Monday, July 5, 2010

Step By Step

It has been a week now since I began wearing a pedometer and keeping track of my steps daily. It has been a good motivator to get moving and keep moving. Today's count is 10,448 steps. Out of the seven days I have made it to or over 10,000 steps five days. A sixth day I did housework in the morning, which didn't register much on the pedometer, but I was on my feet. I was feeling sore, so I did not do an exercise walk that afternoon, and rested instead. On Saturday I toured gardens, but did no aerobic walking and fell short. Today I spent about four hours working in the yard, and then did my aerobic walk in the evening. I really would like to lose some weight, but since I started counting steps, if anything I seem to have gained weight! Go figure. And I'm having leg pain at night. I am going to moderate a bit, aiming for 10,000 steps no more that five days a week, but I want to keep going to see if I can build up to the point where I no longer have pain. If I can't lose weight on this plan, at least I can keep from gaining, especially when there is no more holiday food in the house! Those potato chips, that potato salad, and ice cream to go with the fresh raspberries have go to go. But hey, it was the Fourth of July!

14 comments:

  1. it's a delicate balance between too much exercise and pain. I listen to my body and take a day off now and then and don't exercise daily to the max-do water aerobics MWF or MTTF-none on weekends but add a walk now and then. Be gentle with yourself or suffer the consequences. Drink lots of water and realize you may be gaining muscle which weighs more-portion controls and cut out sugar helps tremendously. I've lost 30 pounds the past year.

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  2. My advice is to not focus so much on 10,000 steps and pondering food you are not going to eat . I haven't heard any sewing plans lately, and you make some unbelievably unique creations!!
    What is with the leg pain? Restless legs, or as a result of exercise? Hope you get some relief, Linda.

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  3. Congratulations on making it to 10K several times! Maybe you're doing it a little fast, which is causing the leg pains. I know it can be tough to lose weight but easy to gain, as the favorite pants I donned yesterday reminded me. They shrunk in my closet! :-)

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  4. You're darned right, it was the Fourth of July! We have to indulge occasionally, don't we? I won't be getting my 10,000 steps today or the rest of this week, I don't think, because it's much too hot and humid for aerobic walking, even early in the morning and late in the evening..

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  5. I began wearing my pedometer after you first mentioned yours a few weeks ago, but became really discouraged when at the end of the day -- a day that included an hour of cardio and a half hour of weights, house cleaning, and garden work -- it registered only 3900 steps!!!

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  6. Hi Linda, I did see your comment yesterday on my blog and now that post has all the comments deleted and blogger is not letting me comment on others blogs. We will see if you get this. Hopefully by now whatever was wrong is fixed.
    I am trying the walking too, but just to see how much I do walk and then try for more but pushing myself or my knees will be yelling at me. Oh bother! MB

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  7. I wear a pedometer too. I'm on about my 11th one because they fall off and break from time to time.

    I can walk 10,000 steps a day when my life is active or I'm walking from home to the grocery store or the diner or the library. Last week I was at a convention in San Antonio and walked over 10,000 each of the four days, because we had to walk from our hotel, to the convention center, to the baseball stadium. I lost a couple of pounds, according to the waistband of my favorite jeans, in spite of the double-dip ice cream I had on two nights running. Plus, it was hot and humid, and staying alive in heat burns lots of calories!

    If I were starting out now I'd aim for, say, 3000 steps for two days, then 3500 for two more, and so on. When my legs hurt it's usually because I've done too much before my body was ready.

    Good luck with your goal!

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  8. Good for you that you are getting a lot of exercise! I returned my pedometer to my daughter after a few days. Just did not like it. I am back to my slothful ways!

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  9. I started taking one pill of the glucosamine with MSM that you can get at Costco about a month ago, and my knees aren't giving me pain any more no matter how far I walk.

    Note on pedometers - sometimes they don't register all your steps. If they are set too high, you have to really bounce to get them to register. just fyi

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  10. It is hard to get the exercise we need. It's too hot or too cold. The wind is blowing and now I have a cold. I don't use a pedometer, though, Hubby loves his GPS and often brings it on our walks. Our most frequent walk is 3.3 miles but it will be a few more days before I will be up too it and then I will decide it is too hot.

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  11. I got a pedometer for my birthday yesterday. I only used it during my daily run today, but I should have kept it on all day. That's a good idea.

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  12. You are an inspiration Linda but I'm glad you knew when to take a break when you were a bit sore. I think you're doing great!
    An English Girl Rambles

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  13. It has been very humid here in the northeast the past few days so I hardly move. Which is not good I know, but I have been taking in plenty of water and eating lightly. I have arthritis in both knees and they do indeed let me know when they are at their limit! I miss the days when I could walk four miles a day, lucky if I do that in a weekend hike. As for the goodies, certainly one should celebrate the Fourth without regret!

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  14. You are my inspiration, Linda. I'm planning to start walking again today after over a month of being ill.

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