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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how many steps you do a day

101 replies

Walkingqueen8 · 13/01/2024 23:32

I average about 1000 trying to work on it

OP posts:
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TheKeatingFive · 14/01/2024 10:14

Depends. If working 6-8k. If not 15-20k.

NewYearResolutions · 14/01/2024 10:19

I think 10,000 is high if you are just at home. But equally 1000 is so low I don’t know how the OP do it. I’m now back from kids swimming and I already am on 1200 from just driving to and back to the swimming pool, walk to and from the car.

Those on over 10000 probably walk the school run or have a dog.

Yestodessertplease · 14/01/2024 10:30

I get 6k done on the school run then will do another 4k at lunchtime if I'm working. Days off I get up to 20k/ 25k - I like to do a longish walk one hour to a nice coffee shop, then walk home again. I used to hate walking but now I love it - helps me de-stress.

surreygirl1987 · 14/01/2024 10:40

Aim for 7k but my average last year was 6.5k. I would like to do 10k but there’s diminishing returns after 5-6k I believe so I’m comfortable with 7 as an average

Yeh you're right about this.

EdgarsTale · 14/01/2024 10:43

8-12k a day.

gamerchick · 14/01/2024 10:46

11 - 16k usually. Sometimes higher depending on the week.

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 14/01/2024 10:49

I average out about 12k I think. Monday is my WFH day and this week I didn’t even leave the house. Today is cold and wet and probably another day I won’t be out.

To ask how many steps you do a day
stealthsquirrelnutkin · 14/01/2024 11:53

It's interesting to see how the people responding generally seem to be the ones who are clocking up loads of steps every day.

I'm disabled, most days I hobble along painfully, swearing under my breath and leaning heavily on two sticks, only walking between my bed the toilet/bathroom, the kitchen and a comfy chair in the living room. I have to pee a lot, so the vast majority of my steps are taken getting too and from the toilet every 60 - 90 minutes.

I got a Samsung smart watch a year ago, to monitor my sleep quality (and how many times I was getting up to wee), and the cursed thing insists on registering my steps, keeping a record of them and confronting me with them when I check the app on my phone to see how I slept the night before. I just checked and it tells me that last week I averaged 3090 steps/day.

The comforting (and somewhat mind boggling considering the number of steps people on this thread are doing) thing is that the watch also tells me the average number of steps being taken by all the other people in my age group (I'm 67) is only 3822, putting me in quite a respectable position considering my knackered and treacherous legs. Even more surprisingly, it also reports that the average number of steps of ALL the people having their steps registered/being spied on by Samsung last week was 3978!

Since that last number must include all the super healthy 13000 - 25000 steps a day types who have posted on this thread it's astounding that someone who is unable to walk 20m without needing a longish period of recuperation is less than a thousand steps behind the majority.

So anyone feeling miserable because they haven't managed to hit their target of 6000 steps (that's what the watch tells me I should be doing) can take consolation from knowing that they are not alone, seems the rest of the smart watch wearing world isn't finding a lot of time and energy for getting their steps in.

Perhaps Amazon warehouse workers and nurses on busy wards don't have Samsung spying on their every step, or the vast majority of the people wearing these watches spend more time in their car or at a desk than striding around? It's also possible they get their exercise in snazzy gyms and swimming pools.

I've got a shopping trolley that doubles as a walking frame and emergency chair, which has recently enabled me to leave the house and shuffle along the pavement. Annoyingly the sodding watch does not count this as walking, because my my hands are clinging on to the handle of the trolley, as I lean my weight onto it and push it ahead of me while concentrating on moving my legs like a normal person instead of dragging one behind me like Quasimodo. Since my arms are locked to the trolley handle and not swinging at every step the watch doesn't register that I am taking steps.

I tried to get it to log my pavement shuffling as "exercise" but it automatically cuts out after a few seconds of what it considers "inaction" despite my pushing myself to the limit with my gait training/not falling over. In the past month I've managed to shave 8 minutes off the time it takes me to walk a 400m circuit of the block, from 27m 40s to 19m 52s, but the watch is oblivious to my exertions. I asked my neighbour to time herself doing the same walk at an unhurried pace, to give me an idea of how long it would take a normal person, and she says she sauntered round in 6m 32s. I've set doing it in less than 10 minutes as my goal for this year.

FrogsWormsandCaterpillars · 14/01/2024 12:04

Between 15-25k most days. I work in retail and do the school run on foot so get 10-12k with no effort, the rest are housework and dog walks. Saturdays are less as no school run but I work Sundays, I’ve just checked and I’m on nearly 4K today and all I’ve done is sort the kids out, some housework and got ready for work.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 14/01/2024 12:13

I aim for 10000 but have to go out for a walk a couple of times to get that

WhatTheHeckyPeck · 14/01/2024 12:27

15-20k at work
less than 5k at weekends..unless I'm having a weekend away then it's probably the same (if not higher), than being at work.

devildeepbluesea · 14/01/2024 12:29

Usually 20k minimum - another dog owner, also exercise lots.

adriftabroad · 14/01/2024 12:29

@stealthsquirrelnutkin your post was very helpful to me, thankyou and well done!

