Every number counts - part 2

Having control of your daily steps and walk/run distances is a great way to monitor your daily activity.

I strongly recommend you use a step counter, in the form of a phone app or fitness band or tracker, to start calculating your daily steps, distances, and calories burn. This is a great alternative to GPS while will helping you to save some phone batteries.

In terms of numbers, for example, walking at a pace of 3 mph (approx. ~2000 steps ~20 mins / mile) could burn about 3 calories / min (~3000 steps ~80 calories / 30 mins). Increasing your pace to 5mph (approx. 12 mins / mile) could 2X your number of calorie burn, i.e. ~ 5000 steps ~180 calories / 30 mins or nearly 10000 steps per hour (360 cals burned). So, it is worth to notice that calories are burned at different rates, so the numbers could be higher or lower depending on your walking/running speed. Monitoring how long you are active is equally important.

Studies have shown that daily logging of your meals & activity habits doubles the chance to weight loss and staying healthy in the long run.

Several studies have shown that people who track their food intake daily are more likely to be successful in losing weight and keeping it off. For example, one study shows that people logging their food habits six days a week lost about twice as much weight as those who did not have this habit. I have also shown in a recently published article that keeping this habit 7 days a week using apps for food logging can really make a difference.

There are great apps out there waiting for you to be used. Though some PRO versions are for a price, you could start by getting any of the many available free versions to create the habit.