To think that 10,000 steps is a lot?

[Bluebelliphant]

I have been feeling quite pleased with myself as I've been easily smashing the recommended step amount of 2,000.

However I've just found out it's in fact 10,000. That seems a lot?

Do others manage that every day?

@nokidshere from doing what you've done your count should be more than that

Yes lots of very inaccurate readings. 10,000 steps is nearly 5 miles. Most people do nowhere hear 5 miles pottering around at home.

If you think you do, count your actual steps and compare it to what your fitbit is saying.

It depends I suppose. On a quite weekend day I normally only do around 8k. Monday to Friday it’s usually 12-18k a day. I’ve got 5 dc & 2 dogs though &, apart from half an hour in the morning when I get up & again after lunch, I don’t really sit down until 8pm after we’ve put the children to bed & eaten dinner. Dh is an active job but can sometimes do a lot of driving, because of this his count can be anywhere from 10-30k a day. But again on a quiet weekend day/day off it’s around 6-8k.

The readings are so inaccurate. I was at a concert last night, apparently did 21k steps in two hours, I absolutely didn't but I was waving my arms around a lot in that time. I also average 3k steps when I'm cleaning the kitchen floor.

I can watch my Fitbit as I walk and the steps go up accordingly

The readings are so inaccurate. I was at a concert last night, apparently did 21k steps in two hours, I absolutely didn't but I was waving my arms around a lot in that time.

Ooooh. This is EXACTLY why I would want an ankle step counter.

Really? No one has one? I kniw they may look like you are basically onhome arrest, but at least they should be accurate?

today your right, about inaccuracies. what device are you using? It’s not really worth checking if it’s so wrong. 😀

10,000 steps equates to approx 4 miles of walking, which takes 1 hour 15 mins (for me). I often go out early (when I WAH) and do the steps in one go, and anything other than that on top is a bonus. Sometimes I do it throughout the day particularly if I have to go into the office - I walk to and from the station rather than get the bus, and do a longer walk at lunchtime.

I do this everyday even if it is raining. Torrential rain is a different story...

Doing this and cutting out breakfast (which I have never enjoyed), I lost 2.5 stones a few years ago and have kept it off. I feel fitter, younger, thinner thighed, and eat what I like in 2 meals and still drink alcohol. Also have the occasional cake and ice cream...

Recommend it if you can do it. It is low key and achievable fitness.

I make it most days, walking to uni or to the shops.

Obviously going to a concert is going to give false readings waving your arms about as it aiming to measure walking motion. The only issue is when people think they've done amazing because of this (not meaning the pp)

But I don't have a car and also go back and forth across campus so I probably walk more than most through necessity

“can be as low as 5k if I'm ill/working from home.”

How can it be 5k if you’re ill/working from home?

Fitness trackers are most accurate when tracking steady state activity. So if you do 10k steps in one go. There is no way someone pottering around all day and getting ‘10k steps’ is on the same level as someone walking 10k steps over 4.5-5 miles in one go at an Active pace.

I really struggle to do 10k op. I would have scoffed and said pfft of course I do 10k before I had a Fitbit. I do nowhere near.

My mum who is 68 manages about 15,000 and that's literally pottering about during the day at work. Try not compare yourself to others, but start gradually and build them up.

Your mum does not do 15,000 steps pottering about. That is 7.5 miles a day which is about 2-3 hours solid walking.

@Teddybear45 I agree, but people moving more is always going to be a good thing. Getting the heart rate up will have more benefits, but moving is a good start

“My mum who is 68 manages about 15,000 and that's literally pottering about during the day at work”
No she doesn’t. That’s about 7 miles.

I do 10,000 miles if I go for at least a 3-4 mile walk in the day. Any less, and I don't.
I walk from public transport to walk and back again - about 2,500 steps. I go a 20 minute walk at lunchtime - about 1,00 -1,500 steps ( get 30 minutes and actually need to eat)
Do about 500-1,000 a day walking to different offices.
Walk about 500 getting the tea ready, etc at home. So 5,000. So I have to go out for a 2-3 mile walk in the evening to get to 10,000.

I find my iPhone generally reliable. It may not be precisely calibrated to give an accurate comparison with other people’s trackers but it translates predictably into 10 minutes purposive walking = 1,000 steps. 100 minutes is a decent span of time, so it’s not surprising if some people find it tricky to fit into their day. When I’m visiting my parents I can walk the dog twice a day (keeping pace with my mother while dog runs around), run errands in the village, and still only clock up 6,000 steps.

Regardless of the fact that it’s a slightly random number, I think it’s a pretty useful starting point and 2,000 would qualify you as very sedentary unless you’re doing a bunch of additional exercise.

Martin Lewis did an interesting article about how he’d spent a year doing 20,000 steps every single day (with a very carefully calibrated and reliable step counter) and had then decided to cut back because the time it takes had just become too much of a burden on his family life. If you are forced to spend 7 hours at a desk every day, and perhaps another hour or two commuting sitting down, then you’d need to dedicate a lot of your spare time to getting steps in. People with that lifestyle are the ones who would benefit from doing shorter, more intense stints.

I think the other thing it is possible to exercise without actually doing steps. I have one day in the last week where I cycled 65 miles but only did 2.5k steps.

I regularly spend several hours at what is a high intensity cardio and muscle building activity but my step counter tells me I've done a couple of thousand steps and lost about 90 calories. It's just not a good way of logging many types of physical activity like cycling, skating, skiing, etc.

I did a 3 hour shift in a busy restaurant, and thought this will smash the 10,000. Nope, only gave me 3000 steps. So maybe mine just hates me, or I should purchase one that gives me the results I want?

I do between 16 and 20000 on an average day. 2000 isn’t very much at all.

@alittleprivacy depending on what watch you have you can select different exercises/workouts for it to monitor, i cannon my Fitbit blaze

@Duck90 were you waitressing? Carrying things can mess steps up due to less movement