The walkin’ man

According to my Fitbit dashboard, I’ve walked a little over 2,800 miles since acquiring the device in May 2013. That’s pretty close to 6 million steps. If I’d set out on foot to visit my daughter in Seattle, right about now I’d be striding along somewhere past Ellensburg, Wash. (And dreading Snoqualmie Pass, no doubt.)

I don’t know how many miles I might have walked without this thing. Maybe a two-fifths as many, since in the year before the Fitbit I considered it adequate to walk a couple of miles a day. Now I feel kind of sedentary if I don’t get at least five. So yeah, I’d say the $60 bucks was well spent.

That’s the good news. The bad is that the excess pounds have not melted off in quite the way I’d expected. I’m maybe five pounds lighter now, if that. Not obese, exactly, but not quite ready for the Boston Marathon either. The thing I like most about walking — it’s easy — is the very thing that makes it unsuitable for sculpting abs. Probably doesn’t help that I still eat more than is strictly necessary.

Lately I’ve been doing these challenges with Fitbit friends. You try to get the most steps in a week, or a weekend. For a contest with no cash prizes, it’s amazing how motivating it can be. Maybe you’re getting ready for bed and notice that you’re only a couple hundred steps behind the leader. So you decide on a quick turn around the block. Or you have to run to Walgreen’s and decide to walk instead of drive. That kind of thing. It all adds up.