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?

@clairemcnam apparently it's 2 steps from my bed to my bathroom and back tonight! I don't worry though, I aim for 10k and always go over so I figure missed steps/arm moments will probably balance themselves out along the way, I don't need to be militant about it

@clairemcnam are you asking me or telling me? Considering she works for The Police I would disagree, not that your opinion matters!

@BertrandRussell and again, why is this so difficult to believe? 7 miles is not much considering how fit she is.

Just checking my iPhone which says I’ve done 206 steps which is impossible so don’t worry. It’s not something I normally check anyway. Hate these counter things and fitbits. What’s the point of them? Surely most people know if they’ve been active or not. It’s useful for serious athletes but you need better equipment and heart monitors etc to measure it accurately

On my history I usually do over 10,000 most days but then there’s a random one where I do only 2,000. I have a desk job but there is no reason for such a discrepancy. You can gain steps from a bumpy bus journey. Unless you’ve got some high end technical stuff I’d treat the data with a pinch of salt. I recall a news article where someone wore 6 or 7 different gizmos and they came up with a very wide range of results

God I wonder how many I've done?

Been on my feet all day with the kids, cycling, park, walks, gardening etc

Going to the bathroom, making coffee, dinner, back and forth to the freezer for ice. Cream. Just general hungover stuff.

I live in a two bed ex council mid terrace so no mansion

I walk my dogs twice a day, work 3 x 12hr shifts a week and am generally quite busy. I do 15k to 20k steps a day.

I worked from home on friday and didn't leave the house and did 2000, something isn't right OP, maybe the tech you're using is off somehow?

I stopped using my Fitbit when I discovered how inaccurate it was. I now use a GPS app on my phone which is far better.

I tried the 10,000 steps in one walk not long ago. Walked at a decent pace (not fast nor slow). It was just over 6k and took slightly over an hour (was an urban walk so a lot of stopping and waiting at pedestrian crossings).

Going on my experience of my step counters it seems utterly impossible to gain 2,000 to 5,000 in the house 'pottering'. The 'easy' 2,000 on a sedate/duvet/lazy/on your arse/couch day would just be unrealistic. I've worn a wrist pedometer and had my phone count at the same time. The wrist count is always higher when it's not a purposeful walk. Shaking or moving your arm, whist sat and lifting things in and out of cupboards adds to it.

I get around 6,000 steps on an ordinary work day without trying. My phone only counts steps I take outside the house or office as I don't carry it on my person inside. DH constantly has his phone on him and gets the 10,000 on a work day.

(For me lazy day its well under a 1000!!! Yesterday I took fewer than 200 acorring to my phone (fairly relaxed day, did go out but forgot it!!) Might tape it to myself today and see the difference.)

Sorry op but 2000 steps is barely moving

I normally manage 10k on a lazy day, pottering about at work, walking the dog on an evening or 20-30k on an active day.

I really think people need to realise how much exercise is required to remain healthy.

Fraxion

Yes phone apps do seem to be much more accurate. Fitbits etc seem to vary wildly.

3000 was me when I drove to work, took the lift, office job, supermarket on the way home from work.
now it's 10.000 easily: walk to tube station, take the stairs wherever I can, walk to supermarket on way home from work. in short - no car. but apart from that taking stairs is the biggie.

Happy to be corrected, but don't they have to 10, 000 active steps, rather than meandering places - more of a brisk walk that raises your heartbeat? That was always my understanding of the step counts.
I've clocked up an average of 35k steps per day this weekend due to hiking/camping, but my daily, when at my desk job, is usually 10k at least. I run, and have found my Garmin far less forgiving than my Fitbit. Indeed my hiking partner wore her Garmin and her mileage/steps were measurably less than mine for the same activity. Even allowing for differences in gait etc, they shouldn't have been that different. I'd take the step count as a guide to get up and move, rather than worry about numbers. 2000 is an excellent base to build on! Could you aim for 2500 next week and build up steadily from there?

