Double your energy in 2 weeks: the more you move, the more vibrant you'll be. See how a matchbook-size device motivated two readers to exercise and how you can follow in their footsteps - walking with a pedometer

Natural Health, Sept, 2002 by Erin O'Donnell

HOW MANY STEPS DO YOU TAKE IN ONE DAY?

Fitness researchers believe the more you take, the more energy you'll have and the healthier you'll be. People who regularly rack up steps report feeling less fatigued and stressed and more productive than their sedentary counterparts, says Andrea Dunn, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. And a study in the International Journal of Obesity last year found that people who take 9,000 steps a day are more likely to be classified as normal weight, while people who take less than 5,000 are more likely to be classified as obese.

To find out how many steps you take, get a pedometer. This small, inexpensive device clips to your waistband and counts your steps. "It's like a little personal trainer," says Catrine Tudor-Locke, Ph.D., assistant professor of health promotion at Arizona State University in Mesa. A quick peek at your pedometer can spur you to move.

To see if a pedometer can really motivate people to get moving (and give them benefits like more energy) we recruited two readers and gave them pedometers to wear every day for three weeks. The first week was just meant to measure the cold, hard truth about how many steps they took on an average day. Over the next two weeks, we used tips from researchers Dunn and Tudor-Locke to help our testers increase their steps. Their ultimate goal was 10,000, the number many experts recommend for good health. Here's a look at how this device helped them boost their steps--and their energy levels. To start a pedometer plan yourself, see our simple guide on the next page.

One Week Prior

How Much Do They Really Walk?

Before starting our two-week plan, our readers needed to know how many steps they normally take. April Troy, 45, a director of special events and security in New York City, hadn't been walking much. After September 11, fearing another terrorist attack, she changed her usual route to work. Instead of walking several blocks to take the subway, she took cabs the entire 50-block distance. She discovered that a typical day gave her 4,500 steps, fewer than she'd imagined.

Our second reader, Donna Provenzano, 42, lives in suburban Randolph, N.J., with her husband and 12-year-old son. Working part-time in the customer service department of a local store and establishing a new Boy Scout troop had left her too busy to exercise regularly. That first week she logged an average of 6,000 steps a day, but wondered how she would find the time to walk more than that.

Both women said they felt strangely invigorated by the reality check of measuring their steps. "I love having the pedometer on," Troy said. "I feel like I've got this little secret." And Provenzano saw a connection between inactivity and low energy. She spent her lowest day, 2,800 steps, sitting at her desk making phone calls. She'd felt busy and was exhausted at bedtime, but realized there's a big difference between being mentally active and physically active. As it turns out, this is a common experience. "A lot of people will feel busy, but that doesn't mean they're very physically active," says fitness researcher Tudor-Locke. At the end of the base-line week, both readers were eager to try increasing their number of steps.

Week One

Life Interferes

Reaching 10,000 steps seemed unattainable at first. A heat wave hit New York and New Jersey, sending temperatures into the mid-90s. Troy struggled, not just from the heat, but because a co-worker quit suddenly. She found herself working longer hours to compensate, which dashed her plan to walk after work. Her numbers stalled out around 5,000 each day, although she'd set a goal for herself of 7,000 steps a day. In the office that Saturday after an already long week, she was stressed and left early for a walk. "After the walk, the stress had left me, and I just felt so much better," she said.

Our experts urged Troy not to be hard on herself. Tudor-Locke said it helps some people to take an average of their steps over the week "so you can live with a day that's low," she said. "You don't kick yourself in the butt if you miss one day." Instead, you try again the next day.

Sluggish from the humidity, Provenzano forced herself out of the house for 10-minute walks or brief sessions of yard work. Walking for 30 minutes on the treadmill at the air-conditioned YMCA early in the morning also helped increase her numbers. As the week progressed, her energy levels soared. "It has been a very big change," she said. "And it has to be the walking because there's nothing else I did differently." By Friday of that week, Provenzano broke 10,000 steps.

Week Two

The Pedometers Pay Off

Remembering how walking had lifted her mood, Troy made the time to do it again after work the following Tuesday. She walked more than 20 blocks, boosting her count to almost 9,000 steps that day. A few 5,000-step days were followed by a weekend on Long Island, where she took walks on the beach, which pushed her to 10,000. Seeing the steps add up gave her a charge. "I feel like I'm doing something positive and meaningful for myself," Troy said.