November 1st started the kick-off for a healthy life-style initiative through a program with our insurance company. It’s called The Amazing Pace. I love some of the medical benefits we get through the Methodist Conference. One of them is an annual monetary reward used as a wellness incentive, and can be applied to every person in our household, regardless of age, as long as they qualify. It’s basically a point system, and to qualify each person must have a minimum of 100 points. Almost everything is worth ten points, except for things like walking and other physical activity, which count as 1/4 point per mile/hour, respectively. The 10 pointers are things like annual dental and eye exams, flu shot immunizations, mammograms, routine physical, fitness club membership, taking vitamins and eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. Sounds easy but you must have proof of most of it, and it’s not always easy being able to prove how many miles your kid runs or walks in a day, or yourself for that matter.
Which is where The Amazing Pace initiative comes in. It’s a pedometer-based walking/wellness program. These groovy little pedometers can hold info. for 41 days, and it keeps track of the number of regular steps you take vs. aerobic steps, how many calories burned, and how many miles walked in a 24 hour period. It even tells me the time! I don’t have to turn it off and it automatically clears to zero each day. All I have to do is periodically plug it into my computer and login to the website, and the rest is done. I’ve already walked 1.13 miles today 
There are other really great benefits to this program. Walkingspree gives access to a database of 65,000 foods and 7,000 healthy recipes. I can’t wait to dive in and see what I find. I’ll be sure to share! There are also cool features such as virtual walks and other challenges. It’s also been studied and proven that people who wear pedometers are more likely to walk more, resulting in more steps, and more calories burned.
