Sadly, this is not going to be a post about tying different items to dogs.  (At TallyZoo we do respect our fury friends.)  It will be a post about pedometers, where to get em, some links to good reviews, and how to setup TallyZoo to get the most out of your pedometer.

Pedometers – summed-up real quick

There has been plenty of research showing the benefits of measuring your progress and the use of pedometers.  But to sum it all up, pedometers are an inexpensive way to stay motivated, loose weight, and stay fit.  So, here’s is the deal: get yourself a pedometer.  (Told you it would be quick)

What to spend, where to get em

You don’t have to spend a lot of money for a pedometer (you can if you want to, though).  For most people the simple, cheap ones work just fine.  Put it on your belt or in your pocket or purse and get going.  But if you want to get crazy with the research, here are some options.

• An easy article about the benefits of wearing a pedometer
• Here is an About.com post that has tons of options.
• And finally, the pedometer of pedometers.  The one you will proudly sport to that next board meeting.  The Pokemon Pedometer.  Three words: Totally Awesome.  (Pokemon for all of you people who are not parents of young children, or a young child yourself, is a cartoon which causes either seizures, or the overwhelming desire to smash your new TV.)

Using TallyZoo to get the most of your pedometer

Hopefully you have decided to go with a good, simple, inexpensive pedometer (which is really all you need).  Here is how you setup TallyZoo.  Simple, quick and easy.

Step 1 – Track your steps

To get started with TallyZoo, just setup one activity called Steps.  At the end of your day, when you get home from walking, just enter your steps.  That’s it.  TallyZoo will graph it automatically.

If you use the TallyZoo website, this is totally free.  If you buy the TallyZoo iphone app it will cost ya $1.99.

At this point you are basically done. Walk, track your steps, see your progress.

If you want to track some more stuff with TallyZoo keep reading.

Step 2 – Track some other stuff

You may want to create another activity, such as weight.  Now you will have two activities in TallyZoo, you will be able to track both your weight loss and the steps you take.  Note: you can track anything with TallyZoo just check out our community to see what people are tracking.  (Bird watching, Frisbee golf, coffee, water, snorkeling, books read, etc….)

Finally, what’s this about tying stuff to dogs?

I was trying to think of a title for this blog when I read a review of the Pokemon Pedometer.  There were a number of clever comments about how to get around doing actual exercise such as taping the pedometer to the washing machine or tying it to the dog.  I just imagined how many steps a pedometer would count with a little hyper dog vs for the lazy Labrador.  That’s it.

Walk well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.