Our parent company just started this health incentive program that as employees exercise and use this web-based program to keep track of it, we earn points that we can earn prizes with. Part of the program is a thing called “10K a day,” which involves trying to walk 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) a day.
When I lived in Boston, I’d have had no problem making that 10K. Living in Seattle, having to drive everywhere, not so much.
It’s really funny, though, because all the employees are walking around work with little pedometers at our waists. (If you paid $5 to join the 10K a day program, you got a little pedometer to keep track of your steps.) As of 6pm today, I have walked 2645 steps. That’s really not much. They say the average person takes 5000 steps in a day, but even with all the running around I did at lunchtime, I’m barely even halfway to 5000.
If I hadn’t worked out this morning, I might go for a walk tonight. As it is, I think that was good for now, what with me still trying to work back up to normal after having been sick for a while. It’s really frustrating, though, to
know you used to be able to be a whole lot more active than you are now.
But it is heartening to have a way to keep track of it. The program calculates how many calories you’ve burned from a particular activity, and even has a food journal side of things, to help keep track of nutrition and calories there. All as a way of getting employees to do more for their health–and rewarding them as they do. I like it.