Click Your Fat Away

No, I am not talking about clicking your heels together a hundred gazillion times a day like a Dorothy with obsessive compulsive disorder. (Are we in Kansas yet, Toto?) Rather I am talking about a "clicker" or pedometer, for measuring how many steps a day that you take.

A few weeks ago I was in Costco doing the weekly annihilation to the grocery budget when I found a box called "Walking" in the book section. I usually try to avoid the book section because it is just too tempting to give in and buy a discounted book that looks so good and necessary for my library. That week was no exception. I naughtily pried open the taped box and had a look inside. There, nestled snugly in the bubblewrap was a pedometer along with a book. Perfect! The perfect gift for a slightly obsessive compulsive friend who likes to walk and has a numbers mania as well. I had been wondering what in the world to give her.

But...

Hmmm. I could use one of those too. Nah!

Next week I bought one for myself. Why? Well, I am already working out at a gym, but things have not been shifting for me as quickly as I would like them to. I wanted to have some way of measuring my activity level for the day to get an accurate snapshot of what I am or am not doing. The clicker is now letting me know. What is even better about this, is that I found myself doing exactly what a study on pedometer use said would happen -- it motivates me to increase my activity levels. There is nothing worse than getting to the end of the day and seeing you only walked a total of 2697 steps, most of which you probably clocked while walking around the kitchen getting something to eat.

I had an exceptionally good day yesterday, getting in over 120 000 steps, but I suspect that is because I forgot to reset my clicker to zero from the day before. :o( My best day so far was just under 100 000. My weight hasn't changed much, but I notice that my "love handles" on my hips are disappearing and that my jeans are getting decidedly loose about the gut area.

Now if I could just quit watching the Pilates video and actually do it...