Have you ever counted your steps? Was it shocking?

[mrs-b]

Last week, at my request, DH bought me a FitBit. Well, HMMMMM! The news was not good!

If I don't specifically exercise, my steps per day would be around only 2,000. Maybe less. Shocking, right?! This might be skewed at the moment, of course, due to being unable to go out in any significant way, but even so.

I know the magic number is 10k, but that doesn't really make an impression on me, as it's really just a number - a nicely rounded number - that seems arbitrary. But even if I discount the 10k goal, I am a loooong way from that.

Daily, I aim for over 6k, and about 4 times a week I also do a yoga class. Yoga is exercise, but it doesn't add to my steps, so I figure my daily exercise is greater than just a plain 6k steps. I also use a seated cycle - also exercise, obviously - but this doesn't show up on my daily steps either, as the FitBit registers steps from your swinging arms and a seated cycle just doesn't generate that kind of movement. So any exericse where you're not swinging your arms doesn't register. I do walk a couple of miles a day - either outside or using a walking video, or both - and I also use an elliptical.

But EVEN SO - I have never once gotten to 10k steps, or particularly close. My husband, who walks the dogs, hits 12, 13, 15 - and once 18k - steps regularly.

Have you ever used a FitBit and realized you're overly sedentary?

And just to add a little cheer - here's my good looking husband and my gorgeous dogs!

 

[Missy]

Under normal circumstances it depends on the time of year. While we are cycling my steps are low. When we aren't cycling we easily hit over 10K. BUT now our steps are low because we are mainly staying inside.

I figure we have to take it one day at a time and do what we need to do to survive in the here and now and worry about other things later if that makes sense. Right now I want to work on so many health issues but I can only do what I can do so I give myself permission to relax a little bit if you kwim.

and since we are adding our good looking guys. Here's mine. A bit tired but still as handsome as ever.

 

[Queenie60]

@mrs-b - which Fitbit do you have? I have the Versa - if you have a Versa, you can track your Yoga and Stationary bike riding. You swipe to the left and there's an Exercise mode, tap the exercise mode and scroll down the list of exercise and tap "more" and you will find spinning and Yoga on the list. Tap which exercise you want and enter the amount of time. Fitbit will then calculate your heart rate and calories based on your weight, etc. that you input on the app. Hope this helps. Also, when I ride Peloton, it calculates steps when I stand and climb or sprint. Good luck. Since I live in a rural neighborhood, I walk around the block a few times per day as it's sunny here in California, my daily steps are about 14,000.

 

[mrs-b]

@mrs-b - which Fitbit do you have? I have the Versa - if you have a Versa, you can track your Yoga and Stationary bike riding. You swipe to the left and there's an Exercise mode, tap the exercise mode and scroll down the list of exercise and tap "more" and you will find spinning and Yoga on the list. Tap which exercise you want and enter the amount of time. Fitbit will then calculate your heart rate and calories based on your weight, etc. that you input on the app. Hope this helps. Also, when I ride Peloton, it calculates steps when I stand and climb or sprint. Good luck. Since I live in a rural neighborhood, I walk around the block a few times per day as it's sunny here in California, my daily steps are about 14,000.

Thank you! I'm not sure which version I have - the new el cheapo version? I'll check.

And - 14,000 steps?? WAAAAAHHHH!! I am seriously failing as a human being.

On the other hand, I'm pretty darn impressed with you, @Queenie60! Good job!

 

[elizat]

I have one.

It needs charging!

I usually get around 5 to 6k if I'm at work or working from home.

If I walk dogs, etc, between 8 and 12k. I think one of my recent bests was 18k. We were moving house that day!

 

[diamondringlover]

I have a Apple watch and I hit over 10,000 steps almost every day...a couple of weeks ago I hit almost 22,000 on a Sunday...I move alot once I get off work

 

[Ally T]

I don't wear mine anymore, but for the year that i did my step count varied wildly depending on what I had been doing. I remember only hitting 1,100 one Sunday, when we'd been watching movies & all I had really done was several loads of washing & cook. But on a running day I would regularly hit around 21,000 steps.

Go easy on yourself, lovely. You are moving, you are working on keeping your joints supple & your body strong. Right now, under the current circumstances, it is not the right time to be beating yourself up.

Gorgeous husband & pups!

 

[elle_71125]

I’m with you @mrs-b. I live a very sedentary lifestyle (and my desk job isn’t helping). I regularly get in about 2k steps, unless I’m actively forcing myself to get in those extra steps. I struggle with exercising because....I just don’t like doing it, man.

