I saw an article in the paper the other day about this, also! And it occurred to me that I sit far too much! Now, on the weekends, that's a different story. But just yesterday I made a personal committment to always park at the end of the parking lot whenever I go to work or run errands!

Only problem so far is when I got to work this morning, it's too dark at this hour, and I was a bit afraid to park out there! But when I go to the bank at lunch I am definitely going to find the furthest parking spot when I return.

It makes a difference if you increase your activity.

I happened to be in a weight control study when I moved, and was weighed daily at work (scales covered, only the researcher saw what we weighed). I went from a 3rd-floor walkup a block from work to a 3rd-floor walkup several blocks further from work. Until my body re-established the intake/output balance I lost about 5 pounds in a couple of weeks. Then I ate a lot more for a few days, gained the weight back, and the eating pattern settled down to normal again.

Walking America (one of my favorite programs) featured this program. 10,000 steps is the minimum to shoot for but the pace those steps are taken counts too. As long as I get my 3 miles per day on the treadmill I can usually hit 16,000 steps a day. I don't do it for weight loss but to just keep heart healthy. They also featured weight training at a minimum of 15 minutes per day. Very simple exercises but without weight training women lose five percent of their muscle tone per year which is converted to fat. So I pick up my dumbbells at least every other day. It seems to be working. Any other Walking America fans out there?

A side-effect to getting my dog last year was losing weight. I wasn't trying to, but due to the increase in walking from walking the pup several times a day, my pants started getting baggy on me! Now I walk him up and down the hills behind my house instead of staying on flat ground. I want to build up some muscles in my legs and butt.

I want to start keeping track of my steps too because this idea just makes a lot of sense.

Can anyone please recommend a pedometer that's fairly sturdy?

Thank you.

For last Christmas I gave my husband two pedometers: one wrapped with a label "The Tool", another wrapped and labeled "The Motivation". We both wear them every day and post our totals each night on a special calendar in our closet. We are accountable to each other and enjoy the friendly competition. It is really amazing what a difference it has made for us. We have been surprised to learn how little or how much activity we have had at times. This past weekend we were hiking in the mountains with my parents. I broke our all-time record and set a new high of 25,000 for one day - and my parents were with us all the way (in their mid 70's). We are not particularly athletic, but just want to keep active, keep our hearts healthy and have a good quality of life in our older years, as my parents do.

I ordered our original two and have purchased 2 others for family members. Have also referred others to this company. They have always shipped within a couple of days.

Here's where we bought ours:

Here is a link that might be useful: New Lifestyles