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 agree @MrsJBaptiste
If I don't consciously set out to do some walkfit, when I wfh I sometimes only hit 600 - 700 steps. That's living in a 3 storey house.
I can see if it were a more active housework day I could get that higher, but nowhere near 10K.

My pedometer has it at about 1.5 hours walking, about 5km.
I manage it only by taking 45 minutes off work during the day, then the walk to school drop off/collection and back.

I'd need to live in a lighthouse to clock up 10,000 steps without having left the house. you must literally never stay still.

I struggled to do this due to the nature of my job and young children. Short answer for me was I had to do more on certain evenings and much more over the weekend and just accepted 70k a week rather than 10k a day.

If I had an Apple Watch or similar I would easily do 10000. But I measure my active steps when our for a walk on my phone but don’t carry it around all day. I think it’s better for me to do 2 x 40 min walks at a brisk pace, even if I don’t get to 10k rather than walking around the house, plus shorter walks that don’t increase my heart rate at all, but do get me to 10k if I’m measuring every single step.

Get a fitbit, they massively overestimate the number of steps 😉

My Fitbit matches DP's Garmin and the distance covered is precise as well, also matching phones, so a 4-way comparison.

Of course they are, because you're increasing your HR and probably pumping (or at least swinging) your arms more than you would dusting the mantelpiece.

I think people need to use some common sense. 10K steps is meant to be a base line minimum for people not doing much active exercise. As a nation we've become increasingly sedentary. Pottering around the mansion house clocking up 10K steps is better than sitting on your arse. Going for a daily 5K jog/run is better than pottering around getting 10K steps.
Cycling to the pool and swimming for 30 mins is good, despite the only steps being from the bike to the pool.

What did you do? Were you marching around on purpose while the kettle boiled or just doing housework/chasing after toddlers?

I went for an hours speed walk at 8 this evening and I'm up to 12k steps. I like doing this after dinner and I sleep better.

Also OP, there are tons of walking workouts on YouTube that you can do at home. Brian Syuki is one who got me through having to stay in while I had chemo during the pandemic.

Funnily enough I wear a fitbit and a garmin together on the same wrist (vitality points, count mine and dh's!). These are the steps now. I'm not surprised you're getting the same steps as your dh and your phone on a walk. The difference is when moving around and waving your arms, that's when the fitbit does well!

@LaCerbiatta I have a friend who is a drummer.
I remember him telling me after a concert (and he had been rehearsing that afternoon too), that his 'watch' reckoned he had done 33 000 steps that day, and he'd barely spent any time that day doing anything other than sitting on his backside at his drum kit

Think the 10,000 steps goal came from a marketing gimmick for a Japense pedometer?

I think the NHS recommends taking three brisk 10 minute walks a day instead, bit more manageable. If you WFH, you could go for a 15 minute walk at the start and end of your day as your "commute".

It’s doable, but time-consuming and boring. I did it for six months. I did see the weight come off (combined with Intermittent Fasting).

Ooh tell us more?

I just found this article reviewing the idea

Get fit with Rick on YouTube and a smart watch doesn’t have to be expensive like £30 on Amazon

The point is it takes effort. If it was of no effort then everyone would be hitting 10k in their day to day lives and it wouldn't be a target. The problem is we don't move enough. The point of 10k is to motivate you to move more.

Walking for an hour does NOT get you 10,000 steps. If you're relying on just walking you need around 1 1/2 hours.

I did it for a whole month as a challenge. I followed my Fitbit instructions to do 250 steps every hour. Danced around the kitchen while waiting for the kettle to boil/ food to boil or fry, etc. that would give me 3,000 - 4,000 steps. That made the last of it easier to finish off on a treadmill.

I go for a 3.5 km run and also walk the dog.

When I used to walk daughter to school and pickup (20 minutes each way x4) plus a minimum of hour dog walk I’d hit 10,000.
so it is about 2 hours walking per day

All those things are very good exercise, but don't count to your steps, so perhaps you need to lower your target of steps accordingly. I think the 10000 goal assumes that's all you are doing. It sounds like you do loads more exercise than most so not sure why you feel inadequate? Steps is an arbitrary thing to count as it sounds like you are doing proper exercise daily.

You have to put effort in, it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy

@MrsJBaptiste @WinterFoxes

Nope definitely not a castle a 5 bed house and no toddlers either.
I was just dotting about the house doing cleaning etc.

I never went outside at all, apart from hanging out washing to dry.

10200 was steps by time I went to bed. My average for last year is 14,000 a day according to my garmin.

Maybe I get up more than others, im not one for sitting down much to be fair.