Acupuncture for good health

My new Silva EX3 pedometer finally arrived a few days ago.

Well worth the wait - no wonder they were sold out! What a difference it is making.

The cheap one I bought while I was waiting for delivery of this one started being annoying and so I didn't wear it all day. With this one you can wear it around you neck, in your pocket or in your bag and it's around 20g (less than an ounce) so you don't even notice you're wearing it.

It resets itself automatically every night (keeping a record of the last 7 days for you) - I leave it in my dressing gown pocket until I'm dressed and then it goes in my pocket or around my neck depending what I'm wearing.

No annoying click click click either or falling off your waistband when you bend over.

If you've only ever used those horrible cheap ones you'll really notice the difference though that may be less of a case if you've had an expensive one before.

As far as motivation goes, it's working for me so far.

I'm reasonably fit so I didn't start from the beginners part of my pedometer weight loss program with a gradual build up on steps - I'm aiming to do 10,000 steps a day.

First day I had the EX3 I had only done 6000 or so steps by 4pm so I did an extra 30 minutes stepping in front of "Ready Steady Cook" to help me arrive at my target and yesterday I decided to walk to the Post Office instead of driving so that I could get some extra steps clocked up and I got to almost 13,000.

Today I have not done any formal exercise so I am around the 3000 mark and so that will be me going for a walk this evening or stepping in front of the TV again instead of being lazy.

By the way if you would like to buy one I have seen these on Amazon in the Uk - the .com site doesn't seem to have them but you may get something similar on their pedometers page.

You can tell I've got something new on my brain with that title LOL but I've not gone quite mad yet.

The thing is, I started a new beading class on Tuesday morning and instead of feeling hungry around 11 am and ready for lunch, as I usually do, I was lost in a world of choosing beads from the vast array the teacher had on display and putting them together into something that resembled a half-decent pair of earrings and a bracelet.

I had a great time with a friendly bunch of people and a very helpful teacher and was totally absorbed in being creative. I could have quite happily put off lunch for another hour - it's almost unheard of for me to manage not to eat my lunch before 12 if I'm working on something on my PC at home.

So often we eat (or think we feel hungry) because we are bored.

Now what will keep me happily absorbed (and not thinking of food) may not be for you but if you can find something that interests you like that it can keep you hands busy and out of the cookie jar and your mind on the task at hand instead of on what you can eat.

The trick is to find something you love and which you can be actively involved in during your free time to stop yourself getting bored.

These days many of us spend a lot of our leisure time passively in front of the TV and that leaves us too open to thinking we are hungry (especially after watching food ads or cookery shows) ... see if you can replace some of that time with a hobby - and if you can make it one that get's you moving all the better. Unfortunately beading doesn't use many calories :)