Mac OS software for the Omron HJ20 pedometer

Walkingspree recently released Mac OS uploading software for the Omron HJ 720IT pedometer. This allow those with Mac OS computers, including the iPad 2 to be able to upload their walking steps to Walkingspree. No one else offers a Mac OS version of software for the Omron HJ72oIT pedometer.

Use promotion code: MACWALK to receive $30.00 off the  iWalk plan.

Walking to Lose Weight with my USB Omron Pedometer

As I mentioned before, one of my goals is to lose more weight tracking my steps with my omron pedometer that connects to the WalkingSpree website. I've lost 60 lbs in the last few years and was well over 230 lbs. Before, I was not on a good track for my health or life.

Walking to lose weight is ideal because almost anyone can do it. Those who are older (one of my fellow WalkingSpree members is 82! And many days they kick my butt with number of steps) can often walk as well as pregnant women, people suffering from chronic illness and so on. The benefits of 10,000 steps a day (which isn't easy to achieve on your own by the way) are many that I will go into more detail with other posts but today I want to focus on walking to lose weight.

"According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), a group of middle-aged women who used pedometers showed a significant inverse relationship between the average number of steps they took and their body mass index (BMI) as well as their measures of body fat, waist and hip circumference. Women who averaged more than 10,000 steps a day had only 26 percent body fat, well within the recommended BMI range, while those who averaged fewer than 6,000 steps a day had 44 percent body fat. "

So what does that mean?
Basically that if you walk more, your body fat goes down and you get to wear smaller clothes (go shopping!). A person who walks 10,000 steps a day will burn between 2,000 and 3,500 extra calories a week.

To lose a pound a week you'd have to burn 3500 calories a week. So just by walking you'll lose a pound a week.

Not enough, fast enough you say?
Well it's a calculation. If you burn more calories than you eat, then you'll lose weight. So losing 1 lb a week is without any adjustment to diet. It also doesn't reflect aerobic walking which can also increase weight loss as well. The Omron HJ-720IT pedometer does measure aerobic steps, so you're ahead in the game on that. Oh, and it does show you your calories burned too. But I tend to use my dashboard on the WalkingSpree website that shows a simple comparison if my calories burned are greater than my calories taken in.

So what am I getting at?
That if I watch what I eat (approx. 1500 calories/day), meet my aerobic step targets and step targets then I lose on average 2 lb/week, occasionally 3, which is a healthy moderate way to lose weight.


Walking to lose weight is not a diet scam, it's not a quick weight loss fad. It's a permanent lifestyle change that your whole family can benefit from. Recent studies showed that children who were obese missed more school than non obese children. Not surprising when we see that obese adults miss more work than non obese adults. It is a global problem now. So if we instill a permanent lifestyle change in ourselves and hopefully have it trickle down to our children, we are improving the health of our whole family.

But I'm already on the go so much and I'm not losing any weight?!?
This is an illusion that I had busted when I started using my WalkingSpree omron pedometer. I often felt like I never stopped. So when I first used my pedometer, I was sure that it would show a high step count, after all, it was go, go go with two small kids. WRONG. I had confused being busy with being active. And I was shocked to see a dismal 3,500 steps per day in the beginning. It's not surprising to be exhausted at the end of a long day, but your energy level will increase and you will find time for being active, not just being busy with a regular walking program like I use with WalkingSpree.

Braving the back to school crowds armed with my Omron Pedometer

Shopping for back to school supplies for kids is like childbirth. You forget how painful it is until you're in the thick of it. I don't relish walking up and down the aisles of WalMart fighting over the last duotang. However, this year I was determined to get something of benefit out all the chaos. All that walking and shuffling was going to pay off with my usb omron pedometer. I had it in my pocket, knowing that every step I was taking was at least of some value in my journey of walking to lose weight. The steps were registering as I walked around the aisle with glue and scissors looking at least three times because I couldn't find the scotch tape.

So when I got home, I hooked up my omron pedometer to the computer and uploaded my steps to the WalkingSpree website and checked out my dashboard.

(clicking on the images lets you zoom in)

I've already gone over my target by 8.7% today. I also made a point to part further away in the parking lot at the mall. You will notice my aerobic steps are terrible, none yet. The omron pedometer is one of the few pedometers that measures aerobic steps. They are steps taken at 60 steps per minute for a minimum of 10 minutes. They're essential for good heart health, and really producing consistent weight loss. So walking around the mall with my stop and starts to pick up school supplies meant no aerobic steps. However, it's still a great value and I met my step target for today.

