Posts tagged pedometer
Weight Watchers: Move More, Sit Less
14 months ago
Our Blog Ambassador challenge this week has been move more, sit less. We were encouraged to stand up more, walk around more and generally exercise more.
At the beginning of the week I ordered 30 Day Shred, a workout DVD by Jillian Michaels that I have been told over and over again really gets results. The premise is that you exercise for 20 minutes every morning for 30 days, and thanks to the combination of strength, cardio and abs circuit-type exercise, you notice a difference to your body very quickly. I can give 20 minutes each day, it’s practically nothing. It arrived on Saturday so I started it Sunday morning – so this morning was day three. And oh my goodness. Those of you who said I’d hurt? Yea, that. Those of you who said I’d sweat? Yea, that. Those of you who said day three would be really difficult because your body is already hurting? Yea, that. I’m on level one at the moment – I can do the vast majority of the exercises without too much difficulty – the cardio is much easier than the strength stuff. But I can’t do a single proper press up. Nope, not one. I’ll keep trying!
Apart from the DVD I’ve been using the exercise bike and doing my best to move around more. I have a desk job and sit at a computer for the vast majority of the day. As there probably no chance I will ever be provided with either a treadmill desk or a standing desk I am trying to get up off my chair as much as possible – there are things I can do stood up and I can make sure I make the most of my lunch breaks. I would use my Weight Watchers pedometer to track my daily steps but unfortunately I broke it less than a week into being a blog ambassador – it flung off my jeans and straight into the toilet bowl. Oops! I’ve tracked my steps before thanks to the GCC Walk the World scheme, and I know that wearing a pedometer does encourage me to move around more as I end up competing with myself trying to beat my average step count every day. I actually received a pedometer from Tesco in the post today, so from tomorrow I’ll wear that (even though it’s not all fancy and won’t work out any activity points) and see what happens!
I have to say I don’t much like the activities points on the Pro Points tracker. What I mean is I do like them – they mean extra food each week – but I don’t like how they are worked out. They take no account of how hard you work. Cycling on the exercise bike at full speed for 30 minutes is worth the same as cycling at a really leisurely pace barely raising your heart beat. It doesn’t exactly encourage you to work hard. Also, I earn the same points cycling for 30 minutes as I do for walking 30 minutes and doing aerobics for 30 minutes – but these exercises are not comparable on calories burnt. I guess I feel a bit hard done by when two Pro Points are added when I’ve got up early and worked really (really) hard before work. This doesn’t mean I’m not working hard, though…
Oh, and for the record, I have continued to eat breakfast. I find that exercising, then eating, then showering works for me and is a routine I am trying to get into during February. Apart from having that DVD which is motivation in itself I’ve also been challenged by a friend to exercise for 20-30 minutes every day for the whole of the month, to give me a bit of a kick and hopefully see some quick results. I would hope the DVD will cover that but if I get to the point where I can’t face Jillian Michael’s one morning I will still do something.
Food wise I’ve had another okay week, using up my daily points every day with mostly healthy food (the thai curry pictured above was a particular success!) and most of my weekly points too. I had pizza on Friday night which was particularly yummy and have continued to munch on the sweets and chocolates we have at home. I like that the counting system means I can still eat the things I want to. I’m eating loads of fruit and vegetables – even more than before (I’ve never been afraid of vegetables!), and I’m drinking lots more water. I am getting used to counting Pro Points now, I understand them more – I know what foods are free and what will cost me lots (although some things still surprise me!) and I like the way I can use those weekly points to treat myself to a nice hot chocolate or some fudge.
The proof is always in the numbers I guess and this week I lost another pound. I’ll take that – I don’t mind little losses, as long as I keep losing slowly but surely.
Disclaimer: I have been invited to be a Weight Watchers Blog Ambassador and have written this post with that hat on.
Global Corporate Challenge – Walk the World
02 years ago
by Splodz
in Health & Fitness
Starting today, and over the next 16 weeks, six colleages and I are attempting to walk around the world.
We are are taking part in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), which is a world-wide company challenge that aims to improve the activity levels of workers and therefore also our health and well being at work and home.
From now until early September I will be wearing a pedometer and recording my step count everyday on the GCC website. The aim is to walk at least 10,000 steps a day – which is the number doctors recommend we do to maintain a healthy lifestyle (that’s maintain, not improve, ok then!). We can also convert other forms of exercise such as cycling and swiming into steps to add to our total too (based on the ratios given by GCC). I hope to achieve over 10k a day to help give our team a chance at a decent ranking out of the 17,747 teams taking part across the world.
