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?

Doing a school run gives most people more opportunity for steps than work, since most schools are in the general location of your home walking is a possibility, mostly people don’t work as near to their home. I don’t have time to walk st lunch unless I don’t eat. So, need to do vast majority of steps after work when tired and have a billion other things to do. I go for walks purely to raise my count, and it would be much nicer to be walking incidentally as part of my day.

I had the fitbit Versa and now I have the Apple Watch. I find the Apple Watch far more accurate as it doesn’t take arm movements as steps. I average 16,000 when at work but at home lazing about, I do around 2,000. It’s not a lot at all

I do 8000 easily just from the school run and it's only 10 mins to school. The other 2000 just from walking round the house! I found it hard to achieve before ds started school though.

I don't find it that hard on days when I walk somewhere e.g. town, yesterday we did a walk to a river beach.
If I get the bus to work then I'd need to go out for a walk in the evening or do some serious tidying.

I thought 10k was very achievable when I had a Fitbit as it counts everything. Garmins don't start counting until 10 movements detected to minimize the count from arm movements so I do loads less now. I rarely make 10k unless I go running. My average on a school run day is around 8000 which is around 5 miles.

I do 8000 easily just from the school run and it's only 10 mins to school. So 2000 steps per 10 mins? Isn’t that more than 3 steps a second?

A good approximation is 1 mile = 2,000 steps. 10K steps is 5 miles. A moderately active lifestyle should be able to hit this target on the majority of days. For me, 10K is the equivalent of walking DS to and from school concurrent with walking the dog. Not exactly taxing and very achievable for the majority of people.

OP I'd suggest you set your fitbit goals up in increments rather than heading straight for the 10k, you'll be surprised how easily you pick up your step count! Go for 4k for a few weeks and then 6.

As someone else said earlier, 10k is achievable in about an hour's brisk walk so it's doable but I find, with my sedentary office job that I have to drive to get to, that I do about 7-8k if I don't put in an effort. If I make the effort I can push to 10k relatively easily, but it does require a deliberate walk of an evening. I could probably bring it up by pacing but I don't think that's the right kind of exercise for me :)

IN terms of trackers, Fitbit tent to overestimate, AppleWatches underestimate, and Garmin running watches are very accurate. You can recalibrate AppleWatches to your stride fairly easily, but I don't know about fitbit.

Go for 3 brisk 30 minutes walk each day and job done

I have a step counter that doesn't start counting to after 10 steps. I can spend a couple of hours cleaning and only do 100-200 steps officially.

So far today I've got the kids ready for school, ran to the bus stop with them, and walked home and have done... 725. Bus stop is 3-4 minutes walk away.

Garmin have you running a 37 miles marathon 😮

@Singletomingle 40000 got me curious . You would need to e on your feet for 14 hours of the day and 47 steps a minute .

My friend plays golf and was registering hardly any steps until she strapped her fit bit to her ankle .

I go through phases of wearing mine but enjoy it at the moment . I try to get 30 mins of exercise a day. And 10k steps . So far I have 31 today which was the loo .

In work I do kick backs or side steps when drying hands after loo and that's 50 steps . Lots of little things can add up .

I think it fully depends on what your day is generally like. I've done just under 4000 since getting up at 6, but I've been running around after the kids all morning and have done a workout. On an average day (so including a workout in the morning, doing nursery run, and taking the kids out for fresh air) I do about 15000 or more. On days where kids are too poorly to go out or we have a lazy day then it's about 4000. I'm a stay at home parent so I try my best to be active.
2000 is very sedentary I think. But if you would normally not do anywhere near 2000 or really struggle to get there then of course it's a great start and you should hopefully be able to keep increasing it.

On a weekday I generally manage around 15k steps. I have a 20 min ‘wake up’ walk first thing then walk to the station/bus to get to work. I have a 20 min walk at lunchtime and then walk back to the station (2.5miles) after work. At weekends it’s usually less unless we deliberately go out for a walk.

I've just knocked my Fitbit off my bedside table and it clocked up 21 steps! Love it!

@Sharpkat genuinely would love to know how you achieve all those steps . It's huge achievement.
Anyway my watch had told me its time to stand as I have been lying in bed reading mumsnet for an hour lol . Time to change the 31 steps to 3000

I suspect there is a difference in the steps recorded depending on whether it is via a fitbit, or an app on a phone in a pocket. Has anyone conducted a test of this?

Kind of. My Fitbit was way out on steps vs my phone, Fitbit showed far higher steps. My phone is quite similar in step count to my GPS tracker but out in mileage. The former being lower mileage.

My husband and I compared phone step data on walks and they were wildly different which I put down to stride length. GPS app mileage was the same.

Go for 3 brisk 30 minutes walk each day and job done

Yes, far better for you than 10K leisurely steps.

@mrsgandy I try and do a 20000 step walk first thing when I wake up. It is just under 3 hours. The posters who say 7000 steps an hour are right.

I also try and keep moving at home all day, so if I am doing the ironing I put each item away as I have done it. Not the most efficient system but it adds steps!

I genuinely love walking and just try and get out as many times a day as I can.

I wear a garmin watch which adjusts your goal daily depending on recent step history. It’s a good way of helping to build it up slowly - 6 weeks ago my goal was around 7,000 but now by making the effort to get out and active more I have a goal of 13,000 (hitting around 15,000 most days)

3k on a lazy day at home. Usually I hit 9-11k xx

It’s not that easy to hit unless you are on your feet in your job, or you go for a walk. Most people wouldn’t hit it unless they tried.

Below is 3000 steps a day is sedentary according on someone on Radio 4. So I guess another source could have said it’s at least 2000.

I do 8000 easily just from the school run and it's only 10 mins to school
Meaning 6 steps a second? Unless you are The Flash I think the explanation as to why some on this thread think they have a billion steps without trying is right here.

I suspect there is a difference in the steps recorded depending on whether it is via a fitbit, or an app on a phone in a pocket. Has anyone conducted a test of this?
Yes, mentioned it up-thread. Big differences.

(I've been out of bed since 7. Made breakfast, collect washing from upstairs and put it on, fed animals made tea and gone round picking stuff up. Phone credits me with 56 steps!!!)