Posted: Jan 24, 08 10:54am
After hearing Dr. Robin talk about the benefits of using a pedometer I finally got one. I sort of have an idea of how much I walk and move about, but would like to know for sure if I'm walking 10,000 steps per day (that's about 5 miles). Today is my first day and it is simply AMAZING to know that the distance from the parking lot to my office is 1,000 steps (about .5 mile). I'm completely encouraged to walk more -- it's like a game with myself.
Here's more info on steps and pedometers (I got it from http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html ):
How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.
A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits.
A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day.
Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.
If you want to join me, I'll be posting how many steps I walked each day. I've already logged 1700 this morning.
