If you regularly do 20K+ steps per day… how?

[Mojitofairy]

Just that really. Since March I’ve been focusing on exercise and health rather than weight loss because it feels much more in my control - the scales would show whatever number regardless of how much effort I felt I’d put in that week. By changing my focus to steps daily I could satisfy my need to ‘achieve’ something and the scales lost their power over my mood. I’ve lost a stone and completely changed my mindset, which is what I needed. Now about half a stone to go.

However, trying to increase the daily steps is proving so hard! I’ve done minimum of 10k every day since I started in March. My daily average is about 13k. One day I really wanted to push myself and did 30k but I literally did nothing except exercise, walk, move about all day. It’s not sustainable. I did a week of going over 15k daily and it was a real effort to make sure it happened. My work days (3 days a week) I get about 7000 steps at work and I’m on my feet the whole day, though perhaps not walking about much. Non work days if the kids are in school I get about 4000 taking them to and from school, then I make sure I do a workout at home if I’m not out in town.

I’m in a few groups on Facebook and through my smart watch app where people are doing 20k steps and higher every single day without fail. I can only presume they are in very active jobs. If you manage that sort of step total, how do you do it? I would love to try and up the numbers but if it becomes clear that this isn’t really feasible for my life then at least I will know! Thank you.

This actually sounds very worrying to me.

Have you had problems with an eating disorder in the past?

Following. The only people I know who get really high numbers are nurses or warehouse workers where they’re literally walking about all day.

I’m a fairly active person in a fairly active job and can average 10k per day (thanks to going for a run 2/3 times a week) but if it wasn’t for the running I would average 6-7k most days or 10-12 when I used to walk to the office.
10 or 12 is great to aim for, 15+ is hard unless you run or are committed to going out a lot with a dog!

What I’m saying is. I don’t think it sounds really feasible for you to do much more than you do now, which sounds pretty good.

@HollowTalk

This actually sounds very worrying to me.

Have you had problems with an eating disorder in the past?

Really? I didn’t get that at all. I’d be interested too OP. I would like to hit 15000 per day for similar reasons but on a working from home day will typically do less than 5,000 if I don’t put any extra effort in.

My biggest tip (which I don’t stick to very well) is try to get out for a walk in the early part of the day. If I don’t make decent headway in the morning I rarely pull it back

I'm not convinced it will help you. I'm doing long runs as part of marathon training at the moment and its not having any impact on either my fitness or my weight. Do you do any strength training? Doing a barbell routine plus 10k steps a day could be really healthy and you would get satisfaction of working towards heavier weights. Make sure you learn good technique if you go down this route though.

Sorry didn't answer your question - I think I would get up early and do a long walk, either that or three decent short ones.

I've got 2 very energetic spaniels and walk around 15k steps most days - we do a long walk at 6am before work, a short 30 minute walk when we get in around 4.30/5pm and then another good walk around 7pm.

Do less in the winter though as I hate walking in the dark.

I have a desk job, but average 20k steps a day. Up early for a run in the morning, walk on my lunch break and walk to drop kids off at school and collect from after school club. Long runs and family walks on a weekend foo.

Absolutely no eating disorder, ever, sorry if that’s what you read!
More that for me, I need something to aim at in order to find a sustainable way to lose weight and improve health.

Calorie counting was fine but when I was more sedentary, the numbers were so low they weren’t sustainable. So I would be on 1200 daily, stick to it religiously, and then the scales would go up. So I would give up and go back to eating just a bit too much and gain the same few pounds up and down for about 8 years now. I needed a mental shift.
By doing 10k steps daily it shifted me into ‘moderate’ for exercise which meant I had more calories, and a level that was sustainable long term. I’ve been on 1560 cals since March and lost steadily with the walking workouts. During the lockdowns with no school runs I could easily do less than 3000 daily steps, my interests are all sitting/crafting/tv etc!
I hope that makes sense as to where I am right now.
Also I’m happier and enjoying movement! So I guess I’m just looking at what the next step in this journey might be. I want to be healthier rather than just lighter. My BMI is normal (24).

I’ve started including light hand weights and resistance bands as I need it to be things that are safe and easy at home with limited space. So I’m ok with that, it’s a great idea to add weights.
I just found myself wondering about how other people in the groups I’ve joined get the big step totals every single day!
If it requires a massive effort then I’m happy to stick with the 10k that I’ve set for myself. Just curious I suppose.

