Do you walk 10,000 steps a day?

[nordica]

I've dusted off the Fitbit recently and tried to get more active but I'm finding it's surprisingly hard to get anywhere near the recommended 10,000 steps a day goal. How many people actually do? How much/how long for do you have to walk to reach the goal?

I don't know if this is because I'm short and have shorter strides so can't cover as much in the same time as someone taller, or if it's because I'm unfit and my brisk walk isn't fast enough. Even when I go out for a 30-45 minute walk, at best I get to around 6000 steps a day. The other day I walked for over an hour and still didn't reach 10k steps for the day. My job is sedentary which doesn't help of course (and I'm working from home so there is very little walking to do as part of my usual day).

I remember thinking the same in the past, especially as people so often seem to say "oh 10k steps a day is easy, just go for a short walk".

Nah. I want to. Most days when I'm at home with my dds I get 6-7000. I try and run 5km 3 times a week and hit it those days.

I've started walking 10,000 steps 5 times a week as I'm trying to lose weight and get fit. I'm a short arse and don't walk very fast but I don't mind once I get the steps in. It takes me about 1hr 30 minutes. I'm really enjoying walking.

I will generally do at least 10000 per day. On days when I'm at home cleaning and walking dogs etc it is usually around 20 000. I am a very active person and rarely sit still.
I went on holiday with my MIL and SIL last year and it was really interesting to see the difference in our steps. My MIL is a "busy" person whereas SIL is much slower paced. Are the end of every day we would always have done 2-3000 more steps than SIL. I was surprised how much difference it makes.

Someone else might have already said this, but surely you set your pedometer to your stride? So your 10,000 steps might be a bit less distance than mine but your amount of steps are the same? Concentrate on hitting 10,000 steps or an amount of mileage that works for you. Either is fine. I did 20,200 today but we did a 5 mile walk! When I'm working I can usually hit 10k. Not when I'm wfh though!!

Yep - I do an hour or so before breakfast. 30 mins ish at lunchtime and another evening walk

I have to do two walks a day at least to hit 10000 when wfh

@Yellowbowlbanana

I will generally do at least 10000 per day. On days when I'm at home cleaning and walking dogs etc it is usually around 20 000. I am a very active person and rarely sit still. I went on holiday with my MIL and SIL last year and it was really interesting to see the difference in our steps. My MIL is a "busy" person whereas SIL is much slower paced. Are the end of every day we would always have done 2-3000 more steps than SIL. I was surprised how much difference it makes.

I relate to this. I’m a natural fidget so make 10,000 daily without any particular walks and average 15k. I can get up to 30k on a day off 🤣🤣

I do about 14k on a weekday, and slightly more at weekends. According to Garmin I do more steps than 95% of women in my age bracket.

I walk about 25 minutes to and from work, plus pottering around at work, and often do a short walk in the evening.

I do get a little obsessive about meeting the target my watch sets for each day. If it gets close to bedtime, if I’m a way off the target, I can be found doing YouTube step videos or walking on the spot whilst watching TV.

Sadly I think I’m also in the top 95% of cake eaters, so it’s done nothing for my weight.

10k steps is about five miles, which takes about two hours. I can do it at the weekend but never on a week day as I just don't have time.

I set my goal as 2,500 steps. I've not done it the last two days because it's been too cold to go out, but I usually manage it in my lunch hour.

I have gained weight recently and realise that I barely move now that I am mostly working at home. So...last week I started walking 10,000 in ernest, most days. It is surprisingly hard. I walk fast and swing my arms. It takes me approximately 80 minutes. I prefer to do it all at once but sometimes have to split it up. I feel it in my legs and gluts, so something is definitely happening. I hope I can keep it up when schools go back and we are not on holiday.

For those saying 10,000 steps is about 4-5 miles, according to my phone today I did 9,800 steps which it has calculated to be 5.3km. My husband walked the same distance (did the same walk together) and he did fewer steps and less distance per his phone. I am assuming the phone app we both use is not very accurate!

