Thanks to Summer's generosity at Christmas, I am now the proud owner of a pedometer, although I've heard that the proper term for my model is a "stepmeter" or something like that. Regardless, it counts the number of steps that I walk each day. The goal of the whole thing is to get you to walk more every day, which makes you a healthier person regardless of whether you belong to Gold's Gym and do bench presses like it's nobody's business (like me). Apparently the "ideal" number of steps is somewhere around 10,000 or more (which is roughly 5 miles per day of walking). The results are in:
- I did a cumulative count of steps for one week
- Two of the days during the week, I worked from home, so I didn't even bother wearing it
- I rarely wore it after I got home from work
- I wore it once when I played raquetball, and I didn't wear it the other time I played raquetball
- My stepometer reported roughly 50,000 steps in 7 days, or roughly 25 miles in a week.
- When I wasn't working from home, I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,500-10,000 steps per day.
- I made very few trips to the grocery store this week, if I made any at all. Under normal circumstances, I make a trip at least every other day.
All in all, I'm somewhat surprised at how few steps I make compared with some people that live in the 'burbs! I have noticed that a majority of the steps made are actually just walking from office to office, or from the couch to the bathroom, etc. Dedicated, time-requiring walks (such as to the subway station) account for a lesser percentage of steps than I would have figured. Speaking of that, it is around 1500 steps, or .75 miles, from my apartment to the subway station.
Maybe I need to go shopping for something. You know, for the sake of having more steps....
J. Riley
