WalkingSpree Pedometer Wellness Program

The WalkingSpree program uses a great pedometer to upload activity data to their full-featured wellness tracking web site. Subscribers can track their physical activity, food, weight and body measurements. They can join clubs and interact with other subscribers. WalkingSpree is available for both individual users and for groups and corporate clients. Overall, I rate this program highly due to the quality of the pedometer and the fitness and diet tracking features of the web site. The program gives great value for the price, and the pedometer can be used without a subscription.

WalkingSpree uses the Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer that displays steps, aerobic steps, distance, calories, and aerobic time. You can upload your data to the internet via a USB connection for ongoing graphs and stats and to track your diet.

Size: The Omron pedometer is larger than most. It is a pocket pedometer that can be carried in your pocket or clipped to your waistband, and it comes with a security leash.

Noise: The Omron pedometer is silent.

Accuracy: The Omron pedometer appears very accurate when walking at a steady pace, it matches my usual step count per mile. Doesn't count as many "junk steps" as some pedometers, so your step total represents walking and not just jiggling. The Omron is also accurate when worn as a necklace or in a breast pocket as well as at the waist, which is not true of many other pedometer designs.

Battery: The replaceable battery has a 6 month lifespan with normal use.

The Omron pedometer comes with a USB cord. On first use, you install the WalkingSpree software and register for the WalkingSpree web site, and set a few basic bits of information about yourself. Weight is needed to calculate your calories burned. The set-up was easy.

Mac and PC: WalkingSpree provides Mac-compatible software that even works with the iPad.

The WalkingSpree PC software is compatible with Windows systems 2000/XP/Vista and higher. (As of January, 2011, Omron doesn't have Mac software for its stand-alone version of the pedometer.)

You can upload your data as often as you wish. To upload away from home you will need to use a computer on which you can install the software and which has a USB port.

Cost: Users can buy the Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer from WalkingSpree, or buy it elsewhere or use one they already have with the program. The iWalk plan to upload to and use the WalkingSpree web site to track steps, activity, diet, etc. is $84 per year. There is only a yearly subscription option, not monthly or quarterly. Individualized personal training is available for $15 per month additional (iWalk subscription is also required).
WalkingSpree Shop

Your homepage includes:
Goals: Set and track your daily step goal and weight goal.

Dashboard: The dashboard has a daily, weekly, and lifetime summary of your pedometer data and the food data that you enter yourself. This includes steps, aerobic steps, aerobic time, distance, calories burned walking, calories burned in other activities you enter, total calories (includes your basal metabolic calories), calories consumed based on your food entries, and a comparison of calories burned vs. calories consumed.
A food and activity calendar for the month shows at a glance what days you have uploaded pedometer data (walker icon), what days you have entered food data (apple icon), days you have achieved your aerobic target (red), days you have achieved your step goal (green).
You can see details for each day by clicking on the calendar. Click on the date to see the full dashboard data. Click on the walker icon to see the step and aerobic details. Click on the apple icon to see the calorie and food details.

Challenge Features: The homepage includes a Challenge Ticker and Virtual Walks features tracking your progress in fun challenge goals.

Social Features: The top walkers for each day are listed. If you have joined or formed a WalkingSpree walking club, the club members' data is visible. A blog shows recent posts and allows the member to post their own comments.

Ask the Coach: Quick link to send a question to a WalkingSpree coach.

On the Activity Tracker screen, you can see a daily profile of your steps by hour, color coded for how you are achieving your goals. The aerobic steps are shown with hatch lines. You can review distance, calories burned and fat burned.

You can add non-pedometer activity for other fitness and lifestyle activities. Oddly enough, these don't have a selection choice for walking or running. That would be a useful addition to log times when you took a walk but forgot to wear your pedometer. Targets: You can set and update targets for total steps and aerobic steps, and they are displayed below the graph.

Below the targets, your top five days are listed to inspire you.

You also receive encouraging and educational emails from WalkingSpree, stat totals and congratulations for days when you log over 10,000 steps.

Next Page: WalkingSpree Food Tracker and Social Features