I got one that clips to my hip and records both regular strides and those at a moderate pace, which would be aerobically effective. Based on my height and weight, it records distance, the amount of minutes I spend walking at a moderate pace, and an approximation of calories burned. It stores seven days' worth of data, so I can track my progress throughout the week.
I really love this thing, and I try to wear it every day (which probably accounts for how scratched it is). It's great for pushing myself to make sure I'm walking at a moderate pace, and I get a certain sense of satisfaction knowing I've walked, for example, two miles that day. When I wear it, I find myself consciously walking faster to try to score more "moderate" steps, and occasionally I will take the long way to try to round up to a higher number. Brilliant.
Today I went running, a little more than 3 miles and walking another half mile or so. I wasn't breaking any land-speed records, but at least I know that I had a solid 46 minutes at some kind of moderate pace that should have been aerobically effective, and based on that, I should have burned approximately 374 calories.
(That's probably half of the slice of cake I had for dessert last night, but it's a start.)
The other useful information the pedometer gives me is when I'm not walking as much as I think I am. I think it's very easy, when living or working in a city, to leave the house and come home exhausted, with aching feet and a sore back, and assume I've walked miles. "Must have been 20,000 steps or more," I think, and then look at the pedometer to realize I barely scraped 6000.
The general guidelines I've read are 10,000 steps a day for good health, or at least a half hour to 45 min of walking at a moderate pace. It turns out that 10,000 steps is about 3 miles walking, give or take, for me. I want to cringe when I realize I used to run 3.1 miles in 25-min cross-country races in high school and considered them really easy. Our standard practice run was around 5 miles a day, and at a decent pace too. Given, if I were still in that condition, it would preclude the necessity of this entire blog.
I think a pedometer is a really good addition to any health and fitness plan. I like the hip variety because I can usually hide it under my clothes, and in a pinch I can put it in my coat pocket or purse. There are all kinds of inexpensive ones all over the internet, including ones with heart rate monitors, bluetooth connections to your computer, fitness-tracking software etc. I look forward to making greater use of mine.
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