Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Week Number 6!
This is our last week! Everybody is doing a great job! We are going to get together for an awards ceremony/party probably in April since my anniversary is coming up in a few days. If we could coordinate days off and times off that would be great so I would know what day to plan for later on. I am thinking we could do a lunch type of thing. Everybody bring something light for lunch and we will give out prizes. I am going to go ahead and find something for prizes everybody who did the challenge can turn in their five dollars when they see me. This is what we will report on for our sixth week. I will be tallying up the totals to see who has won! I will look at the calendar. Our party will be the very last week or march or the first week or April. Everybody let me know when your days off are then if you work or if there are any conflicts. It would be great for everyone to be there. If that week doesn't work we will shoot for the next week. Everybody is doing great!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Week Number 5!
This is our next to last week! IT is so great that so many of you stuck with the challenge. Please be thinking about turning in five dollars towards the prize. This is what we will post on for the fifth week! Everyone keep doing a great job!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Week Number 4!
Great job to all of you who are sticking in there! We have reached past our halfway point.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Week Number 3!
Hurray for all of you that are taking steps! I am glad you guys are sticking with it even if you forget a few days or wash your pedometer its ok. There are more days. After this week will be the half way point! Sounds great huh?! If you see someone who is supposed to be posting their steps on here please remind them to post their steps. This will be the post you will post your third week step count on. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Problems with Pedometer Resetting!!!
I know a few of you have mentioned to me that your pedometers have reset themselves. I am betting the reset buttons on your pedometers are sticking out above the surface of your pedometers rather than being recessed. I have had pedometers in the past with the same problem. Here is a solution. In the past when I had a pedometer that was prone to reset itself, I took a plastic coffee stirrer, or basically a small plastic straw. I cut it down to size to fit around the reset button. It must fit around the entire reset button and be thin enough to pass between the reset button and other buttons. Then after you have your piece of plastic wrapped around the button you put a piece of scotch tape over it. That way the only way your pedometer is being reset is if you press the button with a pen. The piece of plastic acts like a guard. It may look ghetto, but it works. It is very frustrating to have a pedometer reset itself. This is a pretty simple solution compared to buying one that has a recessed reset button.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Week Number 2!!!
It is week number two! If you haven't posted your step count for the week already please post it. If you missed a few days don't worry. Post what you have. Keep working it! We want to make it through to the end so keep going at it! This is the post you will comment on for week two steps.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Week Number 1!
Welcome to the first week of our challenge. This is the post you will comment on to record your steps this week. If you cannot comment with an account, comment announymously and leave your name. As I said before we will walk Monday through Saturday. Make sure you write down your steps each day. Remember Sunday is our rest day. You can still walk on that day, but your steps will not count towards the challenge. I would suggest reporting your steps on Sunday or Saturday night after you have finished your steps for the week. Have fun walking!
I would like you to comment in this manner:
Name
Monday: 00,000
Tuesday:00,000
Wednesday:00,000
Thursday:00,000
Friday:00,000
Saturday:00,000
_________________
total: 000,000
I would like you to comment in this manner:
Name
Monday: 00,000
Tuesday:00,000
Wednesday:00,000
Thursday:00,000
Friday:00,000
Saturday:00,000
_________________
total: 000,000
Email Notifications????
I have the option to put in emails to be notified when someone comments on the blog. If you guys want to do this let me know. Otherwise I am probably just going to leave it like it is. so if you want email notifications about blog changes let me know. I am going to put our info on the blog. So look on the blog for any updates about our challenge. Hope everybody's ready!!:)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Comments fixed!!!
Everyone should be able to leave comments now I changed the comment settings. Thanks for brining this to my attention.
Those of you that have an Iphone
If any of you have an Iphone. There is a pedometer application which you can download. You can put your Iphone in your hand, in your pocket, on your arm, or on your belt. Right now the application is on sale for $0.99.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Get Ready!
Everybody better be getting ready. We are starting on Monday the first. This means when you wake up on Monday morning, first thing put on your pedometer. If you have to, on Sunday night put it on a table beside your bed. On Monday I will make a post for the week. To report your steps, comment on my post. I will put an example up on the post I make. I would suggest reporting only once a week, this will make everything less confusing. I expect you guys to walk your butts off for six weeks, so get ready!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Pedometers at the BX
I was at the BX yesterday and I did see a pocket pedometer there. Its very thin and evidently can only be worn in the pocket and not on a clip as well. It was 25 dollars. There were also several other types including ones for only four dollars.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Two Tiers
I mentioned earlier that there would be two tiers in our pedometer challenge. I want everyone to have fun and not get discouraged. The two tiers will be the Crazy tier and the Working it tier.
