I recently went on vacation. I didn't get to write as much as I had hoped, but I did get to walk. And that's a good thing because I ate a lot, and the things I ate included bread and desserts. I also drank a bit of alcohol every now and then during the week.
Those things can definitely put on the calories. Fortunately I didn't gain any weight. Why? Because walking is one of the best exercises. Unfortunately, we don't usually do enough of it. The proof is all around. More Americans are fat, even obese, and more of us every year have associated health problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
Think you know how many steps you walk daily? If you are like many Americans, working at a job where you sit all day, you walk 2,000 or 3,000 steps each day. Maybe you're a little more active and you walk 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day.
Are most of your steps from your chair in front of the TV to the refrigerator? If that's you, it's not too late to change. But you have to admit that that's you. Then you have to want to change. If you have been really sedentary, see your doctor first. Make sure that increasing your activity will not dangerously affect your health.
Next, count your daily steps. You can't go around counting your steps in your head all day, so you will have to buy a pedometer or some activity tracking device.
Don't get the cheapest pedometer you see. You will give up quickly when it breaks or just stops working.
Set up your new pedometer. You may have to install the battery. Many come ready to start counting steps. If you want to know the distance you are walking, you will have to enter your stride length.
For now, you don't need to bother with that if you aren't interested, or think it is too complicated. Just get used to wearing the pedometer or carrying it around. Keep track of your steps for a week or two. See what your average daily step count is. Write it down.
Once you have some idea of your usual number, you can work on increasing it. So how will you do that? You won't get far if you usually walk 4,000 steps a day, and you set yourself up to walk 10,000 steps tomorrow. You won't be ready physically or psychologically. You will have to be patient and realistic.
You need a plan. Try to increase your average number of daily steps by 200 to 300 each week. Maybe your weekly increase will only be 100 steps a day. That's okay. But try not to go backwards. Some days you will be more active than other days. That's normal, but in general you want to become more active than you are now... every day.
What are you working toward? Would you like to decrease your risk of death? Then walk 6,000 steps a day. Want to get into overall good health and lose weight? Walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps. Don't feel badly if you're starting out at a very low daily number. Most people find that they don't walk anywhere near as much as they think they do, so you're in good company. The difference is that you are choosing to make this change, and make yourself healthier.
Wearing the pedometer and counting your steps will serve as motivation. You will start consciously looking for opportunities to increase your steps. You can walk up stairs. You can park your car further from the mall entrance. Get a group together and walk at lunchtime. Take a walk around your neighborhood in the morning, evening, or both. I'm sure you can think of more ways to get your step count up. Leave a comment and share your ideas.
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