10,000 steps a day seems impossible??

[Walkwalkinthelight]

Just started a 'healthy living ' programme (weight loss, well being, fitness etc).
One of the goals is 1000 steps a day??

I work from home, mad busy and sit at desk all day then gym at night. I've only done 1300 steps by teatime.

How the hell does anyone with a desk job do 10000 steps a day!!

My teenager walks to school and back and round a massive school all day and he only does 7500!!

I wfh and easily do it daily. Walk before or after work. Lunchtime if easier for you. And I move about a lot outside of kettle/loo/work I guess. I'm not one for sitting around all evening and take time cooking and pottering. Soon adds up!

Go for a walk.
If I have a meeting I can listen to without having my camera on and without talking much I sometimes walk around the study.
a “get fit with Rick” walking workout on YouTube.
But ultimately, go for a walk. Often go out for 45 minutes or so at 9pm.

4.5miles is 10000 steps for me. The distance matches what it says on route planners. Its about 100mins of walking

I go for a walk daily.

Today I've done a 50 min walk before everyone else was up then taken the kids to a shopping centre. Done 12000steps so far.

Thanks everyone. For everyone who is doing a lot of walking do you feel better/look better for it?

I walk to work and I walk home from work. About an hour each way. That brings me to about 13,000 steps. (not including any walking I do in between those two walks).

Hour walk after dinner and back and forth to school make sure I get there...finding it harder at the moment though as I've somehow injured my foot (not badly, but uncomfortable enough not to want to do the after dinner walk) and I'm really missing it!

Oh and I've lost about a stone since the summer by really just upping my walking and not doing a whole lot else

How are you measuring your steps? I just look at my phone but I'm not carrying it around work or home so it's only picking up walking to my car and from my car (not very far - 1900 ish) out of interest I put my phone in a little bag and carried it all day - was 8600.

OP are you trying to do this on top of workouts?

I don't drive so steps are automatic for me, but you're working out so don't get obsessed with some arbitrary figure that's for easy marketing.

I'm still fat! I know a slim person who did that 26 mile night walk and she was annoyed she didn't lose weight while training for it but...it's just walking. If you're starting from sedentary, walking is great but if you're already fit then I'm not sure how much difference it will make.

Get a dog! Seriously. I do between 18k - 25k every day and barely notice it.

Half hour walk before work everyday, quick
leg stretch at lunch time and then another half hour walk after work. Then I potter about after tea doing jobs and tidying up after my kids. I usually manage between 9-12000 on weekdays, and around 17-18000 on the weekends as I go for longer walks then.

I'm 5ft. 5k is almost 10,000 steps for my little legs.

That aside, I have to plan in my walk/run to make sure I hit 10,000 steps a day. I know none of the counters are 100% accurate but purposefully going for an hour's brisk walk or a 30 minute run is sort of the point of aiming for 10,000 steps a day.

You're more aware of your sedentary moments and compensate for them with activity.

I'm currently on a 43 day streak of 10,000 steps a day. My challenge day is actually a Saturday because I do a lot of driving around and it's really hectic but barely any steps. Making myself go for a walk after 7 or so hours like that is a bit of a challenge but I've recently made a point of doing that rather than just sitting down.

Try a dance class. You'll definitely get your steps in and then some.

I drive to work and sit at my desk all day, but do try and get up and move when I can. When it's dry dh and I go for a walk in the evening when we're home from work. But we don't reach 10000 steps. The weekend is fine because I'm walking around getting stuff done.

I've done 10221 steps today, and that's showing as 6.3km.

Only posting for those talking about what steps is how far. I just have an app on my phone.

Dog has been walked once and I'll go out again tonight. I average about 15000 a day normally.

it depends on your stride length obviously the longer your stride length the greater the distance 10,000 will be, if you are short your pace might only be 70cm so 10,000 steps will be 7km if you are taller and it is 85 it will be 8.5km and if you are over 6" and your pace is a metre then it will be 10km
it is unlikely to be 50cm a pace as i take size 4 shoes and my shoe length is 27cm so even toe to toe a pace would be 54cm

It probably depends what kind of walking it is as to whether it will help you lose weight. My after dinner walk is fast enough to get my heartrate up and also steeply uphill so burns more calories than just ambling along on the flat.

I'm 5' 7'' and 10,000 steps is about 8km or 5 miles. As everyone says, you need to be consciously aiming for the goal unless 10,000 plus get done without thinking.

sorry that's wrong a pace is heel of one shoe to heel of other shoe so a pace with small steps like walking uphill could be 50cm

I was having a conversation with someone about this recently and came to the conclusion that you have to choose steps over TV/Reading/Other chill out activity of your choice if you don’t have a job you can walk to or an active job.

I am the same as you that I’d manage around 1000/1500 on a normal day if I didn’t specifically try.

I wfh, very sedentary job, so I try to 'go for a walk' most days.
I'm 5'1, today I've done a Pilates class (zoom) and a 6 km walk (took me 1hr 10 mins, fast pace for me, gps distance) and so far I'm on 9,500 steps and 7km according to my Apple Watch. It may have undercounted a bit as some of the time I was carrying my jacket so not swinging my arm, which is what it really counts I think.
For the last 3 years I've managed about 2000km per year - my legs are definitely stronger and fitter, and I'm generally pretty healthy for my age (62).

on my wfh days I never approach anything near 10,000 steps.

The 10,000 steps doesn't have much scientific basis behind it and I eventually gave up and focused on active minutes instead. I always try to fit a brisk half hour lunchtime walk in.

10,000 steps is 5 miles for me, or 100 mins of walking. I find it really hard to achieve when WFH, even with a reasonable one hour dog walk in the evening.

Ive started to aim for 7,000 steps instead as it’s way more achievable for me.

Not to boast or anything, but once when wfh when DD was away for a few days with her grandparents between lockdowns, my step count between getting up and bedtime was less than 100! I’d literally walked the three steps from my desk to the kitchen a handful of times for tea and food, and gone to loo a few times, and other than the roll from bed to desk that was it! I was exhausted from working so hard but my body was not happy with me.