I’ve been working on getting my 10k a day but this whole quarantine thing has really thrown me off my game. I’m eating more and exercising way less...

 

[dk168]

Some days I can achieve over 12k steps, some days under 7k.

I have an exercise machine at home, in the form of a Maxi-Glider 360, so I have no excuse not to do exercise indoors.

Some days I am more motivated than the others.

However, I am eating less, and am losing weight very gradually, so it is not all that bad.

DK

 

[Slickk]

@mrs-b I have a fitbit and also an Apple watch. Some days I would get so few steps and others quite a lot. What I did find was after I bought an extender, so I could wear the fitbit on my ankle (because they aren't that pretty anyway), I was consistently registering more steps. Plus I had the on-hand joke that I was under house arrest should anyone ask...sadly appropriate for these times.
During the quarantine, I am concentrating more on just moving and yoga stretching. When the kids or sister in law calls, I jump on the treadmill to chat, as if we are walking together.
All this to say, don't be hard on yourself. Just make a goal to do a little more each day. Good luck.

 

[lala646]

Ugh, before the current stay-at-home orders I would walk home from work, Times Square to downtown Brooklyn, 2-3 times per week depending on the weather. It was about 7.5 miles, or just under 20K steps. My longest walk has been a little over 33K steps, but that was a bit of an outlier. It's breaking my heart not to be getting these walks now that the weather is more consistently nice. Now that I'm stuck in my little apartment, I'm not even wearing my tracker, because it would just depress me further.

My cute Stanley, for tax.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

All of my smartwatches (all I wear) count steps OR you can set them to just count "activity minutes" aka when your heat rate is up. At school I normally get 7-10k steps daily just from that. At home it's much less. 10k steps is about 3 miles so I have to walk the dog quite a bit to get that here. I've been trying to do at least 45 minutes of spin daily with weight training and stretching to help make up for it. It's hard!

 

[Missy]

Ugh, before the current stay-at-home orders I would walk home from work, Times Square to downtown Brooklyn, 2-3 times per week depending on the weather. It was about 7.5 miles, or just under 20K steps. My longest walk has been a little over 33K steps, but that was a bit of an outlier. It's breaking my heart not to be getting these walks now that the weather is more consistently nice. Now that I'm stuck in my little apartment, I'm not even wearing my tracker, because it would just depress me further.

My cute Stanley, for tax.

Stanley is gorgeous! We almost named Oliver Stanley but my parents objected. My dad's name is Stanley. Anyway he is a sweet kitty your Stanley.

 

[Bron357]

Yes, with two Salukis and two daily walks over 15,000 steps is normal. My record for one day was 23,000 steps, I basically walked all day!

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Yes, with two Salukis and two daily walks over 15,000 steps is normal. My record for one day was 23,000 steps, I basically walked all day!

Most I ever had in a day was going to the NY auto show! almost 30k!

 

[qubitasaurus]

I have a Garman, like some others I took it off with the virus (extra surfaces for stuff to get anchored to).

Really recommend the garman watches-- super good activity trackers, you can run a route and then see exactly how many kms it was.

I don't put much faith in the step tracker. I also find it is very variable for me depending on what activity I am up to that day -- if I am travelling it is well over 10 k, if it is a normal day it will lie somewhere arround 10 k, and if I spend the day at home it is abysmal. I figure it averaged out.

 

[Paz]

I have an office job and before the stay at home order, I was lucky to get in 2000 steps, while actively trying to take the longer routes to the copier, bathroom, etc.

My fitbit was constantly buzzing telling me to move and it just got annoying. I think if I wore it now that I'm stuck at home, it would think I'm dead.

I definitely need to start taking daily walks no matter where I'm working from!

 

[eapj]

My daily steps are very low if I don’t do cardio. I live in a suburb where a car is needed to go anywhere and my job is sedentary. You’re not the only one @mrs-b!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I've been tracking my steps for years! A lot of effort needs to be put in to get 10k if you're at home!

I used to do 15k pre Covid19 but that's just impossible now so I stick to 10k.

 

[Matata]

I easily get 10,000 a day except when I was going to the gym then the # of steps those days would be more. The main reason I manage to get to the magic number is my forgetfulness which means I'm walking throughout the house trying to remember where I put something or why I went into a particular room. And I walk 4 cats twice a day which adds up to about 4 miles.

