More Steps = Less Weight & Lower BP

A few months ago, when my blood pressure was suddenly in that questionable numbers category that is too high to be good and too low for medication, and my weight had crept up just a wee too much, I decided to try to "walk it off." Ever since I got my smartphone, about two years ago, on the recommendation of Isramom, who is still a close friend, though no longer blogging, I got the WalkLogger application for my phone. It's free, of course!

Until then, I hadn't used it to push me to walk more. It did make me realize that I don't walk as much as I thought I had been walking. On very rare occasions, I'd march around the house to get to a close goal. I'm set up for a Bronze Medal at 5,000 steps, Silver at 8,000 and Gold at 10,000 with a special mention of 5 kilometers. I had gotten myself "satisfied" at the lowest level of 5,000 steps, and even that wasn't all that often.

But things changed during my recent trip to the states. I love walking in Manhattan and walked a lot. An almost daily Gold Medal perked me up, and then I was in the Phoenix, AZ area for a few days, during its most comfortable season for walking, and I kept it up. When I got home I saw that even though I hadn't stuck to my eating plan all that carefully, I had dropped a kilo.

So I decided to push myself to read at least Silver and even Gold as much as possible even if it wasn't an outdoor walking day. Remember, it's winter and that means rain and snow. So equipped with my phone in a pocket, I've even put on my listening device and marched around the house to make sure I'd get a "prize." And even my blood pressure dropped to an amazing (for any age) 123/66, bli eyin haraa, and that was at the "first try." And another kilo plus (each kilo is 2.2 lbs) left, bli eyin haraa.

There's nothing like success, so I'm determined to keep up the walking, even if I'm home or at work, since my phone counts the steps.