My pedometer made me a better mother.

by

Garmin Vivofit

I’m either an *early* adopter (Netflix’ed a decade before the “and chill”) or l-a-s-t to the soiree (leaped on the Crocs bandwagon long after its wheels had fallen off).

I’m also opinionated to the point of resembling a Tornado petulant child.

Once I decide I dislike something (hello mayonnaise! greetings CrossFit!) I rarely give it a chance.

Back in the ’90s, when everyone was obsessed with tracking/counting, I concluded I hated pedometers.

My disdain was neither based in fact nor because I exercised intuitively (I didn’t back then) I simply made a snap decision and committed to it.

I encouraged clients to wear pedometers, rock heart rate monitors and embrace gadgets, yet remained steadfast in my belief they were not for me.

Until my back started hurting.

I blamed my piriformis (& vowed to foam roll), but knew, intuitively, my pain stemmed from sitting.

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I sat as I worked. I sat as I pondered working.

I’d become the most sedentary healthy living writer I knew.

It was time for a change. I surrendered a pedometer might be the needed change.

It required all of one day wearing my new tracker to see I walked as much as a bed ridden person.

I moved consistently through my day, yet given how I earned a living it was inevitable I sat.

A lot.

I interspersed moments of play throughout work hours, but activities like monkey bars or SKIP IT! don’t equate to steps (who knew?).

I had the World’s Greatest Golden Doodle, but Texas summers aren’t walk-friendly.

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Thanks to my tracker I realized, if left to my work-housework-grocery-work-childtime-work-bed devices, I’d plateau at 3 thousand steps early in my day & not increase from there.

I was far behind the average American.

I found myself momentarily discouraged.

I committed to stepping it up (pun intended) and, in the process of increasing my step count, became a better parent.

3 ways my pedometer made me a better parent.(1)

 

  • My pedometer increased my patience. Parenthood equates to time spent cleaning, straightening, retrieving, and organizing. Even with my foray into fruit bowling I’d get impatient when, as we were leaving the house, the Child would say: Oh! I forgot _____! Will you go get it? until the pedometer. Post-pedometer I no longer heard the request of a disorganized child. I heard: Here’s an opportunity to squeeze in steps!

swim goggles

YES I’ll go and get your goggles!

 

  • My pedometer helped me practice not preach. My approach to life is to practice what I long to preach & say nothing. Before my pedometer it hadn’t occurred to me a step-count display would be a signal to my daughter we *both* needed to move! On days she’d see my count was low she’d take the initiative and suggest we do something active. Anything which promotes healthy living *and* spares me nagging is win-win.

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6pm and few steps for the day? She notices.

 

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cool day + walk to & fro camp + ambulate canine = jackpot!

So that’s my confession: 

A gadget I’d hated without trying has beomce a pivotal tool with regards to my being a kinder, gentler, happier Mom, wife, employee and friend.

Oh and my back is better, too.

And you?

  • Are you an avowed pedometer junkie?
  • What lessons have you learned from increasing your steps?

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Comments

  1. I’m laughing because I was the same way about the step counter built into my GPS watches I use for running, swimming and cycling. It constantly beckons me to MOVE! even after say a 30 mile bike and 1/2 mile swim!! But, I feel so much better when I do get up and move because I too sit and sit and write and write. It also definitely helps get me moving more with the kids and the endless “oh I forgot!” < – – all.the.time.
    Happy step counting and try to stay cool my friend! Those temps are no joke!

  2. i used to wear a pedometer every day…but the ocd , type a me found myself getting hooked on the numbers…so taking a break…might go back, migh tnot! but i think for most it is a GREAT way to encourage movement…and i love this perspective!!!

  3. I quit wearing mine because my step count was so low.
    I think I need to get it back out and just try to increase it slowly.
    Any tips?

    • For me it really is all about making my life as inconvenient as possible. Leaving my beloved Diet Coke across the room so I have to walk and get it. Always using the restroom upstairs not the one right next to my desk etc. I always preached the notion of parking far away from your destination – – but I never did it 🙂 I do it now even in the Austin heat!!

  4. I never thought pedometers were worth it but I’ve been converted. I love mine just to see if I need an extra kick in the butt to GET UP! Especially on the days when I’m strapped to my desk.