Working it Tier
____________________
Everybody is in the working it tier unless you specifically tell me that you would like to be in the crazy tier. In this tier its ok to be a beginner or a casual walker. You will want to aim for 10000 steps a day. You don't have to do that many, but that is your ideal. There is no minimum, but you'll want to take some steps.
10000 steps is about 4.5 -5 miles depending on your stride length and anywhere between 400-500 calories. The less you weigh, the less calories you will burn. So if you weigh 120 pounds your calorie burn for 10000 steps will be closer to the 400 mark than the 500.
You can approximate that you will burn 50 calories for every 1000 steps if your pedometer does not calculate calories.
Remember this is a competition. So if everyone only takes 10000 steps everyday the person who takes 10001 steps everyday would be the winner.
Crazy Tier
____________________________
Liz, Heather F. and I and going to be in the crazy tier and anybody else that would like to be . This tier is for major steps. At LEAST 15000 a day.
15000 steps is around 7-8 miles. This depends on individual stride length. This is about 750 calories.
starting out
Some of you doing this challenge already walk and run a lot on a regular basis for those of you who aren't in the habit this is a great place to start.
I have already mentioned that you should get a pedometer that is one of the main things.
If this is the first time you have taken on the task of really walking a lot or you haven't walked a lot in a long time here is a little advice.
Stretch. Your legs mainly. If you aren't used to using your legs this much you could injure your muscles.
Your legs may be sore the first few days, but don't give up. This is definitely worth it.
Remember where you walk. Surface matters. Walking on concrete is different than walking on grass or sand. So if you are just starting out try not to do all your walking on concrete, that makes for some very sore feet. When you are more used to it you can do most if not all of your walking on concrete. Walking on sand is muscle intensive so even if sand is softer you may be more sore if you do a lot of walking on the beach. Its great for toning legs though.
You can walk in tennis shoes, sandals or barefoot whatever is comfortable to you., but wear shoes when you go outside. Tennis shoes will help cushion your feet when walking on a hard surface. Do not get toning sandals. These will more likely blister your feet than tone your legs. If you are running part of your steps make sure you have good shoes. When running the amount of force put on your feet is about equal to seven times your body weight, so make sure you have some cushiony shoes.
IT may take a few days for you to find opportunities for steps, but you will.
This is something you can do at home, outside, inside, away, in the gym or practically anywhere.
I'm not very good about this, but I'm going to put this in here anyways, drink water. That is right drink your 64 ounces of water. I would suggest adding some lemon juice or some lime juice or both.
Wear sunscreen if you're going to be outside for a longtime. I know I kind of sound like an old mom on this one, but nobody wants a bad sunburn.
If you are sick, I mean sick, like a fever vomiting, diarrhea that sort of thing, don't walk. Exercise while you are sick does not help your immune system and does not help the healing process.
Keeping up a walking routine should help your blood pressure, cholesterol, heart, digestive system and might help you lose weight.
If any of you are interested in sort of a walking workout routine, there is a set of workout videos called something like " walk away the pounds" by leslie sansone. They are basically walking, but with a few exercises and a few different steps thrown in. They are kind of interesting to vary things up. I don't have these anymore, but you can get them from Amazon. They are low impact. You won't pull a muscle or hurt yourself you'll just burn a few more calories than you would from normal walking.
If you have the wii fit, use it. I know everyone knows wii fit isn't a very intensive workout, but the step exercise can be very helpful. You can take the wii balance board set it up in front of your tv, set it to thirty minutes, turn off the sound, then switch your tv to regular tv and watch dr oz, oprah, desperate housewives or whatever. You can actually get more steps in on it if you step off from side to side rather than just to the back.
If you happen to have "wii active personal trainer more workouts" there is an excellent step aerobics program on there. It burns some major calories and will count for a lot of steps.
If you take an exercise class make sure you wear your pedometer there.
Getting together in groups to walk will help. Its fun and its fun to talk while walking. So if you live close to someone else who is doing the challenge walk with them sometimes. IF you get a walking buddy and are first starting out with a routine they can help you stay on task. If you have trouble committing to the challenge, I'm not saying anyone is, but you can also make yourself accountable to someone you live nearby to. I expect everyone who has signed up as a follower to the blog to walk their butts off for six weeks. If you want to go even further you can say to someone who lives near you " hey call me tomorrow and ask me if I did my steps or ask me if I'm going to do my steps" You can also call this person and ask them if they did their steps. You could walk together with this person to make sure each of you did your steps.
