10,000 Steps

10,000 steps. That’s how many steps the pros say you should walk each day for maximum health benefits. Now, I may have some OCD characteristics but counting my steps all day is not one of them. What to do; what to do.

For most people the answer is a pedometer. The challenge there is first you measure your stride–how long is your step? My answer–it depends. What is the terrain–smooth or rough, level or hilly? What type of day am I having in relationship to how my body feels? Am I indoors or out? If outdoors, what is the weather like? Can you imagine trying to measure your stride for each of these conditions then remembering to adjust your pedometer for each change? Not happening!

So when I saw this,

http://www.fitbit.com/product, I was tempted. But, it is expensive. So I just stayed tempted.

Then my sleep got worse. Have you ever tried to explain to a doctor how you sleep? How long it takes you to go to sleep? How often you wake up? How many hours you have to spend in bed to get enough actual sleep?

Well, the FitBit can monitor that as well. And make charts and graphs you can print out to take with you to your next doctor’s appointment.

So, we finally decided I should buy one. It’s a pretty cool little gadget and we all know how I like gadgets, right? So, during the day it sits in my pocket and measures my steps without me having to do anything more than put it in my pocket. And at night it slips into a soft wristband and measures my sleep. And whenever I pass near my computer it wirelessly updates the data there. And every few days I put it on the base station when I’ll be sitting at my computer for awhile so it can recharge the battery.

I’ve been wearing it for a week now. My weekly report says I wake up from 10 to 18 times per night.

No wonder I always feel tired!

And those steps? I have a LONG way to go to get to 10,000 per day. That’s about five miles for a person with an average stride, you know. And our apartment, while being much larger than the RV, isn’t really all THAT big. Guess I need to join those who put on their headphones and walk the halls. 🙂

TTYL,

Linda

ps. Down another 1.8 pounds this week but that number is somewhat skewed by the fact that I slept too late to eat breakfast before my WW meeting today. What can I say? When I went to bed in the wee hours this morning they were predicting thunderstorms with hail all morning so I didn’t set my alarm. Imagine my surprise to wake up to sunny and clear. So, I rushed off to my meeting to get some badly needed reinforcement. A meeting where the leader quoted from an article saying those who skip breakfast are 450% more likely to be obese! Some days I can’t win for losing.