By Jodee Weiland

One of the ways I try to keep fit is by counting my steps each day with a steps counter. A steps counter is a device that tracks how many steps you take a day based on your personal length of stride. These devices called steps counters are made by a variety of companies and come with many different options for counting and tracking steps, as well as your personal health growth in this area of your life. For me, Stepping Out and Keeping a Count with a Steps Counter is a great way to track my activity levels and stay healthy!

Many people lead what could be called sedentary lives. In other words, they lead lives with either no physical activity or very little, and on top of that they don’t incorporate any physical activity to balance out that lack of physical activity. They either work at jobs where they sit most of the day or for one reason or another, stay at home and become what is known as a “couch potato.” Children and active young adults usually do not have these problems, but more and more young people are sitting in front of computers today and doing less physical activity. If that’s the case, it’s time to find out and do something about it for your health and well-being!

When people retire, many have a tendency to go about their day-to-day lives without realizing that their physical activity levels have dropped off, and that’s when people may see a decline in fitness or health. The same is true of people who stay at home for work or to care for others. Some people will find themselves snacking more and moving less! This is never a good combination for healthy living, so getting a steps counter is the first step to actively recognizing what you need to do to stay healthy!

My first steps counter was very simple and very inexpensive. Years ago, the school nurse where I taught, offered us all the chance to purchase a steps counter for a discounted price of $10 from a program called 10K-A-Day, Stepping Up to Better Health. I had always worked out, so this sounded great to me. I wanted to know how many steps a day I was actually taking. The challenge was to take 10,000 steps a day, the equivalent of 5 miles. Although I easily reached that number on most days of the week just moving around our large high school and in my classroom working with students, I was amazed to find that on days when students were testing or when I was grading essays or reading a novel once again that I was about to teach, I was not moving as much as I had thought. That opened my eyes, and I realized that on days like that I needed to be sure to take the time to workout or intentionally find ways to keep moving in order to stay healthy!

Later, I upgraded my steps counter to an OMRON Go Smart HJ-112 steps counter. The first one I bought counted steps, but not much more. This newer one had a seven-day memory, while tracking steps, distance, calories and fat burned, as well as aerobic steps and time. This added some new dimensions into my discovery of my daily walking and workout habits. It was very useful in helping me find what types of activities helped me the most when attempting to eat right and stay actively healthy!

It wasn’t too long after that when the steps counter developers came out with devices that could be hooked up to your personal computer and your step activity, both aerobic and non-aerobic could be tracked online. In this way, the user could see visually what they were doing day by day. That is when I upgraded to the steps counter I am using now. It doesn’t look much different because it is an OMRON Go Smart HJ-720ITC, but it is the PC version and is Windows compatible. That means I can connect to my computer and see a graph of my personal activity levels, both aerobic and non-aerobic, and my progress.

There are many other step counters available now, including FITBIT, which is now compatible with both Windows and Apple. Earlier it was not compatible with the system I was using, so I chose OMRON. The steps counter from OMRON was also less costly at that time. I paid about fifty to sixty dollars through an online site when I purchased mine. These step counters have clips, so you can wear them on a belt or carry it in your pocket without the clip. Some track well while wearing them in a variety of ways. Just be sure that the one you get fits what you are looking for and how you want to be able to wear it. They even have devices that are Bluetooth capable and will sync with your computer automatically now. That will be my next purchase!

Bottom line, Stepping Out and Keeping a Count with a Steps Counter is a great way to track your activity, while eating healthy and staying fit. My doctor loves the fact that I have been able to keep my weight down and have great results on my yearly health screenings. I think eating healthy and keeping active is key to attaining this result. I like to track all of this and more because then I know what I’m doing and how I need to adjust my activity to fit my personal health goals. Being healthy means having a more active lifestyle, and I’m all for that. Remember that physical activity is also good for your emotional well-being as well. Give it a try to see if you are doing what it takes to stay healthy, and enjoy!

NOTE: This is NOT a sponsored post. The information given is based on my own personal opinions, experiences, and thoughts.