You may recall that I am participating in Dr. Weil’s 28 Day Walkabout Program as an ambassador. Even though today is the last official day, I am telling myself that it is not really ending. I hope to take the things I’ve learned and the habits I’ve developed and roll them over for another 28 days, and then another, and….well you get the picture.
Over the last 28 days, I’ve learned a little bit about what gets me to stick with a walking program and I’d love to share a few of them:
1) Commitment. And I mean out loud to someone else, not that “I promise myself” kind. Knowing that I had made a commitment to walk every day helped on those cold and rainy days where I really didn’t want to.
2) Motivation. I love gift cards. Being able to go into a favorite store and shop without “spending any money” is so much more fun, don’t you think? So imagine my delight when I found a pedometer that rewards you for walking with gift cards!!! Seriously. The S2H (Switch2Health) line of products give you codes for your activities that can be submitted for gift cards to Target, iTunes, Walmart, and many other businesses. The S2H Step is a pedometer that gives you a code for every 10,000 steps. The more you walk, the more you earn. (Talk about motivation!)
I was provided a Step and a Reply to try.
3) Comfort. Having the right shoes made all the difference in my willingness to get out and walk each day. In the past, I have had trouble finding walking shoes that fit well and typically wound up with blisters and even plantar fasciitis from shoes that just weren’t quite right. Dr. Weil sent along a pair of Rhythm Walkers from his Integrated Footwear shoe line and they made all the difference. They are very lightweight but (somehow) still supportive. I was walking four+ miles in them the first few days I had them and didn’t have a single sore spot. In fact, I loved them so much, I am buying another pair!
4) Companionship. Having someone to walk with is a great motivator. Having someone who will make a mess on your rug if you don’t walk is an even bigger motivator. As you probably know, we adopted Roofus (aka Wisconsin Doggy) just before the Walkabout started and the timing could not have been better. All pee jokes aside, it was great to have a buddy to walk with me each day, even if he did want to stop at every fire hydrant.
5) Community. All of the Walkabout Ambassadors had a private Facebook group where we could communicate and trade stories and accomplishments. While I couldn’t participate as much as I would have liked, it was great to be able to log on and see what everyone else was up to. I know there’s been talk of people keeping the page going, and I hope we do as it is nice to know that there are folks all over the country working toward the same goal that you are!
I’ve absolutely loved my time as a Walkabout Ambassador and cannot recommend Dr. Weil’s Integrated Footwear highly enough if you are looking to start your own walking program.
As a #Walkabout Ambassador, I received shoes and other walking apparel as well as a few other goodies. All opinions and experiences shared on this website and other social media channels are my own and not influenced by any compensation.
