And I would walk 10,000 steps
(These are so not my legs.)So ... I bought a pedometer. I've had one before but I don't think it told me the truth. All I had to do was jiggle my hips a bit and it would try to flatter me with sky-high numbers.
My new pedometer doesn't lie to me, doesn't try to butter me up with untruths. And it has nifty options that tell me not only how many steps I've taken, but how those steps convert to miles, how many calories I've burned, and how many of the steps were in the "moderate walking" range. Oh, and it keeps each days' numbers in memory for seven days.
"Seven days ..." (Couldn't resist.)
Anyway ... I need a pedometer because I want to know how close I get to the "10,000 steps a day" health advice.
I've never been much on exercising. I don't lead an active lifestyle. I do walk Mickey and Lyla daily. But since starting Grandma's Briefs, I've definitely noticed I'm getting blogger's butt ... and a blogger's belly to match ... big time.
Bottom line: I need to get moving. And I want to make sure I'm moving as much as necessary to have the desired effect. Hence the pedometer.
Surprisingly, the first day I wore the pedometer, I came pretty darn close to 10,000 steps. My daily walk clocks in at nearly 3,000 steps. And it scores in the "moderate walking" range because I don't just walk it, I march it. To a military-style marching song. With words.
At risk of making you all think I'm a wacko -- if you don't already -- here's my daily march:
"I don't know but I've been told. (I don't know but I've been told.)
Mickey and Lyla are gonna get old. (Mickey and Lyla are gonna get old.)
I don't think that it will be. (I don't think that it will be.)
Cuz they go on daily walks with me. (They go on daily walks with me.)
Stay young. (Stay young.)
Not old. (Not old.)
All the way home. (All the way home.)
Five, four, three, two, one ... We're done!
All at a fast, four-count beat. Shouted. In my head. (I'm not THAT wacko, to be marching and shouting out loud all around the neighborhood. Although Jim's convinced if I did it aloud, the dogs may fall in and we'd be quite the spectacle. Maybe even end up on YouTube. To which I say: Uh, no. I'll keep my marching song to myself, thank you very much.)
So my marching walk gets me about 3,000 steps. I fit in the other 7,000 the first day by doing my daily doings -- adding a few quick jogs in place along the way to amp up the count, much to Jim's amusement. (I told him "Thank God we've been married nearly 30 years! I could NOT do such things with a new mate!" One of the perks of longtime marriage, I readily admit.)
The first day, I hit 10,307. By 9 p.m. Which was good because I'd told Jim I would not be going to bed until I hit 10,000.
Converted by my nifty new pedometer, 10,000 steps is four miles, at my average stride. If 10,000 steps (four miles for me) supposedly maintains one's weight, my goal now is to walk FIVE miles a day in order to lose the blogger's butt and belly. Which means I gotta add about 2,500 more steps to my day.
The second day I had my pedometer, I didn't wear it. I knew in advance that most of my day would be spent sitting in the car driving to my mom's then sitting at the table eating the Coldstone Creamery cupcakes I bought her and my sister in honor of their birthdays. (Happy birthday, Mom and Debbie!) No use wearing the pedometer for such limited activity.
The third day (the day I'm writing this) I marched a little farther with Mickey and Lyla, traipsed up and down the billions of stairs in the house and yard a little more than usual. I figure one or two whirls around the yard each day (it's a big yard,) and I'll be at my goal.
Now I just need to get some of those groovy New Balance shoes that work the butt and thighs while you walk. (Not the funky "rolling, rolling, rolling" Skecher ones.) My blogger butt and belly will be gone in no time!
Question is: How well can I march while donning butt-working -- and balance-threatening -- workout shoes?
I'm crossing my fingers that the answer isn't that I can't, that I actually end up falling and busting not only my butt, but a leg or two in the process.
For if that happens, I certainly won't have much use for my nifty new pedometer.
Photo courtesy Flickr/_Pixelmaniac_
Today's question:
How many steps or miles do you think you walk each day?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Reader Comments (14)
I'm sure the number of steps I take isn't even close to 10,000! I should get a pedometer and quit shaming myself with this lazy existence!
Okay, I literally laughed out loud at the thought of you and Mickey and Lyla all marching along to your marching song! That would be AWESOME!
I have no idea how much I do every day. Probably less than I should. Although I have started running and I typically run (well, more like sort of shuffle along at a pace just above walking) about 2.7 miles. But then I sit all day at work. And then I sit all night doing what? Yep, blogging.
Ahh....I've noticed the same spread sitting at a computer all day. I had completely forgotten about pedometers and that's a marvelous idea. It's easy to kid myself that "oh I'm moving during the day" but the pedometer will probably not support that lie.
I am so far removed from a lifestyle in which I need a cotton-pickin', onion-blinkin' tattle-tell pedometer to tell me what I already know: I shuffle around as little as necessary to get through every day since I retired after surviving a massive stroke. I've accepted that such incriminating machines as pedometers are for a generation behind me but I do like reading about all the tortures you young' uns put yourselves through when I think you're perfect just as you are!
I wore a pedometer once, but I got rid of it because I don't come anywhere near 10,000 steps a day, but considering I'm a medical transcriptionist for 8 hours a day, I sit a lot. I do try to move around & walk, but I don't get close.
I laughed when I read your blog because during my walk this morning (finally got my husband to go with me) I mentioned that I should get a pedometer to see how much I walk! I've put on some weight since I retired in Feb. so I've got to get back to being more active.
NOTE: Group comment ahead since I don't have COMMENT THREADING YET! (ugh!)
Kathy: I bet you'd be surprised by the number of steps you get in!
Amber: You're probably more than halfway there with that run. I'm impressed you RUN ... which you won't see me doing unless the house is on fire.
Elizabeth: Yes, get one! They don't lie (unless you get the cheap one I had before ... although the lies make you feel good about yourself -- for a little while)!
Ann: The perfection is relative. I think you just don't see as well as you used to so you find perfection where there is none. :o)
Laura: I can definitely see how that would cut into the walking. Kind of stinks we actually have to have JOBS and MAKE MONEY when there's stepping to get done!
Debbie: Great minds think alike! And at least you're catching it quickly; you put so much work into the getting in shape, you definitely don't want to let it slide. (Although you still look great to me!)
You must have bought the superdooper pedi--(I keep thinking pedofile, but that can't be right)--step-counter whatzit. I've got a drawer full of them but I don't trust them. Thus, I don't use them. Thus, I have no idea how many steps I take. Ya think if I took more steps I could think of the name for the gizzmo????
Blogger's butt is a definite side effect of blogging. Once I'm not kayaking so much, I'm going to try doing short, but intense interval training on the elliptical--and hope that helps!
I was totally thinking the same thing about those shoes...it sounds like a miracle, but we all know how miracles are...
Jane:No, no, no ... it's definitely not a pedo-file! :o) Maybe taking the steps WOULD help your memory. Walking increases dendrites, right? Maybe? I could certainly use the memory booster in addition to the butt and thigh improving! Thanks for stopping by!
Jenn:I can just imagine how wonderful your arms look with all the kayaking you do! I'm so jealous!
Tracey: I'll have to let you know how the shoes work ... when I actually get them. I'm up for miracles -- or even just a smidgen of improvement courtesy of fancy-schmancy shoes!
10,000 sounds like so many!! This would probably just make me feel sad and lazy that I'm not walking as much as I should. Good for you!
Loved "blogger's butt" and the marching song.
I like to hike when we are camping but I hate walking around the neighborhood. So I do water aerobics. It's very refreshing, and I still get my cardio.
Sigh. I want to. I do. I'd feel better.
Not today. ;-)