I have already mentioned that you should get a pedometer that is one of the main things.
If this is the first time you have taken on the task of really walking a lot or you haven't walked a lot in a long time here is a little advice.
Stretch. Your legs mainly. If you aren't used to using your legs this much you could injure your muscles.
Your legs may be sore the first few days, but don't give up. This is definitely worth it.
Remember where you walk. Surface matters. Walking on concrete is different than walking on grass or sand. So if you are just starting out try not to do all your walking on concrete, that makes for some very sore feet. When you are more used to it you can do most if not all of your walking on concrete. Walking on sand is muscle intensive so even if sand is softer you may be more sore if you do a lot of walking on the beach. Its great for toning legs though.
You can walk in tennis shoes, sandals or barefoot whatever is comfortable to you., but wear shoes when you go outside. Tennis shoes will help cushion your feet when walking on a hard surface. Do not get toning sandals. These will more likely blister your feet than tone your legs. If you are running part of your steps make sure you have good shoes. When running the amount of force put on your feet is about equal to seven times your body weight, so make sure you have some cushiony shoes.
IT may take a few days for you to find opportunities for steps, but you will.
This is something you can do at home, outside, inside, away, in the gym or practically anywhere.
I'm not very good about this, but I'm going to put this in here anyways, drink water. That is right drink your 64 ounces of water. I would suggest adding some lemon juice or some lime juice or both.
Wear sunscreen if you're going to be outside for a longtime. I know I kind of sound like an old mom on this one, but nobody wants a bad sunburn.
If you are sick, I mean sick, like a fever vomiting, diarrhea that sort of thing, don't walk. Exercise while you are sick does not help your immune system and does not help the healing process.
Keeping up a walking routine should help your blood pressure, cholesterol, heart, digestive system and might help you lose weight.
If any of you are interested in sort of a walking workout routine, there is a set of workout videos called something like " walk away the pounds" by leslie sansone. They are basically walking, but with a few exercises and a few different steps thrown in. They are kind of interesting to vary things up. I don't have these anymore, but you can get them from Amazon. They are low impact. You won't pull a muscle or hurt yourself you'll just burn a few more calories than you would from normal walking.
If you have the wii fit, use it. I know everyone knows wii fit isn't a very intensive workout, but the step exercise can be very helpful. You can take the wii balance board set it up in front of your tv, set it to thirty minutes, turn off the sound, then switch your tv to regular tv and watch dr oz, oprah, desperate housewives or whatever. You can actually get more steps in on it if you step off from side to side rather than just to the back.
If you happen to have "wii active personal trainer more workouts" there is an excellent step aerobics program on there. It burns some major calories and will count for a lot of steps.
If you take an exercise class make sure you wear your pedometer there.
Getting together in groups to walk will help. Its fun and its fun to talk while walking. So if you live close to someone else who is doing the challenge walk with them sometimes. IF you get a walking buddy and are first starting out with a routine they can help you stay on task. If you have trouble committing to the challenge, I'm not saying anyone is, but you can also make yourself accountable to someone you live nearby to. I expect everyone who has signed up as a follower to the blog to walk their butts off for six weeks. If you want to go even further you can say to someone who lives near you " hey call me tomorrow and ask me if I did my steps or ask me if I'm going to do my steps" You can also call this person and ask them if they did their steps. You could walk together with this person to make sure each of you did your steps.
Tips To Get More Steps!!!!
