A heart rate monitor can help you achieve the maximum benefit from your walking program. I use the Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor. I have to admit that I like Omron products. I now own an Omron pedometer, blood pressure monitor and heart rate monitor. One benefit to Omron products is that their manuals are all available on-line so I don't have to remember where I put them.

The Omron HR-100C Heart Rate Monitor allows you to track your heart rate while you walk, jog or use a piece of exercise equipment. The Omron HR-100C comes with a mounting bracket that you can attach to a stationary bike, treadmill, or other piece of exercise equipment.

It is important to know your heart rate when you are exercising and it is most important when you are walking because many of us have a tendency to stroll at some point in our walk. Unlike walking on a treadmill where you have all sorts of displays telling you how hard you are working out, walking on your own is self-regulated.

If you work in an office you need to use all of your willpower and walk away from the food. This time of the year it is difficult to maintain good eating and exercise habits.

With the double whammy of it being dark when you leave the house and dark when you get home and in most places colder, walking outdoors is difficult. That combined with the fact that food is everywhere especially in offices makes this a challenging time of the year.

I know when I was working in an office I would consume so much sugar and caffeine at this time of the year that I would actually have heart palpitations. There were days when I would have consumed a full days worth of calories and fat grams by 10:00 in the morning.