Step Counting When Travelling Or At Home

Fitbit Surge. Photo by Sam Sailor in Wikipedia.

Do you need a step counter and how could it help you?

I was at a toastmasters International contest, trying to speak to one of the organizers, when she asked, "Do you mind walking around the room with me as we talk? I have to do it because I need to complete my target of 10,000 steps a day."

That sounded a lot of steps to me. I was happy to keep active, delighted to do effortless exercise, and find out more. I asked:

"What does that do for you? Keep you healthy? Or help you to lose weight?"

Lose Weight
"Both," she answered. "It keeps me fit. I've also lost weight!"

"How much?"

"Five ... in a month."

Numbers, especially metric numbers, aren't my thing. I asked, "Does that mean you are down a dress size?"

"Yes. I told my tailor, 'take this in'."

What luxury. A tailor, a personal tailor. Very Singaporean.

I said, "That's what I want to do, go down a dress size," I enthused: "I don't have a step checker. How can I count steps?"

She told me:
"The number of steps is not as much as it sounds. Just an hour's walking a day. Just do fifteen minutes first thing in the morning or after breakfast. Then do fifteen minutes in the afternoon, during your tea break. Finally, fifteen in the evening - going to and from the bus or train if you are going out counts as part of it. Then you only need to add three short bouts of five minutes at odd moments when you are doing nothing else, like we are now."

I replied, "That sounds great. I'd love to know how many steps I do each day. How can I get a step checker?"
She told me, "You can also get a step counter on your phone. Just go to 365 health."

How can you add steps?
1 Walking to and from your bus stop or station or car.
2 Bored with walking, prefer shopping? Walking around a supermarket, market, department store or shopping mall.
3 Walking around a botanic garden, park, beach, or up a hill for the view.
4 Walking around a swimming pool or lake.
5 Walking to a library, then around the shelves.

If you want to investigate or buy, the magic search words are:
activity tracker
fitness tracker
pedometer

At one time the Singapore government was giving them away free, to senior citizens and others. I think I missed out on that. If anybody has one they don't want, please pass it to me.

Mobile Phone Aps
Meanwhile, I am downloading the step tracker on a mobile phone. The phone responds to movement. To keep track of all your steps, you need to carry or wear your phone every time you get up from your restaurant table or office desk.

Alarms As Activity Reminders
You can also set your mobile phone alarm as a reminder to complete another five minutes of walking. If you are on a plane, you can have your mobile set to silent but buzzing, to remind you to get up and take a walk to prevent deep vein thrombosis. That step tracker has lots of uses.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activity_tracker
https://www.fitbit.com/sg/home

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See next post on steps. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Fitbit Watches and Getting Fit For Holidays and Keep Fit Holidays

Women everywhere are wearing outsize watches. Watches bigger than iPhones. I'd heard that the iPhone can check your health. But the iPhone starts at about £300 from an Apple shop. However, you can buy fitness watches from about £20 on eBay, and waterproof models on eBay and Amazon for about £120.

What are the features you could be looking for? Firstly, the pedometer. Pedometers have always existed but now they are attached to watches, and colourful and stylish watches.

How many steps have you taken? How many calories are you burning? Have you reached your daily target?

Then your heart rate.  How much does it increase when you are running? Or stressed? You can't lie to your fitness watch!

How many calories are you burning?  How many steps do you need, or how long do you need to walk, to work off a chocolate bar or dessert?

Some watches tell you if you have had enough sleep. They record how much you tossed and turned and tell you if you had good quality sleep.

Two friends on writers Holiday told me how they used their watches. One was a fit freak who wanted to measure her running. The other was overweight and wanted to keep to her diet and exercise sufficiently to get fitter and, more importantly, to her, thinner.

A watch can also measure how far you have swum. I always want a waterproof watch. I splash it when washing my hands or doing the washing up. I forget to remove it when having a shower or bath or swim. I don't want to leave my watch behind when rushing out for the day. When travelling I don't want to leave it behind in a hotel or leave it lying around in any public place such as a beach or swimming pool.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.