Pack Your Pedometer

I'm a fanatic about working out. I'm a seven-day-a-week exerciser, and rarely do I skip. Until, that, is, I travel, and then my schedule gets out of whack. Occasionally, I'll hit the hotel's fitness center, but that's so boring. Besides, who wants to be trapped in a hotel when there are sights to see? And what if your hotel doesn't even have a fitness center? So here's my solution: Wear a pedometer.

Photo: Karen Asp

Granted, just strapping on a pedometer won't make you move more. (If only it did, though, right?) But it can motivate you to move more, and at the end of the day, it's fun to see how much you've moved without doing "formal" exercise.

For instance, although I did a bike tour during a recent trip to Paris (Fat Tire Bike Tours rocks, by the way, so if you're ever in Paris, look them up), I was mainly exploring museums and churches, watching the French Open and indulging in that fabulous French bread. Was I worried about not doing structured workouts? Not when I looked at my pedometer every night. I logged at least 12 miles every day, some days even more. My reaction? Bring on the bread!

I now keep a log of step counts I've taken during my travels, and I'm always trying to beat my records. My highest daily step count came at a trade show in Salt Lake City where I knocked out 35,857 steps. About 2,000 steps equals a mile so I walked almost 18 miles that day. (Most experts agree that for health benefits and weight management, you should get 10,000 steps daily.)

On rare occasions when I don't hit that 10K mark (maybe it's a travel day), I'll downsize my meals or walk around the hotel until I hit 10,000. Crazy, I know, but it works. I did it in Germany one night -- I was only 800 steps from the 10K mark -- and drove my husband nuts!

So on your next trip, wear that pedometer, check it frequently throughout the day and adjust your plans to log as many steps as possible (for instance, ditch the taxi or train and just walk -- who knows what you'll find by doing this?). In the end, the one souvenir you may not take home is extra weight!