You have been working on your new step goals for three weeks now – how are you doing?If you found that you easily overshot your new goal, take the average for the week and ADD 20% to it.

Average Steps Last Week: _______+ 20% =

__________New Daily Step Goal

How Far Have I Been Walking?

If you want to know not just the number of steps you’ve taken, but the distance as well, you can calibrate a pedometer. The simplest way is to wear it while walking a known distance, such as once around a quarter-mile track, at your normal walking speed. Then multiply that number of steps by four, and you know your typical number of steps per mile. (For greater accuracy, you should walk a full mile-four times around the track). Now, anytime you want to estimate the distance you’ve walked, just divide the total number of steps you’ve taken by your “steps per mile” calibration. Keep in mind it’s just an estimate, because the length of your stride increases as you walk faster. So, on faster walks you’ll be underestimating the distance somewhat, and on slower walks you’ll overestimate a bit.

Some pedometers allow you to enter your step length (based on a calibration walk) and they will calculate your walking distance automatically. Fancier models will even estimate the calories you burn if you enter your body weight as well. But don’t count on these calorie estimates to be particularly accurate, given the wide variation of fitness levels and personal physiology of individuals.

Example: Jan wears her pedometer for a walk around the quarter-mile school track — it counts 473 steps. She multiplies by four, to estimate that she takes about 1,892 steps a mile. (For easier math, she rounds to 1900 steps.) Another day she takes a walk and covers 6,685 steps. Jan divides 6,685 by 1900, and gets 3.52, or about three and a half miles walked.

To calculate a step length, divide the known distance you’ve walked in feet by the number of steps you’ve taken. A quarter mile walk is 1,320 feet long (a mile is 5,280 feet). So Jan divides 1,320 feet by her 473 steps, and learns each step is 2.79 feet long. Now she can enter that in the pedometer.