Today I want to talk about the value of having a step tracker.

Welcome to Walking is Fitness. This is a podcast of action, providing a little extra motivation

to help you keep that fitness promise you made to yourself.

Hi, I'm Dave. I started walking for fitness in 2013.

Still take an intentional fitness walk every single day. I'm walking right now and I would love to have

you join me for the next 10 minutes. So when I mentioned that I started walking for fitness in 2013, it was my first Fitbit that was the motivator to transition from being a runner to walking for fitness.

I ran for five years.

That was how I began my fitness journey.

The radio station where I worked, offered every employee a free Fitbit.

They were trying to encourage a healthier lifestyle, more exercise, wellness. It was a wellness

initiative. And it was free and I ran and I figured I was getting 10,000 steps every day easily.

In fact, I was probably setting world records because, well, I was a runger.

Put the Fitbit on very first day, was shocked by how far away I was from 10,000 steps.

And that was after my three-mile run.

I call it the first-day Fitbit shock. You assume you're getting far more steps than you actually are,

and then when you see what's truly happening, it's a shock. It's like, oh, this isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be.

And so I added a one-mile walk at the end of my three-mile run every day to get me closer to 10,000 steps.

Those two things alone, by the way, did not help me reach 10,000 steps.

And as I got used to wearing the fitbit and counting my steps and the challenge of

reaching 10,000 became fun one day as I was getting ready to run, I was at the park where I ran.

I was walking towards the trail, and I realized that I do the

three-mile run so I can get to the one-mile walk, because I enjoyed the walking so much more.

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