The GCC is simply the most enjoyable and effective way to create a more dynamic, healthy and productive workplace.
It is the only scientifically backed and independently researched event of its sort in the world and our 8 years of knowledge has been honed to create a program that does more than just entertain – it changes peoples behaviour.
It’s effectiveness in increasing workforce health, organisational productivity, staff morale and teamwork is proven through the independent research. This long term and extensive research has been carried out by some of the world’s leading universities, medical research facilities, government departments and disease prevention centres in the world and is all available here.
It feels good being a part of something that is global – there are people all over the place with the same rucksack and cap that I have with the same goal – but also something that will help motivate me to exercise not just more, but daily. And of course I’ve got the British 10k in the middle of this time too, so I’m hoping it’ll help me get off my bum and training again for that.
We start (shame it’s just virtually) in Milford Sound, New Zealand, and at the end of each day the GCC website gives us our new location, as well as some information about that place. As far as I understand no team has ever made it all the way back to New Zealand yet…!
Last year the team that won overall walked a staggering 35,521 steps PER DAY for the 16 weeks. Yes… that’s their PER DAY average, working out at nearly 18 miles every day!!!! In our organisation last year the winning team managed an average of 13,270 steps per day each, which is more likely! I’ll keep you posted on our ranking as the weeks go by.
Oh, and if anyone can remind me to wear my pedometer each day before I leave for work that would be just perfect!!!
Pedometer Challenge – Day 7
03 years ago
by Splodz
in General Post
That’s it, the challenge is over! And it’s a good job as my pedometer pretty much fell apart and is badly held together with lots of sticky tape!
After a week of counting my steps I have absolutely completed the challenge and am very pleased. I have found that it’s made me really motivated to move around more than normal, especially in the evenings when I would walk/jog on the spot while I was cooking the dinner, tidying up or putting the washing on the airer.
- Day 1 – Monday – 14,022
- Day 2 – Tuesday – 9,443
- Day 3 – Wednesday – 10,320
- Day 4 – Thursday – 10,363
- Day 5 – Friday – 10,897
- Day 6 – Saturday – 7,550
- Day 7 – Sunday – 13,732
Final Total: 76,327
Pedometer Challenge Complete
So that’s it – the challenge work set me of 50,000 steps between 1st and 7th March is well and truley completed. I averaged just over 10,900 steps each day and have walked (assuming my steps are average size) approximately 38 miles. That’s a long way! I wonder how many of those were additional to what I would have done without the pedometer?!
If you are wanting to kick start some fitness I would definitely recommend getting yourself a pedometer and aim for the 10,000 steps a day recommended for optimum health. You’ll be surprised how many steps you take just doing your normal day to day activities, and how quickly you will become addicted to walking on the spot to up your count each day. Worth a go!
Pedometer Challenge – Day 6
03 years ago
by Splodz
in General Post
Well I have to say I thought today was gonna be easy for steps – I was on my feet pretty much all day.
But no, I “only” managed just over 7.5k – how disappointing! I thought I would smash the 10k daily target easily!
I discovered this morning, though, that something had come lose in my pedometer and it wasn’t counting properly at all!
Oh well, it’s mended now (thanks to sticky tape!), my total for Saturday stands – I’ll just have to make sure I do extra today to make up for the machine’s inability to count properly yesterday!!
- Day 1 – Monday – 14,022
- Day 2 – Tuesday – 9,443
- Day 3 – Wednesday – 10,320
- Day 4 – Thursday – 10,363
- Day 5 – Friday – 10,897
- Day 6 – Saturday – 7,550
Running Total: 62,595
Pedometer Challenge – Day 5
13 years ago
by Splodz
in General Post
Friday woo! And I’ve only gone and done it… I have completed the challenge work set us of 50,000 steps between 1st and 7th March. Two days early. 
Everything now is a bonus – I wonder if I can manage 10,000 a day at the weekend?
- Day 1 – Monday – 14,022
- Day 2 – Tuesday – 9,443
- Day 3 – Wednesday – 10,320
- Day 4 – Thursday – 10,363
- Day 5 – Friday – 10,897
Running Total: 55,045
Pedometer Challenge – Day 4
03 years ago
by Splodz
in General Post
Another pretty normal day for me, no additional exercise to bump up my steps, but not as much walking on the spot required in the evening. Really am getting there with the challenge now… hopefully I’ll have the 50,000 steps needed in the bag by the end of today and then everything at the weekend will be a bonus.
- Day 1 – Monday – 14,022
- Day 2 – Tuesday – 9,443
- Day 3 – Wednesday – 10,320
- Day 4 – Thursday – 10,363
Running Total: 44,148
