When first using counting pedometer steps or using a pedometer as a weight loss tool, there are a few rookie mistakes which can discourage continuing if you don’t get on top of them directly.
The main requirement for success in weight loss by counting pedometer steps is Setting Intensity.
Most pedometers will allow you to set the degree of movement which will register as a step. This is important! Without doing this you will find that the pedometer seems to show far too many steps, depending upon the factory default setting. Each move you make from bending over to breathing hard may show as steps. Accurate pedometer steps are important as a guide to the amount of activity which counts towards weight loss and calorie burning.
Where your pedometer offers several settings go for a mid position iinitially while you get a feel for the way steps are registered.
It is easy to do this. Simply walk for 10 paces and check what shows as pedometer steps. Adjust the intensity setting up or down straight away if this is incorrect.
Now bend over or sit down slowly and note whether this has been treated as a pedometer step. Many pedometers will show a step but correct it again if there is no continued movement so you may see it flash to the next number and then revert. The pedometer is probably too lenient in its counting if slow body movements are counted as steps. The intention is to record activity which is considered to have an impact on the body’s physical condition, in particular, burn calories.
This also has an effect on the calorie counter funtion when there are several levels of intensity able to be recorded. Obviously the more intense the activity the higher the calorie burn.
Generally the calorie counting function on a pedometer isn’t taken too seriously, simply used as an indication of the direction which will burn more calories. The minutes of higher level calorie burn, if reported on your pedometer, can also be used to fine tune your exercise program.
The other effect of setting the intensity so pedometer steps are recorded accurately is that slower movements are not always registered.
So some of your favorite activies such as cycling, jogging (unless you have a running pedometer), weights class or other gym activites such as the rowing machine do not record accurately.
When starting out a walking for weight loss program particularly if you have been inactive for a long time it is better to start with an easier program such as counting pedometer seps and add the heavier workload as you make progress.
This is the best way to attune your body to the change in its lifestyle and makes it able to accomodate the new direction more easily i.e. without becoming a major disruption to your life, possibly to the point of causing you to call it off.
First off, play with the pedometer and check the pedometer steps as you go so you become familiar with how it works and what is recorded when. Soon (within a couple of days) you will have a feel for the typical number of daily pedometer steps you are performing and will be able to add to this once this is established. Averages are used a lot when determining targets.
Once you have a starting number of pedometer steps, add twenty percent to set the next target then walk towards this.
Say you have found that typically you walk about 5,000 steps. Your new target is 6,000 steps in a day. It may take you several days to get to this point. Or you may do it straight away, finding recording your activity is incentive enough to make this target easily. If so up the target goes up again.
Weight loss will start as long as you are followiing the calorie burning formula: the number of calories burned through exercise plus your daily life, must be greater than the number of calories taken in through consumption of food.
Calories Taken In Must Always Be Less Than Calories Burned for Weight Loss.
April 20th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
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May 14th, 2010 at 5:16 am
I will have to look into this calorie shifting some more.
May 14th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Hi , My approach is to make it easy by modifying your lifestyle to one you can live with joy every day. Sometimes this means making changes which are uncomfortable for a while. Any extreme such as skipping eating is short term as eventually you will go back to a normal eating pattern. Modifying what is normal is the way to long term results.
Thanks for reading, Oni
May 15th, 2010 at 9:02 am
OK, so this will eleminate plateauing? Plateauing in my worst problem. It makes me give up.
May 15th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Hi Jose, There is a need for increasing your energy expenditure when recurring exercise doesn’t burn as many calories as new exercises. Also be aware of calorie creep. The formula stays the same-the exercises, muscles used and intensity, need to be changed to keep calories expended higher than calories consumed.
Thanks for your question,
Oni