Technical Difficulties

Turns out this freebie pedometer isn’t working out so well. You get what you pay for, I guess. No offense to Select Medical Rehab. Inc. but it is just too easy to reset. As in, I’ve reset the darned thing 4 times today. A couple of times were accidental, but my toddler is fascinated with it so the other times were premeditated. 

My initial reaction, after irritation, was to go out and buy one with a cover. I even looked at them. There was one at Target for $14.95 with a cover and a strap. It even has “10,000 STEPS PER DAY” printed on it. See? It pays to jump on bandwagons after they are in full swing. The accessories are so much easier to acquire. I didn’t even know it was a bandwagon until I Googled it. But of course, this is the information age. There isn’t a thing out there that doesn’t have an obsessive following. No, really. If you can think it, there is already someone out there blogging about it, I assure you.

The reason I did not purchase said pedometer is because I’ve started a 'no new stuff' campaign here at the Shuker homestead. I’m sure I’m not alone on that one either. Actually the goal is to hand-make things or buy things handmade from others. (A little clarification lest you think I'm asking more of my customers than I myself am willing to buy.) But that is for another post...

If you add up all the steps I took before the resets I am up to about 9,500 as of right now. You know, sitting here. A lesser person would round up, theorizing I probably lost about 500 steps in the resets. But as I am trying to become a different kind of lesser person, that would do me no good. I’ll make it. Day #1 is in the bag. 

It should be no surprise that regular old life was not enough to get me there. If it were, I wouldn’t have a weight problem in the first place. I went for a 40 minute walk this afternoon which netted me a good 5,000 steps. At this point I can pretty much surmise that regular life activity plus a 40 minute walk everyday will keep me healthy. Actually, I would have been able to come up with that before the pedometer use; which is the point.  

Weight loss is not about figuring out how to lose weight. As my girlfriends and I agreed, in the very conversation that prompted me to wear a pedometer, you’d be hard pressed to find a fat person out there who couldn’t tell you exactly how to take off pounds. The true crux of the problem is finding motivation. Any problem, really. So if wearing a little semi-functional step counter will help my brain comprehend the value of a daily constitutional, so be it. Whatever works, I say.