It's no great secret that I could use a little more fitness in my life.

Eh, make that a lot more fitness.

Anyway, I do enjoy walking (even though it's much better when there's ice cream at the end), so I agreed to participate in the Omron Fitness Challenge along with several other bloggers.

We've been wearing the Omron HJ-112N Pocket Pedometer for a few weeks now with the goal of increasing our steps each day.

This pedometer was rated #2 by Consumer Reports recently, and it's been a great little companion, so far.

It's easy to use and it's Smart Sensor technology makes it work whether you wear it horizontally or vertically, and it measure important stuff like steps, aerobic steps, time, distance, calories and fat grams burned.

It also has a clock, and a 7 day memory that auto-resets at midnight, ready to count the next day's activity.

It's got a clip sturdy clip and a wrist band. Watch out for clipping on a belt or waistband that's too thick, though, it might break, but Omron will replace it if that ever happens.

I like to loop the wrist band around a side belt loop on my pants and keep it in my pocket if I know I'm going to be sitting/standing a lot during the day, just to be safe.

I wore it for a few days without changing my activity rate, and boy did that really drive home how little I walk!

If we're supposed to get in 10,000 steps a day, then I was vary rarely getting over half that in! I'm not beating myself up or anything because that's about 2.5 miles, but I knew I could do better.

Each day, I've tried to up that a little by walking the stairs a little more at work or taking the long route to a meeting. Some days are better than others, but every step counts!

Wearing the pedometer has really made me want to try to get the numbers up each day, I like the challenge to myself, and being able to see what I've done.

Stay tuned to find out more about my progress in a couple of weeks and there'll be a chance to win some goodies, including a pedometer of your very own!

Be sure to visit the the Omron Fitness Facebook page between 3/5/12 and 4/1/12 to enter the Omron "Make Every Step Count" Sweepstakes.

You can enter once a week for a chance to win gift cards, a variety of Omron products, Bob Greene autographed books, or the Grand Prize $7,000 toward a trip to the Canyon Ranch Spa in Tuscon, AZ.

Disclosure: “I’m being compensated to write this post by Bookieboo LLC in a blogger campaign with Omron Fitness.