Obsessed with step count

[CrypticField]

I do at least 10k steps every day, usually it's closer to 15k.

I run, hike and walk. It's a self-challenge to never miss a day. My streak is well over three years.

I really enjoy cycling and weight workouts but over time I've stopped these completely because sometimes I only have the energy to get my minimum 10k steps done.

I know it's daft but I feel like even if I did a an hour on the bike and an hour weight workout but only 5k steps, it would feel like a failure.

Can anyone relate?!

Is it for the exercise or for the feeling of control and order in your life?

I'm not sure - I do enjoy feeling fit, and the exercise helps me mentally and keeps my weight steady.

I do thrive on routine and structure, it would feel awful to not be able to do my minimum steps.

But I'm not sure it's healthy/normal to do it at the expense of any other exercise?

Well, my next post was going to mention the benefits of weight training ( I don’t mean bulking up body building weights ) which you’ve felt the need to drop in favour of walking.

What style of walking is it? Positive fast style or meander along with the dog?
Hilly or flat?

I am like this. I’m 40 but I struggle to go to the gym/exercise at home as it seems to make my prolapse symptoms worse. So I have said to myself as a bare minimum I need to be walking 10k steps a day. I have a desk job but walking to pick daughter from school helps/I have a treadmill at home/we try to get out for walks around the local area but I’m obsessive about it. It’s on my mind all the time. If I have an appointment which will take time away from me getting a walk in after work I’m absolutely fuming 😂. Dh just wanted to laze around and chill on Boxing Day after a very hectic Xmas day ….and so did I…. But I had to get up before everyone else and I did the entire 10k steps on my treadmill before I lay on the sofa all day 🤦🏼‍♀️I do have a tendency to obsess and fixate over things. Do you obsess over other things too or just that?

The steps are mostly gained via running (6 days a week on a treadmill) or hiking hills, as I live in the countryside and live near a lot of hills!

I love weight training and have a home gym, but when I'm low on time/energy I always decide to do the steps rather than weights, simply because 'steps'.

I think you’ve got your priorities wrong, weight lifting is critical for bone health and a small amount of high intensity cardio is good too. I have 8k steps as my target but do weights three times a week plus two high intensity cardio workouts and one Pilates.

The steps are gained via running (6 days a week on a treadmill) plus a mix of hiking hills, as I live in the countryside and live near a lot of hills!

I love weight training and have a home gym, but when I'm low on time/energy I always decide to do the steps rather than weights, simply because 'steps'.

For a while I did 10k steps daily plus a 30 min weight session 3-4 takes a week but it just wasn't sustainable; I would like to reduce the running/hiking to add the weights back in but my brain is very resistant to 'losing' steps!

You’re well into obsessive behaviour regarding the steps IMO.
I think you realise this too in your closing of your OP.

Running and hiking is fantastic exercise but you’re not doing it for the pleasure any more but to fulfil this imagined daily target else suffer unimaginable consequences to your daily life which you brought upon yourself by ‘slacking’.

There’s also a concern over your sentence because sometimes I only have the energy to get my minimum 10k steps done.

Are you overdoing the exercise to meet this self imposed step count?

I'm the same, my day will revolve around the steps; I can't rest until I've completed at least 10k. If I have a busy day, like yourself, I'll 'get them in' beforehand.

I don't think I obsess about anything else.

In one way, your baseline of hitting between 10-15k steps per day is absolutely spot on.

If you look at the way our basic calorie expenditure goes, getting over 10k steps per day far outweighs ny other form of exercise for keeping our food in/exercise out balance looking healthy.

I aim for 15k steps per day, and tend to average 12-13k steps. I know on days when I do 20k or 25k steps, my energy expenditure is around 2,500 calories. I don't have to do anything special to get to 15k or 20k - I don't drive, and a day of walking to the gym & back, walking to work & back, plus walking around at work, will give me 20k steps. Less if I'm working from home.

15k steps is a good baseline. Are there ways you can put more walking into your normal, everyday activities?

Oh definitely.

I don't really have the ability to listen to my body and think maybe I need a rest, as it's not a choice, but a need.

Like it's a necessity.

I agree with PP that 10k steps a day isn't overboard but it's frustrating that sometimes I'd 'just' like a shorter walk and a weights session or cycling session but automatically now feel it doesnt count if it's not getting steps in.

Writing it down, it's ridiculous!

Yes! Autism and ADHD.

This doesn’t sound healthy, no. It sounds almost OCD behaviour. Honestly, do you ever put your steps before people? Eg scheduling your day to prioritise steps but meaning your kids / partner are missing out on things? It’s obvious your steps come before you which is also worrying.

I think that you need to break the streak to start to ‘release’ you from the obsession. As you know, normal healthy people could do that without a second thought and would just get back onto the steps the next day.

How would breaking the streak / missing a day make you feel?

Eating- just a normal healthy diet and normal BMI, overall I live a happy life, I'm very lucky!

Work for myself part time from home, live in rural countryside, have hobbies, I volunteer, lovely friends.

But getting my step count in is a huge priority and has been for years. Even if I'm on holiday, I must have access to a gym or there be opportunity for lots of walking!

Honestly? I couldn't not do the steps by choice, I'd have to be physically unable to do them!

It's only now that I really miss weights and cycling but feel I can't choose to do those (that I must get at least 10k steps in first).

I did try a short weight session last week but stopped, thinking 'this time could be used for steps'.

Writing this is a wake up call, it's ridiculous.

Thank you so much for the replies.

The three-year streak sounds like it is creating a problem for you: Once you have a 'worthy' streak like that it feels scary to break it, and you carry it around like a weight on your shoulder.

You may feel under far less pressure once you have broken it. Make a point of having a deliberate Breaking Day to celebrate the achievement of the streak and at the same time end it, in order to move on to new and more relevant challenges.

I've been obsessed with my step count since getting my dog two years ago and fully admit its a control thing - each daily average over 1 week, 4 weeks and a year is now over 16k which I'm very pleased with. I walk very briskly with the dog, no ambling for me!, across all sorts of terrain but not really enough hills regularly. NHS class me as inactive because I don't do cardio or housework
Up until I got the dog I cycled about 100 miles a week and went to the gym 4 or 5 mornings a week to do weights. My daily step count was 5-8K. Then I got a knee problem and stopped cycling then couldn't face the 430am starts for the gym which was increasingly busy so stopped that too. I know I should do weights (i'm 56) but leave home at 6 to walk the dog on the way to work then don't get home until 6.30 after walking the dog after work. Would love to do something at home but need a plan and can't afford a trainer which I need for accountability

How about you research around for the advice then creeate a weekly "schedule" which would include weights, steps, cycling, recovery, family time, holidays time, culture and learning time , creativity and home (cooking etc), stretching and balance.

Assign each item a score, work out what they should add up to, and crucially, once an activity has reached its weekly allocation (and for steps this is not 70k per week, its 30k or something ) it can't add more to the score.

Then you can work towards your perfect score, but like figure skating or whatever, it has to be perfect against a whole lot of different measures, ie be balanced.

After a few weeks hopefully you will be sick of the whole palaver, but you will have made the point to yourself that there's more to a healthy life than one measure .

Or - you're not allowed to donyour steps on Tuesadys and Saturdays until youve done weights. And if that leaves to little time for the steps - take it as a win the weights will "take" more, with that better recovery.