@Chouetted

if you're shorter than I am, that's probably "about right" too.

I'm definitely not tall . My 19K steps for 7.5 miles was logged on my phone walking about on a recently holiday. Just looked at my stats on my GPS tracker for a different walk and I did 6.9 miles in 11.8K steps. I tend to go with the GPS mileage figures as that details my exact route. Strangely enough, just checked my phone for the same date and it showed 5 miles and 11.8K steps. So both correlate in the steps department for that day but different mileage.

2k isn't the recommended amount is it?!! All my health apps state at least 6k.

I would class 2000 as very sedentary. Quite often I've done 1500 before leavingvthe house in the morning. Are you using a tracker like a fitbit? It sounds like you are not counting all your steps.

I do around 2000 a day on a good day 2600

I have reduced movement and only 1 lung so down any form of exercise is hard. Just about to go for a shower which will take me 5 minutes to recover from this is why I can’t do many steps

I have a clip-on Fitbit that is very accurate, the wrist trackers are just ridiculous. How can something on your wrist (non dominant or not) be accurate? My DD had a wrist Fitbit and I had my clip-on and as a test we both did the same things for the day. My DD's showed 50% more "steps" than mine!
The steps on the clip-on are good but you have to measure the size of your stride to get the correct distance. I agree with PP's who have said 10 minutes equals 1000 steps. I sometimes use the treadmill and that is 4 k/h. Today I went for a walk, I was out for 20 mins and did 2000 steps, I started quick but the temperature was about 30 C and the sun was hot so after about 15 mins I did slow down.
All the claims of 2K going for a shower are crap.
I hit 10K at 1pm today because, I was up around 6, drove to the shop but walked around a bit, walked round my house a few times, went for an actual walk and that took me to 4k by 10am. The other 6k was me walking around my house, outside until it got too hot then inside.

To the OP keep going, add 500 steps per day this week, so 2500 then 3000 and so on, don't give up. One of my things is to take the longest route everywhere, even in the house. My study has an en-suite that is 4 steps but I go round the living, dining and kitchen so I add 120 steps.

I really dislike MN sometimes for the lack of support and ridicule. Obviously a post about 10,000 steps is going to attract those that do more. Those that do much less or don't know how much they do wont respond so it becomes an echo chamber of people posting how many steps they do and belittling the OP.

The amount of “steps” per day was set by the Japanese in the 60s

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/03/watch-your-step-why-the-10000-daily-goal-is-built-on-bad-science

It’s a sales ploy

Going for a 30 minute straight of walk is written up here, opposed to smaller bouts of 10 minutes

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3064872/

I walk to work a mile and a quarter & home which produces about 3000 steps each way, so even though I walk for 20 minutes each way it’s not producing 10000

I also don’t think 10,000 is very much. I do between 15,000 and 20,000 every day. It’s about 2,000 steps to my child’s school, so the school run is 8,000. I work from home so not that many steps in the day but I walk at lunchtime if I can - so another 4,000. Then if you add nipping or the shops, after school actives or playing in the park, then that’s the 15000 done easily! I try to go for a quick run when DH gets home which takes be closer to 20,000.

You're pleased with 2000?! Unless you're disabled or in prison locked up for 23 hours a day that's not an impressive amount. My disabled patients manage more than that and some of them are carrying oxygen cylinders with them! You should be able to manage 6-8k without too much effort.

ilove
There was an article resettle that showed farming were under recording - this was apparent when people where using them for marathons, as it was showing incorrect milage on the garmin equipment

I use a garmin with gps for cycling and that is pretty good, but I think the garmin equipment without gps was inaccurate for distances

You're pleased with 2000?! Unless you're disabled or in prison locked up for 23 hours a day that's not an impressive amount. My disabled patients manage more than that and some of them are carrying oxygen cylinders with them! You should be able to manage 6-8k without too much effort.

What a helpful and encouraging comment. You must be such a delight.