Di Hickman

discover how to live your yoga, and love life

Pedometer – Step your way to health

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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by OZO Fitness.  I received compensation in exchange for writing this post. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own. 

The New Year is here and one of the top New Year’s resolutions is to get healthy and/or lose weight. As a personal trainer this is also the time of year that I hear not only from new clients but old clients who have fallen into bad habits, and also family and friends looking for advice. My advice is always the same, eat better, move more. Sounds simple right? But most people are surprised by the amount of physical activity needed each week/day. In this time of technology it’s pretty easy to fall short on the physical activity needed for HEALTH benefits, and until you wear some kind of activity tracker like a  pedometer it’s pretty easy to ignore how little physical activity you are actually getting each day.

pedometer activity guidelines

So exactly how much physical activity/steps are recommended each day by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? Well lucky for us, I made made this handy dandy little chart from their recommendations for you! I know I get at least the amount needed, what about you?

CDC physical activity recommendations

So heads up. Did you note the big pink banner at the top of the graphic? Notice it said for HEALTH benefits not WEIGHT LOSS? Because if weight loss is your goal you need to bump up these numbers. However today we’re taking things one step at a time, literally, and talking about health. Because seriously, here are the consequences of an inactive lifestyle….

pedometer post 2

150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity doesn’t sound like much to me, but I appreciate I’m not the ‘norm’ here. So how can you track this?  I recommend a few activity tracking devices and a pedometer is a sure fire way to discover how little they are moving without spending a pretty penny. Basically they are budget friendly, and so appeal to everyone’s pocketbook!

Pedometer Physical Activity Tracking

Well wait Di, you told me I need to track time per week but a pedometer tracks steps, what gives? Well incase you’ve been living under a rock you need to know that the average steps a person should take a day is 10,000. That’s roughly equivalent to 5 miles of walking, which should more than covers you for your 30 minutes a day regardless of your intensity. You’ve heard the saying that “a mile walked is the same as a mile run” right? It’s true, because they take roughly the same steps and provide the same health benefits, they just take different durations.

pedometer activty mod vs intense

So does aiming for 10,000 steps just to be healthy seems daunting? Well I’m going to share how I did on a non-exercise day using the Pedometer from Ozo Fitness. I’ve used a pedometer before and I thought this one wouldn’t be any different but I was actually pretty surprised. Firstly the price point is higher, however you get a higher quality product with a few bells and whistles. Like a better clasp to hold the pedometer in place, I’ve lost a pedometer before on a walk because it didn’t secure itself in place. No fear of that with this one. Plus, it’s blue! You know how much I LOVE blue!

pedometer

See those buttons on the right? You need these to set the clock, add your weight, and stride length. Thankfully it comes with full instructions so no problems there. Having a clock on the pedometer was a novelty, as I don’t wear a watch often. The screen was nice and big too, with clear numbers. And the pedometer can easily be covered by shirt or sweater. I did a quick mile dog walk in the rain (I ‘ve tracked it previously with GPS) and was happy to see that the OZO pedometer was indeed spot on with 2028 steps, so I’d say it’s pretty accurate too!

pedometer

There are few things I liked about this specific pedometer by Ozo Fitness though.

  • It has a clock on the display (again this is still a novelty, maybe I need to wear a watch more often?)
  • Nice clear display
  • Automatically resets to zero at midnight! Wait what? Yep no need to press reset. This pedometer is smart and resets itself!
  • Only starts counting after 10 steps. So those trips I take from computer to the bathroom don’t count (it’s literally 7 steps by the way!)

In all I was pretty impressed with the pedometer. Having it only count after 10 steps means a lot of general movement isn’t counted like shifting your position on the sofa for example. Other pedometers would count that as like 5 steps, which doesn’t seem much but those small movements add up. Instead this Ozo Fitness pedometer counts real activity. Plus it looks pretty stylish and I’d definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to track their activity without having to spend a lot of money , be tech savvy, or have a smartphone. You can get yours on Amazon too!

pedometer

So tell me how do you track your physical activity?

Hint: My free fitness planner is a great tool to use

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Denea

    I love my fitbit! Its just so convenient that I can wear it on my arm and not even remember that it is there and it tracks everything. I know what days were my most activate and my least active.

    Reply

  2. Koninika

    I need to get on a strict routine but with pregnancy, taking it easy right now. But I want to get back to running and bikram yoga 2-3 times a week. Can’t use fitbit at work so it doesn’t work for me but its a great idea 🙂

    Reply

  3. Pam

    I track my activity with my fitbit. I love that I can wear it like a watch. I’m able to put it on and forget about it until I check it. I’m often amazed at how many steps I get in a day!

    Reply

  4. adrian

    I used the Striiv app on my phone. It’s free and it has a game tied to it and ways you can earn points to play the game. Plus you could send messages to people in the app and I had one old guy who would always leave me a nice comment any time I landed in the top 10 for our group. For like a year and a half, that was a great motivator, but then the guy moved on and I was heartbroken. I need to find some kind of a new motivator because my exercise time has gone waaaay down and my weight has gone up slightly, but steadily and not in the direction I want it to. I don’t know if this pedometer is the right choice for me, but I might get a Fitbit. I hate the fact that they are spying on your habits and selling your data, but sometimes that’s the price you have to pay to use an app.

    Reply

  6. Kelly B.

    I definitely need to get a pedometer! I’m really bad at remembering to exercise and work on my fitness goals but I feel like something like this would be a good reminder!

    Reply

  7. Heather

    I have a fitbit that I love! I really like to see what my progress is throughout the day, and it keeps me motivated. I also like to see the sleep patterns 🙂 Of course having a baby, those sleep patterns aren’t very consistent.

    Reply

  15. LauraOinAK

    My annual check up last month had the provider talking to me about pedometers. I used to have one, but never replaced it when it died. Guess I can add that to my wish list now as I need to get moving more.

    Reply

  16. Jannine

    Sounds like a great pedometer. I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, but I can see how helpful they would be in keeping motivation by tracking your progress.

    Reply

  17. laura londergan

    I have seriously been thinking of getting some;thing to track my steps as I want to be held accountable and this may be the way to do just that!

    Reply

  21. Jenn

    My husband and I got activity bands for Christmas this year. I’m not quite up to 10K steps a day, but I’m working on it. I had to chuckle because I also get a kick out of having the time on my wrist again after not wearing a watch for years.

    Reply

  22. Kaylene

    I’ve been meaning to get a pedometer for the longest time! I love challenges, so I think it would really help motivate me to be more active throughout my day. 🙂

    Reply

  25. Robin Rue (@massholemommy)

    I keep meaning to get a pedometer. I think it would be interesting to track my steps from day to day!

    Reply

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