at these times.
Intentionally setting out to quiet and uplift my mind I take an existing route so finding my way is not a distraction. I wear my pedometer as counting pedometer steps is a major part of my goal.
Setting out
I look around for cars and then focus on the general scenery.
Looking Around
Thinks: This looks like a nice path. Nice and quiet.
Tree Trunk
Thinks: Interesting tree trunk.
Walking Meditation
Now my thinking is unconscious as I admire the beauty of the scene, how pleasing it is here and lovely to walk around as the temperature is perfect, the birds are chirping, the water looks inviting and peaceful.
Start Walking, Get Running, and Lose Weightis filled with common sense strategies for managing the food you eat and simple but very effective exercise plans that ease you into shape.
A Proven Walking or Running Plan For All Ages and Experience Levels...
