Pedometers Spur Exercise

Couch Potatoes Find 10,000 Steps Easier Than a 30-Minute Walk

Pedometers may help couch potatoes get sorely needed exercise.

Pedometers keep track of how far a person walks or runs. They also keep track of the number of steps a person takes. That — plus advice to take 10,000 steps a day — seems to be the best motivation for people who don’t like to exercise.

The finding comes from a study of 58 women by University of Tennessee researcher Dixie L. Thompson, PhD, and colleagues. The women didn’t get much exercise. In a typical day, they tended to take only 5,760 steps.

That’s not much exercise. And it may explain why all of these middle-aged women (average age, 45) were overweight or obese (although none was severely obese).

At the very least, a person ought to get 30 minutes of exercise every day. That’s about 10,000 steps.

So Thompson and colleagues told half of the women to “take a brisk 30-minute walk on most, preferably all, days of the week.” They gave the women a pedometer — sealed so the women could not read it — to record how many steps they actually took.

The researchers told the other half of the women to walk 10,000 steps every day. They, too, got a sealed pedometer. But they also got another pedometer that showed them how many steps they were taking.

Women told to take a 30-minute walk averaged about 10,000 steps — but only on days they actually took a walk. On other days, they tended to sit around as usual.

The women given a pedometer and told to walk 10,000 steps every day averaged about 12,000 steps on days they actually went for a walk. But even on days they didn’t manage to go walking, they still upped their step total to about 8,000 steps.

“Pedometers are quite popular now, and with good reason,” Thompson says, in a news release. “Our study shows they can provide an incentive for people to increase their activity levels. Study participants who monitored their daily steps with pedometers tended to walk more every day, even when they were below their goal of 10,000 steps per day.”

The findings appear in the April issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

SOURCES: Hultquist, C.N. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, April 2005; vol 37: pp 678-683. News release, American College of Sports Medicine.

Comments

• 
  

• Tip of the Month

  January 2012

  Smart Starbucks and Steakhouse Choices

  Starbucks Choices
  • Peppermint Choc Mocha- 520cals, 20g fat
  • Pumpkin Frappuccino- 420cals, 13g fat
  • Flavored Latte- 360clas, 16g fat
  • Latte- 220cals, 15g fat
  • Coffee w/cream and sugar 180 calories
  • Cappuccino- 120cals, 4g fat
  • Coffee w/sugar 90 calories
  • Coffee w/cream 90 calories
  • Coffee w/whole milk 60 calories
  • Coffee w/skim milk 30-50 calories

  Order a coffee with cream and sugar every work day?  Add 900 calories per week to your diet.  That is over 13 pounds in one year.

  Enjoy a cappuccino every day instead, and you save 300 calories per week, and cut 4 pounds per year from the above diet.

  Go to coffee with skim milk and Splenda?  Now you are only adding 250 calories per week, and under 4 pounds per year in coffee weight.

  Enjoy a flavored frappucino or latte once per week?  That could add up to 26,000 calories, and another 7.5 pounds per year.

  Just your coffee could account for 20 pounds of caloric intake annually!

  Steakhouse Choices
  • Caesars Salad- 800cals
  • Chopped Salad, 320cals
  • Spinach Salad, 170cals click here for more »

  click here to read past tips

• Recipe of the Month

  January 2012

  Drink alcohol a little more wisely!

  Drink Choices
  • Eggnog, 350cals
  • White Russian, 260cals
  • Riesling, 160-200cals
  • Shot of liquor, 70-125cals
  • Tonic or Soda, 100cals
  • Winter Beer, 150-200cals
  • Beer, 150cals
  • Bloody Mary, 130cals
  • Wine, 120cals
  • Light Beer, 55-85cals
  • Champagne, 85cals
  Enjoy a small glass of eggnog and two gin and tonics, and you have drank 750 worthless calories.
  Or, start with some champagne, and enjoy two glasses of wine and you only have drank 330 calories, less than half of your first choices.