About those 10,000 steps per day

I have my goal set at 5,000 steps a day as I have an office job and spend hours sitting at my desk. I do walk for half an hour at lunchtime and am always surprised to go over most days.

If I had my goal set at 10,000 steps/day I think I would be discouraged. I do manage to go over that some days but not everyday. Thanks for sharing this!

I kinda set my goal for the 10,000 but if it doesn't happen so be it - maybe it will tomorrow. 

I try to walk every day with my little dog who loves to have a walk so that helps but if it is wet or too hot then he misses out. I enjoy walking so it is a disappointment for me if we don't walk. 

I thought the goal of the 10,000 steps was to get people more activd, make you aware of the numbef of steps you normally get and encourage you to increase it. Even if you don't hit 10,000 exactly. So if you're going for a 30 minute walk most days then that would add up to the 150 minutes of movement a week that the article and many other places suggest. 30 minutes of actual exercise is better than trying to get 2500 steps puttering around your house.

This is encouraging! Thanks for sharing.

I’m in the camp of what gets measured gets managed and having a goal for steps, if arbitrary, still benefits me because I get more exercise and am more active when I pay attention. If I’m shy I’ll do a walk around my block which is a mile and takes 15-30 min depending on whether I have 0,1, or 2 dogs and I know that has health benefits.

I walked 4.3 miles yesterday and 5.3 miles today, both over 10,000 steps. I've been working up from 1 mile three weeks ago. My goal is to take a 2 mile walk six days a week. I feel so much better already. My goal is to go down a clothing size and lose my gut. I'll probably move the goal when I get there but for now...

I'm glad that even a smaller level of activity has health benefits.

My Fitbit is in an aftermarket clip-on case I keep attached to my waist band. I can’t wear a watch at work and I feel it keeps more accurate steps that way. I know not all tracker devices have a clip-on option though.

One day I was subbing preschool and during nap I logged into my app to add my lunch info...took a few minutes to figure out how I was racking up steps just sitting there....I was rubbing a kid’s back 😆

What I'd be interested in is whether it makes a difference if the steps are more spread out through the day or not. I think it is more beneficial to get lots of short walks if possible.

I'm new to a fitness tracker. I do 10,000 steps if I take my walk. If not, it is about 6,000 or so if I'm home. At the beach, I can do over 25,000 in a day because I walk so much and it gives me 'steps' for bicycling.

I have noticed that laundry day is good for steps but days spent in the kitchen are not. Even though I'm on my feet much more cooking, I don't move far enough to accumulate many steps. To me what is important is that I'm up moving. The last two winters, my sciatica has returned a bit in late winter and I think it is because I get cold and lazy and stay on the couch or sitting somewhere too much particularly in the evenings.

ETA:  I have a Garmin clip on and it seems very accurate except for the bicycling.

Some interesting data I noticed this morning, kind of related to the article. This winter/early spring was extremely busy with near constant travel and I never got close to 10,000 steps a day. My resting heart rate during those months averaged 67-68 bpm. In contrast, I've been able to meet or exceed my step goal for the last month and have added in several long bike rides per week and I noticed this morning that my resting heart rate is now back down to 60 bpm. I know there is still room to improve because I'm not back to the gym on a consistent basis or running regularly but I thought it was interesting how even small changes can make such a big difference in cardiovascular health.

I had the One for about two years and loved the clip-on feature. The Bluetooth on it finally died and I had to look for a new tracker. I bought the Fitbit Alta (without the heart rate monitor) and this clip-on case from Amazon. It has worked perfectly for me .

[
Does this help to get a more accurate count? I had purchased an Alta but had to return it because it said I was taking steps during my long commute of driving and then other times I’d be getting ready in the morning- doing my hair and make up and racking up “steps” so I returned it.

Thanks so much for sharing this article! I am one of those that strives to move more but have a commute to work, a desk job, a commute home, and then during the school year (so 10 months out of the year) I am in the car for at least three additional hours most days taxiing kids to and from school and activities. This article makes me feel better about the efforts I am making and motivates me to keep it up.

As far as step trackers . . . I was using a FitBit One in a case from amazon that I wore clipped to my bra. I was hitting a minimum of 6K steps per day, some days 7K-8K, and every once in a while the coveted 10K per day. few months ago I switched to an off-brand tracker that also serves as a watch that provides text notifications. Surprisingly, given arm movements that aren't actually steps, it is registering about 800 steps for every 1000 steps the FitBit registers.