1 Walk back and forth while brushing your teeth
2 walk back and forth while waiting for something in the microwave
3 to really get some steps take one item of laundry away at a time
4 put one dish away at a time from the dishwasher
5walk to the post office
6 park farther away from the BX
7 Use stairs
8 walk while rocking your baby to sleep
9 pick a show and tell yourself that you have to walk back and forth while watching that show
10 wear your pedometer on the treadmill
11 wear your pedometer while running
12 wear your pedometer while on the elliptical
13 hook up the wii fit that I know everyone has and do the step activity while watching tv
14 walk while thinking
15 try to read and walk, just don't do this outside you might get ran over
16 walk your kids to a park
17 make a game of it with your family by getting them to "follow the leader"
18 take walks with your husband
19 walk your kids to school, if its close enough
20 walk around your couch
21 walk around your kitchen
22 walk around your house
23 go to one of the hundred of parks on Okinawa and climb all the stairs
24 walk on the beach
25 take a family walk to get dessert or a meal
26 get together in groups with others to walk
27 be a little forgetful and walk back and forth for more things
28 just get out for a nice walk once in a while
29 walk the dog, if you have a dog
30 walk anywhere, it may look silly to some people, but this is a competition
2 walk back and forth while waiting for something in the microwave
3 to really get some steps take one item of laundry away at a time
4 put one dish away at a time from the dishwasher
5walk to the post office
6 park farther away from the BX
7 Use stairs
8 walk while rocking your baby to sleep
9 pick a show and tell yourself that you have to walk back and forth while watching that show
10 wear your pedometer on the treadmill
11 wear your pedometer while running
12 wear your pedometer while on the elliptical
13 hook up the wii fit that I know everyone has and do the step activity while watching tv
14 walk while thinking
15 try to read and walk, just don't do this outside you might get ran over
16 walk your kids to a park
17 make a game of it with your family by getting them to "follow the leader"
18 take walks with your husband
19 walk your kids to school, if its close enough
20 walk around your couch
21 walk around your kitchen
22 walk around your house
23 go to one of the hundred of parks on Okinawa and climb all the stairs
24 walk on the beach
25 take a family walk to get dessert or a meal
26 get together in groups with others to walk
27 be a little forgetful and walk back and forth for more things
28 just get out for a nice walk once in a while
29 walk the dog, if you have a dog
30 walk anywhere, it may look silly to some people, but this is a competition
Pedometer 101
Using Pedometers:
Generally pedometers have a clip. You will put this clip over either your left or right hip on the top of your pants.
Some of the cheaper pedometers are easy to knock off so be careful of where your pedometer is.
The information that you will probably need to put into your pedometer, but not necessarily, this just depends on the model are stride length, weight, and height.
To measure your stride length you will take ten steps. Measure this with a ruler or tape measure and then divide by ten. Inches that is. Make sure your total is in inches, then divide by ten. You will put your stride length in inches into your pedometer. Some pedometers may not even ask for this and may just set your stride length at something like 24inches.
Some pedometers will ask for your weight and height. This is because these pedometers will calculate how many calories you have burned. This is a useful feature.
Some pedometers have a clock in them in which you will have to set when you first get it. These pedometers generally reset themselves at midnight. The pedometers without clocks will not reset themselves at midnight and will need to be reset by pressing the reset button in the morning, but record your steps first.
Pocket pedometers can be put in your pocket or in your purse if you carry your purse around a lot. They have a two way sensor which records motions in two different ways. That is why you can put them in your pocket. These last longer and are more durable.
Pedometers take watch batteries and they usually are powered for quite a while on one battery.
Generally pedometers have a clip. You will put this clip over either your left or right hip on the top of your pants.
Some of the cheaper pedometers are easy to knock off so be careful of where your pedometer is.
The information that you will probably need to put into your pedometer, but not necessarily, this just depends on the model are stride length, weight, and height.
To measure your stride length you will take ten steps. Measure this with a ruler or tape measure and then divide by ten. Inches that is. Make sure your total is in inches, then divide by ten. You will put your stride length in inches into your pedometer. Some pedometers may not even ask for this and may just set your stride length at something like 24inches.
Some pedometers will ask for your weight and height. This is because these pedometers will calculate how many calories you have burned. This is a useful feature.
Some pedometers have a clock in them in which you will have to set when you first get it. These pedometers generally reset themselves at midnight. The pedometers without clocks will not reset themselves at midnight and will need to be reset by pressing the reset button in the morning, but record your steps first.
Pocket pedometers can be put in your pocket or in your purse if you carry your purse around a lot. They have a two way sensor which records motions in two different ways. That is why you can put them in your pocket. These last longer and are more durable.
Pedometers take watch batteries and they usually are powered for quite a while on one battery.
