From Wendy Bumgardner,
Your Guide to Walking.
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How many steps do you take per day? How many should you take?

6000 Pedometer Steps for Health

Rob Sweetgall of Creative Walking, Inc. points to the Harvard Alumni Study that showed walking even 1 mile a day reduced death rates. The most benefit came at approximately 6000 steps per day. For most people, that is the equivalent of walking for an hour a day. These can be accumulated steps throughout the day rather than one long walk.

10,000 Steps for Weight Management

Many people already get in 3000 or more steps just with daily activity, and are still gaining unwanted weight. To burn off extra calories for weight loss, walk 10,000 steps per day most days of the week.

Pedometers Help Motivation

Pedometers used to get a bad rap because they are not accurate for measuring distances for most people, due to uneven strides. Stop thinking distance and and start thinking steps. Wearing a pedometer all day, you can see how many steps you are really getting in, and aim towards your goal of 6000 or 10,000 steps a day.

Suddenly you start finding ways to add in steps:

• Parking further from your destination
• Taking the stairs rather than the elevator
• Adding a stroll to your breaks and lunches
• Enjoying an evening walk with your loved ones

Today's Pedometers

Fueling the step counting movement are new pedometers that display steps and count them accurately. Models also have the usual distance calculation, and many also calculate calories burned and have a time/date or stopwatch feature. For distance and calorie models, users must enter their stride length and weight. Tiny and comfortable, they are meant to be worn all day, every day, as motivation to keep moving.

Next page > Before You Buy a Pedometer
Top Picks for Pedometers
How to Set Your Pedometer
Pedometer Walking Programs