Track your activity level simply by walking!

Walking is a great activity. It's inexpensive, fairly easy (depending on previous or current injuries) and a convenient way to improve your overall health and well being. It can also enhance your quality of life!

Some people chose to walk as a way to meditate and clear their minds while others like to socialize and spend time with their family and friends.  Either way, increasing your physical activity through walking can help with:

Reducing body fat
Decreasing blood pressure
Decreasing blood glucose levels
Reducing high cholesterol
Bone density
Flexibility
Reducing the risk of heart disease
Osteoarthritis
Improving your mood

It's also a safe activity for pregnant women to do throughout all nine months of pregnancy because there is no jarring of the knees and ankles. It's also a great activity for postpartum mom's to ease back into being more physically active while losing their baby weight.

With all these great benefits, why not incorporate a walking program into your daily routine? You can even make this more fun and less "work" simply by adding a pedometer into your daily walks.

So what is a pedometer and what does it do?

A pedometer is a device that tracks number of steps taken. Some pedometers only measure steps while other pedometers track distance walked and calories burned.

A pedometer provides

a. Immediate feedback on number of steps taken
b. Measures current activity level
c. Assists in tracking and setting goals over time to help increase physical activity.   This is where you can make walking more fun. Partner up with a family member, friend or colleague and track who takes the most steps each day (or weekly) and who walks the most distance on a daily or weekly basis!


How to get start a walking program using a pedometer

a. Purchase a pedometer of your choice.
b. Test pedometer by walking 20 steps, stop and check pedometer for accuracy
c. Wear a pedometer for one week
d. Track and record step count at the end of each day
e. After seven days, add daily steps and divide total number of steps from that week by seven
This number is the baseline number of steps needed for a walking program that is realistic for you!

So, what are the recommended number of daily steps to be considered physically active?

According to the Government of Ontario, Active 2010 (2005) "Using your pedometer", the average sedentary North American averages approximately 3500-5000 steps per day. Research suggests that in general the average North American should increase their daily walking activity to approximately 7,000-10,000 per day. *

Here's a guide that was provided in the research:

a. Under 5,000 steps per day: sedentary
b. Between 5,000-7,499 per day: low active
c. Between 7,500-9,999 per day: somewhat active
d. 12,5000 or more: highly active


What category are you? I challenge you to find out! Buy a pedometer today and track just how many steps you take on a daily and weekly basis. I'm sure you will be surprised at how little you are walking!

Stay active and anything is possible!