WhatWouldJeevesDo · 14/01/2024 12:32

I average about 8000. It’s lower when it’s very hot.

CheesecakeandCrackers · 14/01/2024 12:34

It depends. Pottering around the house, 3 days a week is about 5k, wfh when I do no school runs is about 1k and if I do school run 3k. I go into the office only 1 or 2 times a month and do about 12k then as I have a 45 min walk each way as part of my commute. I used to do loads more but wfh is a killer for my steps. I try and do a long walk of about 20k every few months as I love walking.

greglet · 14/01/2024 12:37

My average for last year was just over 14,000.

headcheffer · 14/01/2024 12:46

I get an average of 10k. Higher when it's my turn to walk the dog. Lower when I've had a gym day as that usually means I don't go for a walk (do weights at the gym). But then it's about 7k. I WFH and have a walking pad which I use sporadically. But I do get up a lot when I WFH as sitting as my desk all day makes me ache.

FieldInWhichFucksAreGrownIsBarren · 14/01/2024 12:48

Between 15 and 20k in a day at work. Can be 25k if I also do a run.

Mybootsare · 14/01/2024 12:51

I WFH so have to make a conscious effort to get my steps in. I do about 7-11K most days. That’s through doing short walking routine videos off YouTube and my walking pad.

When it gets to spring I’ll try and add a daily 30 minute outside walk into my routine.

I’m aiming to get up to 16K soon too and I want some of that to be from moderate intensity exercise. I used to burn around 800 calories a day without even going to the gym, when I used to commute to work but now I’m hitting around 300 calories on my current step count. The plan is to increase my calorie burn so I can lose weight without having to cut down on my calorie allowance any further.

FindingMeno · 14/01/2024 13:06

Always over 10k, often about 15k, sometimes over 20k.

WrigglyDonCat · 14/01/2024 13:16

The thing is that steps aren't really the most important thing. They're useful as a simple way to encourage people to get moving but are a relatively poor analogue for the usefulness of the movement.

Today I'll walk around 7.5 miles (12.5km). My experience with step counters is that when walking properly they count pretty well (I have my doubts how they perform when pottering around the house etc.) but their distance estimates are around 0.5 to 0.6 of the distance I've actually walked because they work with an estimate of average stride.

So for me today a step counter (excluding around the house) would show something like 13500-14000 steps, but for someone else that might be more like 25k. And while two people of the the same weight, walking the same distance at different speeds don't burn exactly the same amount of energy (the faster pace will use more energy), it isn't out by a factor of almost 2. So using a step count is great if you are fairly near the average stride length, but could also be way out if you are not.

Distance is key...

Plus the most important thing of all in my book if you are walking for fitness and health, walk with purpose. Walk as fast as you can maintain for the distance you have to cover, whatever that pace is.

DameBaggySmith · 14/01/2024 14:06

My average is 11k last year. I have a desk job so that's tricky but I've taken up running three times a week and I have a dog who needs walks

Pickingmyselfup · 14/01/2024 15:00

From Monday to Saturday I averaged 18,000 steps which I didn't think was a lot considering the amount I've been on my feet...

I've walked 18 miles just doing the school run

I've clocked about 10K in purposeful exercise with my running training so a mixture of walking and running.

I've been at work 4 days where I've been on my feet walking backwards and forwards usually carrying heavy trays.

I haven't counted a lot of my at home pottering because I'm using my phone and I don't carry it round at home like I do when I'm out.

I have done 3 90 minute gym session this week lifting weights so that also helps fitness.

I feel like I need to increase my steps but I don't have the time. I'm either walking to school, at work, doing housework, exercising or having a well earned rest. Today I don't have anything to do but it's actually really nice pottering around. I have a tendency to feel like I should be doing something all of the time but I need to learn to switch off.

Oblomov23 · 14/01/2024 15:24

People struggle to accept that not everyone does that many. Fine if you are exercising or dog walking. I don't do a lot, if I just drive to work and come home again. Many years ago when ds's at school and I did school run it was different.

Somatosensational · 14/01/2024 15:27

I used to have a watch with a step counter. I realised it was counting steps when I moved my wrist a certain way, so I don’t think they’re at all accurate.

My iPhone counts steps so I sometimes check it after I’ve been for a walk, but it also isn’t very accurate as I’ve often walked further than what it claims.

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