Mine is set to 20,000 as a target. I get there about five days a week. It’s harder working from home, and harder still without the school run. I do go running though, so that helps.

On a normal day, I do 5000 or so during my work day, 2-3000 doing general housework, about 3800 is a school run and that’s twice a day. A 5k run adds about 6,800 steps for me.

Having said all that there is usually one day a week where I don’t get beyond about 6k, often a Sunday, but I don’t worry about it too much, it’s just a lazy day.

@Oldraver

When I was working I regularity did 30,000 now problem not even 5,000 😀

I suppose if you want to achieve that amount the only thing is to go for a walk

A few years ago a walking friend of mine said he wanted to try to walk 1,000 miles in a year. I worked out a school run of 1.5 miles could achieve that

Wow, @Oldraver what job did you do to clock up 30k steps a day? DS did 38k steps yesterday, walking around with mates trying to stay warm outside. He slept until midday to make up for it.

Around 20,000 give or take a thousand most days.
Walk to and from work (about a mile/2,000 steps each way), walk at lunch, walk most evenings of about 5 miles with dd2 (for the sake of our mental health really but it’s lovely).
Run every other morning before work.
I do a lot of walking. Last year I decided to not use the car for any journeys of a mile or less unless in an urgent hurry. It’s made a big difference!
I’m off work for Easter and I’ve walked less; about 15-16k - I think it’s the walking to and from work as I’m on my feet at home as much as I would be at work.

I aim for 10k a day. And min of 30 exercise. Not always possible on a work day.
Weekly average is about 82k
Some days more than others. Eg I might only do 8 on a work day but on a non work day I might do 15k.

I have a very sedentary job WFH & sit in front of a laptop for 7-8 hrs a day Mon - Fri. I have an Alexa in the room though so I set the alarm to go off on the hour, every hour & when it does I choose a song for Alexa to play. I'll dance to 2 songs & then sit down again. I managed 7k steps yesterday just doing that, plus I had a good boogie to YMCA & Dee Lite's Groove is in the Heart!

Since i got my dog (Springer Spaniel) i average around 18,000 steps a day. Rarely less. Before i got her I'd get about 5000 steps a day

I usually exceed 10k steps, but we typically walk around 8k per day. On days when I don't go out for a walk then it may be 3-4K.

I clock up between 6,000 and 7,000 on my phone on our lunchtime walk, and I reckon a few thousand more moving around the house / dancing around the kitchen while cooking. I'm quite active at home, but I don't like carrying my phone around!

I remember one of those 'skinny life versus fat life' programmes from years ago where they tracked the lifestyles of two people who basically ate the same diet but had drastically different weights. The slim lady just used her legs a lot! Disclaimer Yes it was an awful show and no they didn't take into account genetics!

Not even close. Maybe in the summer when we go out and about and can actually do things, but at the moment we are mostly at home. And even the steps I do on walks are at toddler speed so probably don't count.

Yesterday I did 19k steps, and covered a total of 14.2km, of which 3.75km was a 30 minute run/walk in the morning (I am doing C25k) and 7.81km was an afternoon walk which took just under an hour and a half. So the other 2.64km was steps around the house - I WFH 5 hours a day, but have a standing desk and seem to be up and down the stairs like a yo-yo for deliveries and cups of tea.

Currently WFH still and I manage about 6000 if I go out for a lunchtime walk of about 45-50 minutes. Might manage more if I had my phone on me at all times during the day, like a PP's DH

Now the evening's are lighter it should be easier to get out for a 2nd walk after work so might be able to up my step count to nearer 10K.

6,500, 5km, just under an hour today. Can't go out again til six and by then I won't want to.

Unless I'm sick, yes. I currently aim to get a minimum of 100k a week, which is now becoming the norm and I tend to get more easily. However, I've been making a gradual effort to increase activity for the past year and a half. It definitely gets more "natural" with time, and you end up moving around more without even realising.

Yes. Average 17k. I'm a nurse but also do similar on my days off.

I walk DS to school and walk to pick him up again, and that comes in at almost exactly 10k, if we go straight home again afterwards.