  5. Hmm. I think I’ll clip on my Fit Bit today—-if I can find it. I think I need something to help keep me accountable—other than the dog. It’s a good thing we have a dog. I have purposefully resisted a fenced in yard, so I HAVE to go for waljs.

    • YES!!!
      We have a really really really small yard and it’s not fenced. The husband thinks I’m crazy for not just fencing at him and pushing him out there in the morning to do his business 🙂 I figure I’m already up early I may as well walk him so we both get steps 🙂 and one of us does our business.

  6. I hate trackers.
    I think I am how you used to be!
    All of my friends at them. Great for them not for me 🙂

  7. I tried pedometers (the ones before Fitbit like devices) and didn’t like them – I lost too many to falling off or other accidents. The Fitbit I haven’t tried – still waffling. But enough of excuses. I do try to fit in an exercise walk nearly every day I do slack on the back strengthening exercises I was taught in physical therapy (like right now, when I am sitting and blogging.) My challenge is work, which is a sit down job and can get intense at times. I have to remember to get up and move. I am fortunate enough to have a desk that can raise and lower so I can work standing but I have to be careful that I do not slouch. I say – whatever works. Maybe I’ll try a Fitbit.

    • I was avoiding saying brand names 🙂 but I did get a fit bit force at one point and it kept falling off. I also wasn’t a fan of the fact I had to charge it. I love what I have now (Garmin vivofit) as it runs on a watch battery!

  9. I’m like you – suddenly I don’t mind the chores or the kid stuff that has me back tracking or going up and down stairs extra times, especially on days when I don’t run. I resisted for a long time for two reasons: I thought I’d get obsessed with the number and I thought because I ran so much I didn’t need to worry about it. I was wrong on both counts. I’ve been considering getting ones for the boys as well…

    • I was very hesitant to give my child one because – – don’t know why I thought this?? 🙂 – – I figured she would become obsessed/obsessive?
      Apparently I needed to not dig up in doubt what I planted in face 🙂 as we live without Calorie talk or even owning a scale and she just loves her little tracker because it’s a watch and it lights up and while she doesn’t exactly understand how many steps are “amazing” and how few are “not great” she likes to watch the number go up

  10. Ive always been pretty anal about my distance, perhaps because I’m a runner (or maybe I was born this way. Before GPS I us d to measure distance with my car. So it was natural for me to fall in love with ne with the fitness tracker craze.

  11. I don’t use one because I know I’d fail dismally – I spend WAY too much time on my bottom. I do a morning walk but I don’t think I’d crack more than 3000 steps on an average day and a pedometer only makes me feel guilty! Middle aged spread is becoming a reality!

    • I will never forget the first day I wore mine, I had 3000 steps, and I thought to myself: hot damn lady!!! you are awesome!!!!
      And then I googled the American average and then I further googled how many steps we should be shooting for each day and my jaw dropped…

  12. texas heat makes me lack steps. I loath it! but i need to take your tips! Tell your daughter I’ll fetch her any thing she forgets! haha. Patience, I love that. Smart woman you!

  14. I used a variety of pedometers over the years when my kids were younger. I’d find one I’d like and the battery would crap out, or I’d lose it. I felt like it ‘kept me on track,’ and helped me set a good example for my kids regarding the importance of activity. After the last one died, I decided not to replace it. And I gained steadily. You know how it is when you’re a writer or have some other job that is mostly sedentary. You always want to finish that next paragraph before you get up. Next thing you know, 3 hours have gone by and you haven’t moved. (And no standing desk for me. I can’t even walk with a cup of coffee without wearing it, let alone stand and type.) Then I got a Fitbit and I actually love it, even though it’s not the latest/greatest model. It’s sufficient for my needs. I challenge myself to get up and walk for 10-15 minutes each hour of the work day. It’s actually a nice little break and I don’t lose my train of thought, as I feared I would. And now my daughter, 14, has one and loves it. She’s homeschooled and uses her Fitbit to log her PE hours. Without any dialogue from me, she challenges herself to meet her goal some days. And some days she’ll sit still and Minecraft all day or forget to wear it. But like me, she’s learning to check it periodically and notice that it’s probably a good idea to get up and move. ‘Baby steps,’ literally and figuratively.

