10,000 steps / Pedometer Giveaway

On and off over the years I have worn a pedometer to keep track of my daily activity, specifically the number of steps I take from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.  My goal is 10,000 steps a day - that's about 5 miles.  I recently started wearing it again to see how much I am moving throughout the day.  I gained some pounds this summer and am trying to tighten up my eating and my activity before my pants get too tight. For the first week, I wore it just to see what my daily routine was like. It was not good.  Here are the daily totals:

Day of the Week	Week 1	Week 2
Tuesday	6498	9492
Wednesday	7044	5611
Thursday	13304	10,491
Friday	8692	8883
Saturday	10,290	8575
Sunday	12,260	3268
Monday	4566	11,630

 

In week 1, I only hit the 10,000 step mark 3 out of 7 days.  This could be part of my problem.  I work in an office Mon-Fri and although I don't sit all day, I surely don't move around a lot. 
The second week I vowed to make improvements.  I tried to walk to the bathrooms farthest away from my office, I park my car in the far end of the parking lot, take the stairs and try to take walking breaks every hour. Still the numbers are not where I would like them to be.
  I pulled out my copy of  The Step Diet book, it is all about how to lose weight just by counting steps.  It is full of suggestions for how to improve your numbers.

I have come home from work some days with only 3,000-4,000 steps.  Once home I do my best to rack up the steps. I empty all the trash cans in the house, take the recycling out to the garage piece by piece, go on a walk.  On days that I do not have a scheduled exercise plan (run/ride )I don't get in many steps.  I have been worried that I give myself permission to eat more and move less because I run or bike 5 times a week.  I think this is actually working against my weight goal.
Now that I am back on a regular schedule at work I have started exercising in the morning before I go to work.  It has been very motivating to already have 5,000 steps by 8 am.  I recently found a step conversion chart that is helping me to count steps for activities the pedometer can't measure, like bike riding, swimming, etc... so I will begin to include them as well.  

Activity	Steps per minute	Activity	Steps per minute
Aerobics Step	227	mowing lawn	134
Basketball	162	pilates	93
Bicycling (cardio cycling)	264	Racquetball	221
Bicycling moderate	185	Rowing	185
Circuit Training	205	Running (10mph)	413
Elliptical Jogger	227	Scrubbing Floors	92
Football	216	Stair Climber	225
Gardening	115	Swimming	226
Golf (riding cart)	92	Tennis	206
In Line Skating	195	Vacuuming	85
Jogging	185	Walking	92
Jumping Rope	257	Washing the Car	72
Kickboxing	215	Yoga	63

This week I have started writing down all of my exercise and food each day.  I know this works for me, I just have been lazy about keeping track of it.  Just wearing the pedometer is a reminder of my commitment.

Are you moving 10,000 steps a day?  

Here are some guidelines to help you set a goal for yourself.

Steps per day	Activity Level
Less than 5,000	Inactive
5,000-7,499	Slightly Active
7,500 - 9,999	Moderately Active
10,000-12,4999	Active
12,500 or more	Very Active

GIVEAWAY

To help you in your efforts to move more I am giving away a pedometer.  The deadline to enter is 11:59 pm on September 3.  The winner will be selected using Random.org and will be announced on September 4.

Here are a few ways you can enter to win, leave a separate comment for each entry.

1. Become a follower of my blog and tell me what activity gets you moving.  If you are already a follower leave me a comment telling me what activity gets you moving.        

2.  Tweet about this giveaway and give me your Twitter name. Send out this tweet:

      Win a pedometer @momentsinalife http://bit.ly/cJxcgE

3.  Put a link to this giveaway on your blog. 


Good Luck!


P.S. Here's where you can buy one.