For those of you who would like a pocket pedometer
If you would like to use a pedometer you can put in your p0cket you can purchase one from Amazon. They are 22.97. The official title of the pedometer is the Omron HJ-112 digital pocket pedometer. Basically this means you can wear it with the clip on the top of your pants/skirt/ shorts or you can put it in your pocket. These things are sturdy and you can drop them numerous times. You do not have to get this. There are pedometers at the BX for about 4 dollars. If you are planning on running your steps you will probably want a pocket pedometer. There is also another version of this pedometer that is about 32 dollars which you can hook up to your computer and it will track your steps on your computer and even comes with software to make goals. This will arrive in about seven days if you order it and choose standard shipping. As always you can get free standard shipping for any order over 25 dollars from Amazon. IF you get the pedometer with the computer hookup you can also use that same program with a blood pressure cuff from Omron if you wanted to track your blood pressure and steps at the same time. I wouldn't recommend investing in all of that though. If this is your first go around with pedometers just get a cheap one. The batteries they take are 2032. They are sold at the 100 yen store and makeman. The batteries last for quite a while.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Start date and more info
Ok
Our start date will be the 1st of February.
Everybody make sure you have your pedometers by then.
WE will walk and keep track of our steps 6 days of the week Monday-Saturday. Sunday is a rest day.
WE will record our steps once a week. I will put up a post for the week and we will record by making comments on that post. Whoever has the most at the end wins.
Please Record in this fashion
Name
Monday:000000
Tuesday000000
Wednesday:000000
Thursday:0000000
Friday:0000000
Saturday:000000
____________________
total: 00000000
I have decided there will be two tiers. I want everyone to walk a lot and not get discouraged. Liz and I will be in the crazy tier. If anybody else wants to be in the crazy tier let me know. This is some major steps. at least 15000 a day. Everyone else will be in the regular tier.
At the end of the six weeks, we will do this for six weeks. I think it would be nice for us to get together and have an awards ceremony/party. Kids would be welcome. If you guys still want to do a prize later on everyone can pitch in a few dollars and we can have prizes for those with the most steps. I would like to be able to give 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the regular tier.
A post of tips will follow later!!!
Everybody get your walking shoes ready!!!
Our start date will be the 1st of February.
Everybody make sure you have your pedometers by then.
WE will walk and keep track of our steps 6 days of the week Monday-Saturday. Sunday is a rest day.
WE will record our steps once a week. I will put up a post for the week and we will record by making comments on that post. Whoever has the most at the end wins.
Please Record in this fashion
Name
Monday:000000
Tuesday000000
Wednesday:000000
Thursday:0000000
Friday:0000000
Saturday:000000
____________________
total: 00000000
I have decided there will be two tiers. I want everyone to walk a lot and not get discouraged. Liz and I will be in the crazy tier. If anybody else wants to be in the crazy tier let me know. This is some major steps. at least 15000 a day. Everyone else will be in the regular tier.
At the end of the six weeks, we will do this for six weeks. I think it would be nice for us to get together and have an awards ceremony/party. Kids would be welcome. If you guys still want to do a prize later on everyone can pitch in a few dollars and we can have prizes for those with the most steps. I would like to be able to give 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the regular tier.
A post of tips will follow later!!!
Everybody get your walking shoes ready!!!
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Challenge!!!
The Challenge will be:
1. Get a pedometer that counts your steps. You may want one that counts calories, but it isn't necessary. Counting steps are all that matter.
2. For Six weeks we will record the steps we take. I am thinking we can take Sundays off, so you can still take steps on Sunday they just won't count for the challenge. We will have to decide on a start date once we have enough people. I am going to try to make it to where we can comment each day the amount of our steps.
3. There will be a prize for the winner. I am thinking maybe we can chip in like five dollars a piece to go towards the grand prize. If we have enough people maybe we can even do 1st 2nd and 3rd prizes.
4. You can walk outside, on a treadmill, on the wii fit, or back and forth in front of your tv. It doesn't matter where you walk and take steps just that you take steps. The idea is to have fun and have a little competition to give some extra motivation!!!
1. Get a pedometer that counts your steps. You may want one that counts calories, but it isn't necessary. Counting steps are all that matter.
2. For Six weeks we will record the steps we take. I am thinking we can take Sundays off, so you can still take steps on Sunday they just won't count for the challenge. We will have to decide on a start date once we have enough people. I am going to try to make it to where we can comment each day the amount of our steps.
3. There will be a prize for the winner. I am thinking maybe we can chip in like five dollars a piece to go towards the grand prize. If we have enough people maybe we can even do 1st 2nd and 3rd prizes.
4. You can walk outside, on a treadmill, on the wii fit, or back and forth in front of your tv. It doesn't matter where you walk and take steps just that you take steps. The idea is to have fun and have a little competition to give some extra motivation!!!
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