I had to step away from the Fitbit for awhile as I started obsessing on steps, heart rate, calories burned etc.

 

[mrs-b]

I get plenty of exercise - or enough, at least, I think. I get an hour a day of cardio and about 4 times a week I do a one hour yoga class as well. It's just rather disappointing that it's not showing up in my steps. The whole virus thing has led to rather more exercise than less, and I'm burning, on average, 2500 calories a day. My FitBit picks up my raised heart rate when I'm exercising, so it's logging calories burnt.

But just once, I'd like to hit that magic 10k number. I remind myself regularly of all the shortfalls of that method, but still...in the back of my mind...

And all you 30,000 steps club members - WOW! Great job! ( - now go sit down - your legs must be killing you!!)

 

[Austina]

My steps are right down at the moment, because we’re simply not going out at all. Before our beautiful Dottie died, it wasn’t unusual for me to hit my 10,000 steps a day.

I’ve got the FitBit Inspire HD, which I think is a lot more accurate than the 3 Flex’s and the Alta that I had before.

 

[Missy]

For those of you who may not know the why behind 10,000 steps as a goal.

10,000 steps a day — or fewer? - Harvard Health Blog

If you're trying to take 10,000 steps a day, it can be discouraging to miss that well-known target. But why is 10,000 steps the goal? And is it really necessary to take that many steps every day?

www.health.harvard.edu

10,000 steps a day — or fewer?
POSTED JULY 11, 2019, 10:30 AM

10,000 steps a day has become the gold standard for many people. That number has sold many step-counting devices and inspired interoffice competitions. But it’s a big number that can be hard to reach. When people continue to not hit five digits, eventually some ditch the effort altogether.

Dr. I-Min Lee is an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a researcher on physical activity. She and her colleagues wanted to look at the basis for 10,000 steps and its validity. Their new study in JAMA Internal Medicine answers two questions about mortality: How many steps a day are associated with lowering the mortality rate? Does stepping intensity level make a difference in mortality when people take the same number of steps?

Where does 10,000 steps a day come from?
Dr. Lee discovered that the origins of the number go back to 1965, when a Japanese company made a device named Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” “The name was a marketing tool,” she says. But since the figure has become so ingrained in our health consciousness (it’s often the default setting in fitness trackers), she wanted to see if it had any scientific basis for health.

She had already been studying the relationship of physical activity and health in older women, and it made sense to stay with that population, she says. This group tends to be less active, yet health issues that occur more often as people age become more important. The research looked at 16,741 women ages 62 to 101 (average age 72). Between 2011 and 2015, all participants wore tracking devices called accelerometers during waking hours. The central question was: are increased steps associated with fewer deaths?

What did the research find?




Key findings from the study include these:

• Sedentary women averaged 2,700 steps a day.
• Women who averaged 4,400 daily steps had a 41% reduction in mortality.
• Mortality rates progressively improved before leveling off at approximately 7,500 steps per day.
• There were about nine fewer deaths per 1,000 person-years in the most active group compared with the least active group.

So, if mortality — death — is your major concern, this study suggests you can reap benefits from 7,500 steps a day. That’s 25% fewer steps than the more common goal of 10,000 steps.

What are the study’s limitations?
Dr. Lee notes that this study was designed to look at only two factors. One is mortality — not anything related to quality of life, cognitive functions, or physical conditions. So, this particular study doesn’t tell us how many steps to aim for in order to maximize our quality of life, or help prevent cognitive decline or physical ailments.

The second question Dr. Lee hoped to answer is whether the intensity of the steps a person took mattered. It doesn’t. “Every step counts,” she says.

What’s the bigger picture?
While the scope of this study is narrow, Dr. Lee draws some bigger-picture findings.

• Exercise recommendations are often measured in time: at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week has been the federal government’s recommendation since 2008. People who aren’t active may find it difficult to know exactly how long they’ve been moving. Quantifying exercise by counting steps can feel more doable and less overwhelming.
• If you’re sedentary, add 2,000 more daily steps so that you average at least 4,400 daily steps. While 2,000 steps equals one mile, it’s not necessary to walk it all at once. Instead, try to take extra steps over the course of each waking hour.

She offers good advice for everyone, particularly those looking for extra steps:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Park at the first empty space you see, not the one closest to the entrance.
• Get off the bus one stop earlier than your destination.
• At home, break up chores. Make more than one trip to bring the dinner dishes into the kitchen, or when bringing groceries in from your car.