I think the steps counting is to look at your lifestyle baseline and increase it in a realistic way - not to spend all day walking ad stressing about it.

If you have a job where in x hours you do y steps, then that isn't a time period you can change. Don't try.

I do 16-17k most days as I live in a city, so walk to school and work and to kids activities as well as having a dog. I can add a run to go over 20, but TBH I don't feel this is the health area I need to work on. It sounds the same for you, look for something more varied and fun to add in.

I average around 15k a day at work as a nurse plus usual life stuff on top of that. My counts on a day off are usually a bit lower.

I find the same as you OP, about 12k steps is fairly easy to achieve regularly, but higher than that requires more effort than I'm prepared to put in on a daily basis.

I've been on Fitbit groups in the past where some posters have a treadmill desk which makes high step counts more achievable.

I think this is part of the reason why people jog?! They can get lots of steps in but not take long doing it!

I'd need to walk for about 2 hours to regularly achieve over 20,000 steps.

I rarely achieve it. I started WFH in July 2019 (yes, that's the date) and dropped from 10,000 steps a work day to less than 2,000 a work day

I think that's a LOT

I did 21,000 on Saturday as I was out in London walking all day

There's no way I could do that every day - i was very tired yesterday

I average about 15k steps a day, all of them done in my kitchen, at odd points during the day (I work from home). By jogging on the spot I do around 130 steps per minute.

My husband averages 20,000 a day. He walks to work and back. Around 6 miles. Sometimes also goes for an evening walk once the kids are in bed.

I'm so glad someone else wonders this! I have been following the Team RH stuff online but it's very much "there's no excuse for doing under 15,000 steps a day" them people post they do 20k and I wonder where they find the time!

My sister works in a bank sitting down for large parts of the day and drives everywhere she averages 20k a day if not more. Fairly sure its just the way she's set her fit it up tbh. I am retired very active do a long dog walk every day and average 9,000 to 10,000. I don't compare it to others now as I just think they are cheating.

I tracked mine for a few months at the start of the year and was averaging 15k. That’s was running about 20-22 miles a week and also making the effort to walk the children to nursery and to run errands. It was hard work. I’m a SAHM and very rarely sit down during the day as I’ve got 2 x preschoolers.

On an average day with no running and extra walks it’s about 6/7 thousand.

@HuntingoftheSnark

I average about 15k steps a day, all of them done in my kitchen, at odd points during the day (I work from home). By jogging on the spot I do around 130 steps per minute.

That’s nearly two hours of jogging on the spot daily?

Running most days.
Not driving at all.
Making my own tea at work, it’s quite a long way to the kitchen.
I’m quite a fidgety person and don’t sit still for long.
Needing to tidy the house constantly and running up and downstairs.
But mostly running. If I feel like I’ve been lazy or have WFH then I’d go out for a walk.

I used to do that many as a junior doctor - but it involved spending 14 hrs a day trudging around the wards, literally not sitting down at all in that time (standing workstations on the wards).

I do closer to 8k as a consultant, sitting down in clinic and at my desk a lot more.

When I was half marathon training I easily did 20k steps per day. On my work days I would run 10k in the morning, or do an hour on the cross trainer before work and go for a walk for 45 mins at lunch. I have a sedentary job but make a point of going to people's desks instead of emailing or phoning. Need to get off my lazy ass as struggling to do 10k steps per day just now!

Is it that some of those people use fitbits/watches to record their steps? I remember a friend telling me she had to wave her arm for a few minutes in the house to reach her steps goal! I use my mobile and only carry it with me outside of the house, whenever I actually walk from A to B. I don't pick up any steps inside the house/garden/office/toilet or similar. That way I average 6-8000 steps on a workday, and about 10-12 (rarely up to 18) thousand steps on Sat & Sun, when I take long walks.

@Whinginadeville

My sister works in a bank sitting down for large parts of the day and drives everywhere she averages 20k a day if not more. Fairly sure its just the way she's set her fit it up tbh. I am retired very active do a long dog walk every day and average 9,000 to 10,000. I don't compare it to others now as I just think they are cheating.

Unless she has very active dogs that sounds impossible! A sedentary job and driving to and from work makes it hard to go above about 6,000 most days