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Before I had kids I walked all the time. I would opt to walk with my friends just about everywhere. Since I became a mom, walking definitely turned into a thing of the past. My city definitely makes it difficult to walk with small kids because the sidewalks are crappy.
They definitely need to be redone, and more need to be added. In most walking spaces here, there aren’t any sidewalks. If there are sidewalks available to walk on, they usually have major cracks, bumps, and huge drop offs that make it dangerous to push a stroller or pull a wagon.
Since my kids are a little older and don’t require a stroller or wagon anymore, I immediately applied to be an Omron Pedometer Ambassador for 30 days. This required me to strap on the pedometer and walk 10,000 steps (5 miles) a day for 30 days.
I was definitely wondering what exactly it recorded. Walking, jogging, or Running in place? Jumping? Would walking in a quicker pace help get to the 10,000 steps more quickly? It was something I was set out to discover.
On the very first day of walking, I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be. It was way more steps than I was used to normally walking. I even walked 5 blocks to my moms house and back and still only had 2 miles down. Having a walking partner is what got me through most of the walking days! It’s a lot easier to get to your walking steps goal when you’re walking and talking.
Focusing on just the number of steps you have or how many you still have to go is what seems to take forever. When you make it fun instead of solely focusing on the steps, you relax a little more. These are the days that I found myself easily going over the set goal of 10,000. I was super glad to have the strapless heart rate monitor to let me know how much of the goal had already been met for the day though!
I was definitely exhausted the first week where my body was getting back into the routine of walking, but I was definitely making the goal daily. There were more than a handful of times that I didn’t make my goal, though.
I got sick twice in a one week period. I’m pretty sure it was the summers version of the flu (that lasts 2-3 days) and I didn’t even get 1,000 steps on those days. I could barely even manage to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom. I had a huge migraine, my body ached all over, and I felt like crap.
I loved the fact that as soon as I was better, the Pedometer was calling my name. All the other Omron Ambassadors were helping me and encouraging me along the way. It’s a lot easier to make your goal when you have friends standing behind you letting you know that you CAN do this!
The Omron Tri-Axis Pedometer is designed to be worn on the waistband of your pants/shorts or even clipped to your shirt. The pedometer tracks steps, miles, and calories, as well as tracks aerobic steps and aerobic minutes per day.
It has a 7-day memory for easier tracking, letting you know how many steps you’ve reached the past 7 days. The mechanism is extremely accurate and silent. When you first get it, you set it up with your information. It lets you add your height and weight so it can better track the motion of your steps. The aerobic steps function tracks your steps when you walk or run more than 60 steps per minute or continue to walk or run for 10 minutes or more at a time.
The most awesome thing about the Omron Tri-Axis pedometer is the web connectivity at OmronFitness.com. Connect the USB pedometer at OmronFitness.com to track your results, set certain goals and share your victories; It is both Mac and PC compatible. It records on a weekly basis as well as gives you an overview of the entire month!
The pedometer is extremely easy to get started with. It is easy to set up- you just turn it on, enter your information (weight, height, etc.) and start walking. It’s easy to add your information to the OmronFitness website as well. You open an account on the website which takes less than a minute.
The Pedometer has a detachable cap that reveals a USB plug. You plug this into your computer and it automatically downloads the little blue circle you see in the above picture. When you’re finished with your daily steps, just plug the pedometer into your computer and right click the blue circle icon to start uploading your information!
For those of you on a weight loss goal—this would be amazing for you! It records your weight on a daily basis as well as your calories lost. I didn’t do it to lose weight, I just wanted to start living a healthier life. I wanted to introduce walking back into my life. Heart Disease runs in my family, and I don’t want to add to what is already there. Heart healthy all the way!!
Here is a list of the bloggers that joined me on this adventure, and MAN did we have fun!
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post about the Omron TriAxis Pedometer through the Bookieboo Influencer Network and Mamavation, a disease prevention campaign for moms.
Jessica Renee
