Rest: 10,000 Steps 

Set-Up

I saw a Buzzfeed Life/Change video about how a group of people tested out walking 10,000 steps daily for a month. It’s like drinking enough water: Sounds easy enough but turns out people are terrible at remembering to actually do it. I liked how “concrete” the number was and how it could be easily quantified with a pedometer (app because hi, technology). After all, that’s how SMART goals work. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. It seemed like a small thing I could do every day for my health. 

After reading an article on Lifehack about how walking counts as meditation, I was sold. I can’t seem to wrap my head around meditation and this seemed KISS enough. I downloaded the nifty Pacer pedometer app and was on my way. I wanted to track how much I walked on a daily basis. 280,000 steps in 28 days. How hard could it be?

Results

Pacer calculates steps walked, active time spent walking, and miles walked.

Over 28 days, I walked a total of:

• 921 minutes = 15 hours (48 mins/d median)
• 36 miles (1.6 mi/d median)
• 94,613 steps (4,290 steps/d median)

The most I walked was 6,841 steps one day. (The numbers should also be taken with a grain of salt because I didn’t have my phone on me every time I walked.)

On one hand, I’m disappointed I didn’t hit the 10,000 steps/day target. On the other hand, I’m surprised that I walk so much given that I’m a commuter surrounded by urban sprawl. The 15 hours, 36 miles, and 95k steps were all non-dedicated exercise. Even on the days I didn’t exercise, I was still getting in enough physical movement to be classified as somebody who is “lightly active.” 

I knew 10,000 steps was in the ballpark of 5 miles and 85 minutes so that pushed me to use the stairs more and intentionally park further away to get in more steps.