Your 26th weekly challenge is to invest in a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps each day. You’ll be surprised how many steps a mom can take just running around the house, but if you’re going to reach 10,000, you’ll need to take a walk outside for sure. This is good motivation to get some fresh air.
Both Whitney and I enjoy tracking things and counting steps has been an on and off obsession over the past years. One day, I called her and said something ridiculous like, “I hope you don’t want to do anything with me before Baby Brigade because I walked 17,000 steps today so I’ll be on the couch.” Being in the middle of my maternity leave, I thought this was a totally normal thing to say.
Whit recommends the Omron pedometer (their best seller is only about $40 but this basic one is only $17) which has a memory function that lets you look at the past 7 days worth of data. Additionally, it tracks both your total daily steps and your aerobic steps, or those that were part of a 10 minute or more walk. We’ve also amped up the geekery by having the Fitbit activity monitor and Misfit Shine monitor (both also track sleep!), and the Nintendo DS pedometer nugget. The monitors cost about $99 and track calories burned, steps taken, and distance traveled in addition to sleep quality.
Do you, would you, could you count your steps?! Let us know we’re not alone!
This is a great idea! I did this last month and was surprised to find I almost hit 10,000 steps every day.
Sweet! i got a pedometer for xmas and this post reminded me that I gotta get that out. 🙂
I got a new pedometer for my Nintendo DS and it had me aiming toward 3,000 steps a day. I need to aim higher I guess.
I am 6 months pregnant and walking 1 hour a day. I will definitely start counting my steps. Perhaps I need to increase my walking time to reach that #?
For those looking to save money – IPhone has a great free pedometer app.