Gay, Senior Editor

This pedometer/walking thing is so much fun--it gets better and better. I find myself checking it regularly--last night just before I was set to crawl into bed, I noted that I was at 4.99 miles. Nothing to do but pace a few more steps, back and forth there in the bedroom and roll the numbers over to that lovely 5.00. I'm proud to say that this recovering couch potato has logged four (count 'em!) 5-mile days in the past two weeks. I've also discovered that karate kicks (great for the buns) register as steps. So there I was in the kitchen at 9:30 last night, doing 15 front-kicks with each leg while catching the end American Idol. (Melinda Doolittle gave me chills--again--that girl can SING!)

Here's the best part of the walking challenge, though--we know from science that it takes 21 days to create a new habit, and I find that adding a few steps here, a half mile there, walking instead of riding, really is getting to be the norm for me. Already I'm seeing tons of benefits: I'm feeling more energetic during the day and sleeping better at night. I'm also excited to learn about new research showing that aerobic exercise actually improves brain function. Sounds good to me!