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EAT RIGHT

Letter from Maggie

Studies have shown people who walk fewer than 5,000 steps each day are more likely to be overweight while those who take more than 9,000 steps daily are more likely to be of normal weight. The average sedentary person walks only 1000-3000 steps per day.

Although most sedentary adults can safely add 2000 steps per day (which equals about a mile) according to the National Institutes of Health, you may want to start by adding 200 steps per day to what you are now doing. To start, I recommend that you wear your pedometer every day for a week to see what your current activity level is. If you haven't been exercising very much or you weigh more than 250 pounds, you may want to start increasing by about 200 steps per day. Your goals for increasing the number of steps will depend on your health, age and fitness level. For those under the age of sixty-five 10,000 steps a day is the ultimate goal; 5000 steps a day for those over sixty-five.

I recommend starting with keeping track of steps rather than miles. Determining your stride is difficult and can change as you increase the pace of your walk. If you’re interest in mapping where you walk go to Google Map Pedometer: Use this online tool to draw and measure your walking route. Then check this against your pedometer reading. Record your total steps daily in your Journal. Writing down your daily number of steps can help you be consistent with using the pedometer and help you to set higher goals.

Clip the pedometer onto your belt or waistband midway between your side and the crease-line of your pants directly above your knee or hip bone. The pedometer should be close to your body and as horizontal as possible and the pedometer should be parallel to the ground to give you an accurate tally of your steps. You may have to experiment with the exact placement that is right for you. You can check the accuracy of the pedometer by walking 100 steps on a flat road or treadmill – simply count the steps then look at what your pedometer has recorded. You may find that walking on slopes or bent over carrying something or going up and down stairs can sometimes affect the accuracy of your pedometer and miss some of the steps you have taken. The pedometer will also measure movement of your trunk and hip as well as legs. So if you’re cleaning the house today or are dancing in the kitchen you’ll see that your pedometer will make note of it!

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