Published on April 12, 2014
Updated on February 13, 2018
As a public health professional, I have been behind messages to improve health, especially those encouraging physical activity. Plus, have you seen this article about the health hazards of sitting? I decided to challenge myself to achieve the recommended 10,000 steps-a-day. I documented my progress over the last two weeks, in the hope that, you too, will join me in this quest for 10,000 steps.
In order to track my progress, I invested in a Fitbit, a small device designed to track physical activity levels. I thought that by monitoring my activity, I could see where I have room for improvement and motivate myself to do better. I naively thought that I’d reach my 10,000 steps-a-day goal with minimal effort. Boy, was I wrong.
As I write this around 5 PM on Thursday, I’ve only logged 1,243 steps. In order to make it to my daily goal of 10,000, I have 8,757 to log in the next five hours! Is it impossible? No. Does it require time and energy at the end of the day? Oh, yes.
The first few days that I wore my Fitbit, I realized how little I move while at the office and how that set me way behind on my goal to move more and sit less. How could I improve?
The reality of working in an office still requires a fair amount of screen time, so I began to think of how I could improve my step count outside the office.
With spring in the air, I’ve come out of hibernation and have a desire to explore the outdoors rather than spend time on a treadmill in a humid gym. I decided to find practical ways to integrate exercise into my life.
On an average workday, I currently log a little over 5,000 steps, equivalent to about 2 miles, and I’m not giving up on my goal to hit 10,000! It certainly is a challenge but it’s not impossible to integrate “move more, sit less” into a daily routine.
I challenge you to take 10,000 steps a day and let us know how you are doing it. Comment here or tweet @preventcancer.
We can do it.
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