“Those little things collectively add up,” Dr. Lee says. “Don’t be intimidated or dissuaded by the 10,000 number.”

 

[OboeGal]

Thank you for posting that, Missy! I was going to look for it myself. I saw that some months ago, that longevity benefits leveled off around 7500 steps, so I set the goal of about that many for my "intentional exercise" steps, with the assumption that I probably get another 1500-2000 per day in other daily activities. (I don't know for sure because I just use the step counter built into my phone, and I only carry that on me when I leave the house, including for running and dog-walking.) As mentioned in the article, that number only applies to overall longevity, not to specific disorders such as heart disease or dementia. I did see another study a few years ago on male Scottish postal workers, if I remember correctly. Ones who reached or exceeded an average of 15,000 steps per day had significant improvement in various tests of markers for cardiovascular disease, regardless of age or family history of heart disease, so I tried to hit that as a goal - but, boy oh boy, was that really, really hard! Not much success.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I have never counted steps though some of my friends do and one does so religiously. That friend tells me their daily step count every time we walk together which is always high, but he still managed to gain 11 pounds since Thanksgiving. So.....there's that.

Since you are walking at least a couple miles every day, using an elliptical, and practicing yoga 4 times a week- you are doing well in my book. And burning 2500 calories a day- that is a dream come true for me. I am pretty active, mostly lean muscle, and need to stay at about 1600 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I am less active I go down to 1400 calories. DH is lean muscle and he consumes at least 3000 or more calories a day. Just constantly eats while I shoot daggers at him with my eyes when he is not looking.

 

[Missy]

I have never counted steps though some of my friends do and one does so religiously. That friend tells me their daily step count every time we walk together which is always high, but he still managed to gain 11 pounds since Thanksgiving. So.....there's that.

The thing is that exercise is important but to lose weight or even not gain one has to watch their intake of calories. Food intake has more of a direct correlation to weight than exercise because it takes a lot to burn enough calories if you kwim.

 

[Tartansparkles]

So my mum and I get...wait for it, ironing steps . What you do is set the ironing board two steps away from the ironing pile, so you iron an item, walk two steps to put it in the pile, then walk two steps back to the ironing board. Obviously you can choose how many steps from the ironing board works for you

(We also aim for 10k in real steps, this just makes it a bit more fun and drives my OH mad).

 

[Missy]

So my mum and I get...wait for it, ironing steps . What you do is set the ironing board two steps away from the ironing pile, so you iron an item, walk two steps to put it in the pile, then walk two steps back to the ironing board. Obviously you can choose how many steps from the ironing board works for you

(We also aim for 10k in real steps, this just makes it a bit more fun and drives my OH mad).

Love it! Necessity is the mother of invention. Did I get that saying right? Lol I think it’s a genius way to incorporate steps into your routine.

 

[mrs-b]

I have never counted steps though some of my friends do and one does so religiously. That friend tells me their daily step count every time we walk together which is always high, but he still managed to gain 11 pounds since Thanksgiving. So.....there's that.

Since you are walking at least a couple miles every day, using an elliptical, and practicing yoga 4 times a week- you are doing well in my book. And burning 2500 calories a day- that is a dream come true for me. I am pretty active, mostly lean muscle, and need to stay at about 1600 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I am less active I go down to 1400 calories. DH is lean muscle and he consumes at least 3000 or more calories a day. Just constantly eats while I shoot daggers at him with my eyes when he is not looking.

Thank you, @LisaRN - I really do appreciate the encouragement. I have no issue with my activity level or my diet - I just never seem to hit that 10k benchmark. I realize now that there are ways to re-jig my fitbit to count the exercise I'm doing that doesn't log as 'steps' - but I figure burning 2500-2600 calories a day is a good enough way of working out whether I'm on track or not. So I think I'll kiss that standard goodbye and just dance to the beat of my own drum. (I wonder if that would count as steps as well?)

 

[Missy]

Thank you, @LisaRN - I really do appreciate the encouragement. I have no issue with my activity level or my diet - I just never seem to hit that 10k benchmark. I realize now that there are ways to re-jig my fitbit to count the exercise I'm doing that doesn't log as 'steps' - but I figure burning 2500-2600 calories a day is a good enough way of working out whether I'm on track or not. So I think I'll kiss that standard goodbye and just dance to the beat of my own drum. (I wonder if that would count as steps as well?)

Absolutely dancing counts! And it burns lots of calories too. Not that you need any help. You’re doing an amazing job. 2500-2600 Calories. Impressive!