By Kathy Miele
I opened up my new pedometer, eager to start my new fitness program.
“I know you asked for one that just counts your steps but they didn’t have anything like that,” Steven explained as I opened the instruction booklet and tried not to look overwhelmed with the 20 pages on how to enjoy your pedometer, the first eight pages dedicated to how to “set up” the thing!
“No, this looks great!” I lied. I began to get frustrated when the first page of the booklet explained how to go about reading the booklet. Using special codes and teaching me how to toggle – I swear it uses the word toggle – through its many programs.
“If you want, I can set it up for you,” Steven suggested.
“No, really this looks pretty self-explanatory.” I flipped through the pages feeling no less lost then if I’d picked up a booklet written in a different language. Everyone in my family knows I’m the least gadget-savvy person they’ve ever come across and I’d have to agree with them. But come on, the booklet’s first page was all about how to read the booklet!
I leaned over and gave Steven a kiss. “It’s exactly what I wanted,” I said. “Thank you.”
I then took my new toy and went into our bedroom to try and figure out how to work the thing in seclusion so no one had to witness exactly how frustrated I was about to become. After an hour, or maybe two, I got it to count my steps.
“It works!” I cried out to all my boys.
“It’s taken you all this time to set it up?” Steven asked as he came in to see my results.
“Of course not,” I lied again, but I could see in his eyes he didn’t believe me so I quickly changed the subject. “They say all you need to do is walk 10,000 steps a day and you’ll be well on your way to losing weight.”
“That comes out to be about 5 miles.” Steven said.
“How’d you know that?” I was impressed.
“I’m on the treadmill every night,” he said. “Believe me, I know how many steps it takes to walk a mile.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I already walk 10,000 steps in a day. I’m on my feet at work and I feel like I never sit still all night.” I looked down at the step reading. “See.” I showed him the read out. “I’ve already walked 20 steps and I didn’t even know I was moving!”
“Well, good luck,” Steven said as I clipped it onto my belt and continued my day.
I swore I wouldn’t look at it until the end of the day, wanting to surprise myself that not only had I walked 10,000 steps with ease, but that I was well over that number without breaking a sweat.
When it was time to get in my jammies I unclasped my pedometer and got ready for the big reveal. “Are you kidding me?” I cried.
“What’s the matter?” Steven called.
“I think the pedometer is broken,” I said walking to show him.
“It’s not giving you a reading?”
“Oh, it gave me a reading all right, but it has to be wrong.” I handed it to him.
He looked at the display. “It says you walked 2,000 steps.”
“I know! I’ve been wearing it all day. It has to be wrong,” I complained.
Steven handed it back to me. “Maybe you walk more on a work day,” Steven suggested.
“Hey, you’re right,” I said as I took the pedometer back and put it on my desk. “It’s my day off, I never move around as much on my day off,” I reasoned. “Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. I’ll start again on Monday.”
“Ohhh boy,” Steven said as he shook his head. “I can’t wait until Monday.”
“Me too,” I said, then looked over at him, “Hey, wait a minute. Why did you say it like that?”
