HOW YOUR ACTIVITY MONITOR WORKS
11
etc. That’s OK, because the goal of the 10,000 steps
program is for you to expend more energy and burn
more calories. The movement can be in forms other
than walking.
Be aware that the precision mechanism in the Activity
Monitor occasionally will deduct a step or two if the
device determines your movement was not the equiv-
alent of a step. (For more about this, see
Frequently
Asked Questions
, page 13.)
Before using your Activity Monitor, you may need to
experiment with the positioning of your activity moni-
tor to ensure the device is correctly counting your
steps. (See
How to Wear Your Activity Monitor
, page
29, and
The 20 Steps Test
, page 33.)
How the NL-1000 Calculates Activity Time
Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the American College of Sports Medicine’s physi-
cal activity recommendation for adults is at least 30
minutes of
moderate intensity
physical activity (3
METS or above) five or more days per week (for chil-
dren the recommendation is at least 60 minutes of
moderate-to-vigorous
physical activity most days of
the week) the NL-1000 is the perfect tool to see if
you are meeting those goals.
The NL-1000 uses a medical-grade accelerometer to
determine the intensity of your movement and accu-
mulate the time you spend really moving. It studies
and determines the intensity of your movement 4 sec-
onds at a time. If it determines those seconds are at
moderate intensity or above, it adds that time to the
activity minutes.