    • Oh how your phrase of “without any dialogue from me” really made me smile. We had a conversation around the house this morning – – the two big people types 🙂 – – and the husband mentioned nagging or prodding the child to do something and I thought to myself: that’s great. that may mean she will do it as long as you’re nagging her.
      that might not teach her a long term habit.

  15. I’ve long hated step tracking as you do, but when I started this PhD I noticed similar issues. And then I noticed my RHR going up up up, as my activity went down down down. So I ordered a leaf from Zulily. We’ll see how this goes. Summers in NYC have fucking awful humidity, and I’m allergic to EVERYTHING, so, I hope it encourages my ass to hop on the mill or elliptical.

    • I am so in awe of people who can walk and work or walk and edit. I can’t.
      Not only can I not afford a fancy treadmill desk – – I fear if I had one I still wouldn’t use it!!

  16. I sit way, way too much. Maybe that’s why my back hurts! I have a step counter in my phone but ever check it. Perhaps I need the visual of something strapped around my wrist? I think so. Xx

    • I wonder if I need that as well. I used to have one of the first fit bit that clipped to my waist but I wouldn’t look at it until the end of the day

    • I really really love the one I currently have partly because it rarely needs any sort of charge – – it’s a once a year watch battery type thing – – but mostly because the steps are displayed immediately on my wrist. It would not be as motivating to me if I had to grab my iPhone out click click click click to see where I was in my daily count.

  18. This is great. I stopped using my Fitbit after awhile because I was walking enough, didn’t use it to monitor my eating, and it got in the way when I was sleeping. I think it’s a great reminder though throughout the day to get up and get moving as you said. I should try mine out again just so I can see if the days I am home in the afternoon working on the blog I’m still moving enough!

  19. I’m definitely a Fitbit junkie. Love to see those steps pile up, and now a quick errand to do this or that is not such a chore, but a way to get in more steps. I have lost two of them, the last one after a short two weeks of receiving a new one for my birthday. I contacted Fitbit and they kindly sent me a new one, FREE! I don’t like the band, it’s precarious at best, and evidently falls off without me realizing it, so I’m trying to be more careful now. It’s been six months and I’ve still got the latest Fitbit, so maybe I’ve got it figured out. What kind of pedometer do you use? It looks much nicer than my cheap Fitbit, which has no display, only lights indicating how close you are to your step goal, you have to check the app on your phone to see where you’re actually at for the day.

    • I’ve heard such phenomenal things about fitbit’s customerservice!!
      I do love that mine is a watch and also shows me my step count. I think you must have the flex? I almost got that one but then decided I would hate to have to charge it but more than that I wanted something where I could see the display at a tap. I waited until mine went on sale I got it at Amazon and it’s a Garmin Vivofit.

  20. Don’t have one, and i used to believe because i was standing up all the time, it didn’t matter. Now i don’t stand as much, so maybe i need one as a reminder.

  21. I run 3 or 4 miles at 4:30 a.m. before I get to work- then I run around all day chasing, lifting, squatting, sitting on little chairs (squatting again) and getting up and down off of floors while working with my preschoolers with special needs…I have no idea how many steps I put in at work, but I welcome my sitting time during my 15 min. I have for lunch before the afternoon group arrives….let’s just say I sleep well and don’t need any gadgets to “try” and get in motion…

  22. I have an old school pedometer from Omron that I clip in my purse or on my bra (it does bulge out kinda weird but who cares). This is also kind of weird but there are walking challenges for sci fi lovers. You can walk Middle Earth in about a year if you take 10,000 steps a day. I used to keep track of how far I was in Middle Earth based on my step count. This might not be motivating to non-Hobbit lovers but it is for me:)

  23. Love my pedometer but, like you, I was a little late coming to it. The funny thing is, now that I love mine and wear it everywhere, if I do happen to forget it, I almost feel like doing nothing until I get it on again. Who wants to waste steps? I, too, see doing errands with and for my kids as a way to get in more steps. A simple change in perspective, I think. #SITSgirlssaturdaysharefest

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