I’ve been talking and reviewing the progress of some pedometer step counter users-lucky newbies who received pedometers as gifts for Christmas. If your friends and loved ones have given up waiting for you to make the decision to walk for your well being (in some way-there are so many benefits from regular walking it could be for health, weight loss, fun, stress relief, etc) and given you a pedometer then this post may have some relevance for your pedometer steps progress.
Firstly, which pedometer steps category do you come into?
It does often seem to be gender related so this is not intended to disparage one approach over the other- both work brilliantly so choose the attitude which is most likely to benefit you:
1. You want it to be simple and effective, not a certificate course in fitness by pedometer.
2. You love gizmos and technical jargon. The challenge in assessing and achieving goals is a highlight of your walking experience. You could be male!
Look at which category most resembles your attitude over the last few days. Obviously it can be a combination and over time a category 1 can move into category 2 for instance but to start it is best to get to know yourself and how you like to walk, or work, as there are going to be a lot of similarities.
Keep It Simple
Pedometer steps is a very simple approach to walking for weight loss. It is generally based on the 10,000 step concept which alleges that the average person will lose weight if they consistently walk for 10,000 steps a day.
Setting up your step counter usually requires putting in your stride length if a distance estimate is wanted, but otherwise it is plug and play.
The important early tasks are:
remembering to put it on at the same time every day e.g. after your shower and dressing in the morning or when you get up if you are immediately active.
recording your daily steps over a few days, preferably a week, and average them.
set a new pedometer steps target for next week of, say, 500 more steps. E.g. This week you averaged 5600 steps in a week which combined very active days with very slow activity periods. For next week you set a target of 6,100 average pedometer steps. Next week you may find that this is easy to achieve and can reset the target by another 500 steps; if the target seems a struggle it may be the first week was unusual for you, or this week is unusual. Calculate this week’s average results and reset the target by adding 500 pedometer steps.
The Pedometer Challenge
Your pedometer probably has more choices for information retrieval, and requires a bit of setting up, such as calculating your stride and then you may want to assess the accuracy of the distances recorded etc. Stride length does change depending upon the ground, route etc.
The pedometer steps format may be applied successfully here as well. You can use the technology to find distance and calories burned, best routes etc. Recording the information in a personal journal, online forum or between competitors/friends adds a desirable element or incentive for many people.
Either way you are at the beginning and there is much more to enjoying the pedometer steps process whatever your goals. Make using a pedometer, and walking for weight loss, a highlight of 2010!