So how does wearing my omron pedometer HJ-720IT help me? It's major incentive and motivation. Because I hate back to school shopping, I'd probably have walked less if I wasn't wearing my USB pedometer. This way I turned a yearly chaotic experience into something challenging and motivating. Hmm, maybe I should have created a back to school club in WalkingSpree to see who got the most steps at the mall;)

The Omron Pedometer that survived being flushed away

I was going to talk about targets and goals today but I couldn't pass up what happened this week with one of my fellow WalkingSpree members and her USB Omron Pedometer. A frantic message relayed by one of the members that she flushed her omron pedometer down the toilet and got it STUCK. She quickly told her kids to use the other bathroom to avoid the ensuing disaster (we know what this means - lego anyone?). She's a doctor and so the timing to get a plumber in to remove it is challenging. 3 days later is the earliest time she can have it removed.

The worst part is that she flushed her pager a few months ago. I told her she needs to have a plumber on retainer. So 3 days later, the plumber fishes out the soggy omron pedometer (much to his amusement after being there recently for the pager). We don't want to think too hard about what has leaked into the electronics, or what it's done to it's upload capability to the WalkingSpree website.

She lays the pedometer out to dry assuming the worst. The next day she picks it up and sees numbers on the LCD. She puts it in her pocket and walks a few steps, takes it out and glances at the display. Unbelievably, it still works. She rushes to her computer, plugs it into the usb port to upload her data and logs into her WalkingSpree dashboard to see her steps. All there, even the previous days in the memory.

And no, for those wondering, sloshing around in the toilet did not add on steps to her USB omron pedometer;) It's got that accelerometer thingy remember.

My Omron Pedometer aka 10k a day or bust

Or as my 5 year old would say, "Mom, don't forget your dometer";) It started two years ago. No wait, we should go back even further before I had my usb omron pedometer. I was 5'8 and approximately 230 lbs. I had one of those wake up calls after the end of my marriage and I knew I had to start losing weight. Walking to lose weight seemed the logical choice.

My first pedometer was not an omron pedometer but a cheap one I found at a yard sale. It looked like one of the free promotional ones that people use. The kind that just breathing registered steps or you shake the crap out of it and it registered 300 steps. My first impression of pedometers was poor. I continued to walk. The weight started to drop but I really wanted motivation. I bought an mp3 player. Ok that helped a bit, but I like numbers;) I decided to do some research about pedometers and that's how I discovered omron pedometers. They use an accelerometer.

Huh, an accell... what's an accelerometer?

Accelerometers are used in many applications such as in cars to activate smart braking or to detect the deployment of airbags to laptops where it can protect itself from a sudden freefall by turning the hard drive off. In the omron pedometer application, accelerometers sense the walking movement as opposed to the vibration of walking allowing it to differentiate between a jolt and an actual step so the omron pedometer registers far fewer false readings without reducing sensitivity.

What's the point of that?

It means it's very accurate, 99%.

Other pedometers use a traditional mechanical pendulum that has a suspended lever arm that uses either a coil spring or a thin hairspring. Any motion can trigger it resulting in an inaccurate step count. Hairsprings lose strength quickly and the lever arm droops, causing inaccuracy after just a few months of walking. The USB omron pedometer avoids this problem with advanced accelerometer technology.

The other advantage with that is that it means you can wear your USB omron pedometer in your pocket, on a clip on your belt, around your neck, and yes, even tucked into your bra ladies.

Ok, enough of the fancy science stuff, what does it do?

So I learned all this two years ago. At the time the the Omron pedometer HJ-112 was the best in the market. But I was so excited when they released the Omron pedometer HJ-720IT as it is USB and connects to the computer so you can track your steps online. The USB omron pedometer is manufactured by Omron for WalkingSpree.com, also known as the Omron Walking Style HJ-720IT. It has a USB cord to connect to my online profile on WalkingSpree.com. It tracks all my steps, aerobic steps, fat burned, distance walked and calories burned and sends it to my online wellness profile. If I'm unable to connect to the computer at the moment, it displays 7 days of activity and retains 41 days in its memory (so like when I took my kids camping for 5 days, no worries!). It has an event function key that can memorize special activities by the hour.

Hey, I said enough of the jargon, what kind of fun stuff can you do with a USB omron pedometer?

Now the good stuff. Because I can upload my omron pedometer walking data to the walkingspree.com website, I'm able to participate in walking clubs. I can see everyone's step data and see how I'm ranked in the club for the day and for my all time in the club. I hate to say it, but some people walk A LOT. I'm ranked 8th in Moms on the move walking club. One time I managed to walk 16,000 steps in a day, yes that's right 16,000 freakin' steps. And yes, I ranked 1st for that day. And since we're all using the same pedometer, everyone is on the same playing field. One of the problems with manual logging like with the HJ-112 is that people have ego's and yes, they cheat. Not to mention, who has time to do that?


Woah, that sounds like a lot, how far is that?

10,000 steps is approximately 5 miles. So I walked almost 10 miles that day.
Darn, I need to get out there and walk more or I'm not going to reach my target for today. That will be the next post, setting goals and targets with your omron pedometer that connects to the computer.