Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Step up

The fitness gadget of the moment is a pedometer. I ended up with two last week, in sponsor swag at both charity walks, and pedometers are the toy in the new adult "Go Active" Happy Meals that McDonalds will introduce this week.

I've been reading about pedometers in the fitness news for awhile now. Sally Squires of the Washington Post's Lean Plate Club is a proponent (and user). A study from Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise on physical activity, daily steps, and body composition in middle-aged women found 10,000 steps to be the magic number to help with weight loss. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and sports concluded "Pedometers are practical and accurate tools for measurement and motivation for physical activity."

I had no intention of buying a pedometer, because I've managed to get myself into a decent general fitness routine. But I am a geek, and now that I have two different pedometers, I had to check them out to see if they worked. I put one on each hip this morning and took the dog for our usual walk around the lake.

The data were close enough for government work...I took either 3333 or 3309 steps, for a total of 1.543 miles or 1.409 miles, burning 82.2 calories or 112.1 calories, depending on which one I should believe.

Wearing it just for that one walk did make me curious about how I do on a normal day, whether I'm anywhere close to 10,000 steps. I think I'll actually play with one for a few days and see what my results look like. And from this I see the appeal of the pedometer...I suspect that I will take more steps in the day, and burn a few extra calories, just because I'll be looking down at the counter.

Every step counts.

Posted by Nic at May 9, 2004 02:57 PM